Recently I received the following question on my blog, www.neckpainsupport.com:
"For years I slept with a cervical support pillow, and there was nothing better - fell asleep quickly, good support, perfect softness, no pain when I woke up. Unfortunately, someone stole this pillow while I was away on vacation, so I went back to the same chiropractor to buy another. He swears it's the same pillow, but I'm not convinced because the material feels harder and my neck is killing me. Nothing has happened to my neck between then and now. Do our necks change with age?"
Hi Kat, this is a great question. Yes our cervical neck spine can change. Sometimes the change can be for the worse because of poor neck posture. For example, forward head posture. This type of neck posture puts a tremendous amount of stress on our joints, muscles and can cause neck pain, upper back pain etc.
Also, you can get degenerative changes in the joints. Arthritis can develop which can cause a lot of pain and stiffness. Have you been involved in any type of trauma such as whiplash in the last few weeks? This can cause a lot of pain as well, as well as limited range of motion.
Cervical Support Neck Pillows can change with time, depending on the material that is inside them. It is also natural for a pillows to break down over time. The firmness that was originally in the pillow may not be in a few years.
I think that it is going to take some time for you to get used to your pillow. There are some things you can do to help alleviate the pain.
- If you are experiencing soreness in the morning, use moist heat. If this is only happening once in a while, use an ice pack on your neck and upper back area
- Use a natural pain relief gel on your neck and upper back such as biofreeze. This can give you a lot of pain relief and help with range of motion as well.
- Don't use your pillow for the entire night. Start by using it for a few hours. When it gets uncomfortable use another pillow that is softer. You will find that you can sleep longer and longer. It is going to get some time for your neck to get used to
- You may be right. Maybe this is a different cervical support pillow all together. Does the pillow have a different side to it that is softer? Try changing the position of the pillow. For example, I often recommend the linear gravity cervical support pillow has two different neck rolls on it. Once side is softer than the other.
- Have your posture and alignment checked. If you are spending a lot of time on the computer, check your computer ergonomics. Get adjusted.
- Compare the pillow that you had by the size and also the material that is was composed of. Foam and polyester fiber pillows feel very different.
- Do some neck stretches in the morning
- Get your neck posture checked. If you have forward head posture, there are exercises that you can do: Exercises to Correct Forward Head Posture
- Just give it some time. Using a new pillow will take some time to get used to.
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