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How’s your pillow posture?

Posted on January 30, 2013 by Chiropractor

Have you ever taken a moment to assess your “pillow posture” (how your head is positioned while sleeping)? The position that’s most comfortable and “natural” for you might be creating preventable health problems.

How Many Pillows Should I Use?

Your head and neck should be lined up with the rest of your spine. This is quite difficult to achieve if you’re using multiple pillows. So sleep with just one pillow beneath your head. Make sure it’s thick enough to provide adequate alignment, but not so thick that it angles your head upward. Also make sure it’s not too thin, otherwise your head will tilt down when you’re lying on your side.

There are essentially three main sleeping positions – side, back, and stomach. While comfort is highly subjective, proper alignment isn’t. The best sleep position is one that promotes a balanced spine. Back and side sleeping can achieve this; stomach sleeping cannot. Stomach sleeping can cause damage to your spine and its supportive structures. One tip to prevent this is to sew something uncomfortable to the front of your pyjamas. This will train your body to stop rolling on to your stomach in the middle of the night. Or, use a therapeutica pillow that is deesigned to help you maintain back/side sleeping. The intelligent shape of it makes stomach-sleeping nearly impossible. There’s no question that it will wake you up if your body moves into the wrong position during the night.

In addition to implementing these methods, I recommend seeing a chiropractor to review the overall health of your spine. Improving spinal alignment can make the transition process from stomach-to-side/back more comfortable for you.

belfast, chiropractor, back pain, neck pain, headaches, sciatica

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