Neck Pain Support Blog

For Spinal Stenosis, what is the Best Type of Pillow?

Recently a patient asked me this question: "If you have spinal stenosis should you use a large pillow or a flat pillow when sleeping?"

The answer is neither.

A pillow that is too large is going to create forward head posture, and push your head and neck forward, putting more pressure on your cervical nerves. A pillow that is too flat, will not give you the support that you need. Period. You want to get a pillow that keeps your head in neutral alignment while you sleep. Check to make sure that your head is not being pushed forward when you lay on your back with this pillow.

Buy a pillow that is based on your height and weight, not on your mattress size.

I prefer polyester fiber filled neck pillows over foam or memory pillows. They simply support your neck better in a natural alignment. A pillow should have a little bit of give, not be super duper firm that it causes a stiff neck the next morning. Pillows for Spinal Stenosis that Work: 1. Arc4life Traction Pillow 2. Tri Core Support Pillow 3. Arc4life Gravity Pillow

For all of these pillows, one can sleep on their back or on their side. A pillow must be able to be flexible enough for patients to move around during sleep. Also, keep in mind there may be an adjustment period to using all three of these pillows. It depends on your particular neck and if you have current neck pain. Start by using the pillow only 5-10 minutes to start, then slowly increase the time you are sleeping on the pillow. This can help your muscles gradually get used to a new sleeping surface.  If you do wake up with neck pain or soreness (this is normal) do gentle neck stretches when you wake up and also a hot shower can help with this. 

 

Additional Reading:

• Causes of neck pain you might not think of
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Change up the loft of your pillow easily
• Upper Back Stretches you can do anywhere
• Traction Can Help with Spinal Stenosis Symptoms

Updated Post 3/30/2023

Pain at the Base of the Neck? Easy Home Treatment

Pain at the base of the neck can happen anytime- especially when you are working on the computer or a repetitive desk task where you are looking down.  This can also be the source of headaches for some. Doing simple massage to the base of the neck can be helpful. Using a towel roll to stretch your neck can also help to increase cervical range of motion.Fixing your posture while you are on your devices can also make a huge difference: Check out the video below for more detailed information:

Additional Reading:

• Causes of neck pain you might not think of
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Change up the loft of your pillow easily
• Upper Back Stretches you can do anywhere

How Back and Neck Pain Can be Helped when You Travel

It's July 4th and how are you spending the holiday? Are you driving this holiday or taking a plane trip somewhere? Chances are covid-19 has somehow affected your plans. Personally, we are doing a staycation. My son and I tested out a new golf club this morning and later we are doing a July 4th bbq with close family. Staying put and staying safe. Enjoying fireworks from our back lanai tonight !

Happy July 4th from the Neck Pain Support Blog

How can back and neck pain affect travel? In many many ways actually. It can make it  nightmare and cause you to have a flare up sometimes. Here are some great tips to help you with your travel plans- whether doing a staycation or going somewhere.

First, taking breaks is very important. The act of sitting can put a lot of stress on your joints, on your back and even your neck. Sitting in one place while driving, or on the computer can aggravate back and neck pain. Hence, standing up and moving around can make a big difference. Making a plan to get up every 15-20 minutes to get a drink of water is a great idea. Plan on stopping at a rest stop no matter what. Just stretching and moving can make such a big difference if you have neck and back pain.

Using pillows to your advantage can make a big difference. For both the back and the neck, use contoured neck and back pillows. For example using a lumbar pillow while sitting in the car for long periods or when you are on the computer, can help.

 

A lumbar pillow can make long car trip more comfortable for your lower back.

 

 

Just like using a pillow for lower back can help, same goes for your cervical spine. Using a cervical contoured neck pillow for sleep can also make a huge difference for optimal posture while sleeping on your side or back. The Arc4life Traction Pillow is a good example of pillow with curves that fit the shape of your neck. It is important to order the right size of a pillow like this. This arc4life pillow comes in 3 sizes: small, medium and large. 

A Contoured Neck Pillow at Night Can Keep Your Neck in Alignment While Sleeping

 

Next, doing neck and back stretches can go a long way to keep comfortable. Never to the point of pain, just to the point that you feel a stretch is the key. These are great stretches for the hips, neck, back and shoulders.

Effective stretches for the hips, neck, back and shoulders.

There you go: 3 simple things you can do to enjoy your staycation or TRAVEL away from home.

 

Additional Reading:

• Causes of neck pain you might not think of
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Change up the loft of your pillow easily
• Upper Back Stretches you can do anywhere

 

Neck Support Is Always Needed No Matter the Age

I think 2020 will go down in history for many reasons. With the recent covid-19 pandemic, my child hasn't been able to play soccer, basketball or baseball. He loves all of his team sports.

 

Thankfully, he has been able to play golf at our local course. Its a great individual sport that that they can grow, be athletic and be outside with their peers. I've also learned there is a lot of equipment sized perfectly for the younger beginner golfers. Clubs that are lighter, easier to swing and color coded for their height. The US Kids Golf does a great job of fitting kids for golf clubs.

 

There are even training products designed to help improve your swing. For example, the orange whip golf  swing trainer. A long stick that resembles a golf club but has a weighted orange ball at the end of it. This "golf swing trainer" helps  to  improve range of motion in ones swing, balance, and flexibility. All important aspects of an optimal golf swing. I had tested this orange whip out at a golf clinic myself a few years back. Then a friend sent a link for the junior version: a flexible shaft, a smaller diameter grip and lighter weights on each end- perfect for my junior beginner golfer to improve his swing.

 

 

Just like the orange whip golf swing trainer, my kids have a smaller baseball glove, smaller golf clubs - generally smaller kid versions to help them play optimally. Makes sense. 

Well Arc4life has kids pillows. Why? Because kids have smaller spines, smaller curves in their neck and need pillows that are proportionally smaller. For instance, my son a contoured neck pillow for sleeping every night- the arc4life cervical traction pillow (its comes in a small, medium and large. The small pillow is smaller in length, width and thickness: 20x15 vs the medium size which is 24x17. There is a big difference in all the dimensions of the pillow. It is ergonomically designed for the size of his little neck and gives him the support he needs for great posture while he sleeps (on his back or on his side). If children use adult pillows that are too large, the pillows can cause forward head posture,  pushing their head and neck forward. My son loves his pillow so much that if he goes for a sleepover at his grandparents, we pack his pillow with him as well: It's essential.

 

Also, you can get kids pillows for neck support in the car and for travel as well. Here is an example of a twist pillow made of memory foam that can be used for kids while they are in the car.

 

Memory Foam Twist Pillow

 

Additional Reading:

• Orange Whip Full-Sized Golf Swing Trainer Aid - for Improved Rhythm, Flexibility, Balance, Tempo, and Strength - 47”
• Arc4life Twist Pillow works great for patients who are travelling or for kids in the car
• Contoured Kids Pillows Designed for Smaller Cervical Spines
• Arc4life's Linear Gravity Neck Pillow- Small Size for Toddlers, Teens and Petite Individuals
• Kids need their own backpacks too.

How Do I Fix My Stiff Neck?

The worst thing in the morning is waking up with a stiff neck - you cannot turn your head, and you have neck pain. So how do you relieve this pain and start your day?

How Do You Know You Have A Stiff Neck?

If you seem like you constantly awake with tightness in the neck? Do you find yourself getting a sharp jolt of pain when you turn too quick? Is your neck constantly "snapping and cracking"? Then you might have what we would term a "stiff neck"...

What Are Some things that Can Cause a Stiff Neck ?

• Sleeping with a Pillow that is too Firm
  
  
• Sleeping in an awkward positions. For example, sleeping on the sofa
  
  
• A Draft
  
  
• An injury to the neck
  
  
• A Violent cough or sneeze attack that causes you pain
  
  

Self Massage for A Stiff Neck

How Do You Know You Have A Stiff Neck? There are definitely some signs and symptoms you can notice when you are suffering with a stiff neck. Here are some obvious and not so obvious ones:

• You have neck pain
• You have pain when you turn or twist your neck in a certain way
• Your range of motion in the neck is decreased. Also, one side of the neck range of motion is less than the other
• You find yourself turning your whole body when you need to turn...for example to check your blind spot when driving

Treatment Options for When you Get a Stiff Neck

• Massage Your Neck Muscles, upper back and shoulders
• Use a heating pack
• Get a chiropractic adjustment
• See a massage therapist
• Stretch Your Neck

Additional Reading:

1. What do you do For Neck Pain?
2. Stretch your neck for pain relief from a stiff neck
3. Getting the right neck posture in your c spine
4. The Things that Can bring on a Stiff Neck
5. A Simple comfortable traction device that can provide a lot of neck pain relief

Updated 3/31/2023

Related articles

Your Pillow and Your Health

I Have My Therapist Stretch And Massage My Neck..

In Dentistry the trapezius muscle is the main culprit for neck and shoulder pain

Stretching For Pain Relief

How Do You Know You Have a Good Pillow?

The Arc4life Traction Pillow Helped Me with my Numbness/Tingling and Sleeping at Night, Now What?

At the beginning of June we received a call from Marisol regarding some issues that she was having with her neck and hands. Specifically she mentioned that she was having a lot of neck pain, and numbness and tingling at night time and that this was waking her up at night. She had a busy day job and was super tired from the disjointed sleep that she was getting. She was desperate for a solution and asked if we could make some recommendations for her. 

She was recommended the Arc4life Traction Neck Pillow [ med ] and also given instructions on how to best use it.  First of all she was told to use the pillow gradually, as she was having a very tough time at night. She was to start using the pillow about 5-10 minutes, and then to put it away. The next night she was to use it 15 minutes. The night after 30 minutes. In this way, she was slowly getting her neck muscles using this type of contoured neck pillow. It was also suggested that she use the Support side of the pillow to start, as this was softer side of the pillow. Finally, it was recommended that she lay down [face up ] on the traction v side of the pillow for about 10-20 minutes per day. In this was she was getting support during the night and very gentle neck traction during the day as well. 

Fast forward to July. We received a phone call almost exactly 30 days later. Marisol stated that the arc4life traction pillow has worked for her. Gone was the numbness and tingling at night and she was able to sleep through the night. She was very satisfied with this and very grateful, as she was finally able to sleep at night. She stated that now she was only getting numbness and tingling while driving and while riding her bike. Marisol was interested in doing more for her symptoms and again asked for recommendations. 

Well, first of all we love to hear when a customer was helped- in any way. So the arc4life traction pillow helped Marisol to sleep at night comfortably. With this pillow, you are getting support and gentle neck traction. The next step to help get rid of that numbness and tingling during the day is do gentle neck traction during the day.

Our best recommendation is going to be the Posture Pump Neck Traction Device. We like this particular unit because it puts you neck into anatomically the right position to stretch: Into a C-Curve. It also opens up each of the neck vertabrae and allows the nerves to breathe properly and heal. 

 

The Posture Pump Cervical Traction Unit for the neck

Here is another good one, albeit its a little more cumbersome, but still effective: Soothe- A Ciser with Cervical Traction Device

One More: Cervical Traction System with Foam Roll. All of these units are better than the traction units that do up and down type of neck traction. For example a neck collar type of unit. 

Again when you do this type of neck traction, you want to start gradually. Just like using the arc4life traction pillow. Set a timer for yourself and try to do the neck traction 4-5/week. Start with 5 minutes [ set a timer ] and a very low amount of traction and work your way up to 15 minutes. This will ensure you are not experiencing soreness after doing the neck traction. Also, you can do neck stretches before you start: - these are some simple ones. One more thing you can do is use a heating pack on your neck after c-traction to ease any soreness or tightness. 

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Related articles

Does a Cervical Pillow Relieve Bulging Disc and Radiculopathy Pain?

5'2" and Looking for Good Neck Pillow and Muscle Pain Relief

1st Starting With A Neck Pillow...Go Gradual

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I Have Pain When I Breathe?...

How to Use Arc4life's Cervical Linear Traction Neck Pillow for Dummies

Updated: 4/18/2020

Relieving Pain in the Upper Back with Stretches

We are in the midst of some crazy times now with the Sars-COV2 pandemic hitting all over the world. That means many people (adults and kids included) are at home, stuck to the TV, ipads, iphones and all things digital. We were trying to get away from such things as text neck, but now we cannot get away from the devices. 

Often times we concentrate on exercises for neck and lower back pain; Well the upper back area should not be ignored: This is an area that can be affected often times by text neck or spending too much time on the computer.

You can easily stretch your upper back using a device created specifically for the upper thoracic area of your spine:

This particular back stretcher can be used for the upper back and the lower back area; you simply lay on the device and feel the stretch. This can help to relieve upper back pain, as well as help to improve posture. 

Here is a great video that introduces 7 upper back stretches that can help you everyday.

They include an:

Eagle Pose, Side lateral stretch, upper trapezius stretch, levator scapulae stretch, table stretch, thoracic extension and W and Y stretch:

 

Additional Reading:

• The Switchboard that controls everything
• Wake up with More Pain
• How does Traction work on a Traction V Pillow
• Keeping at a healthy weight naturally
• Exercises to Help you with neck pain

Born in the USA.....

I was singing in the house recently, "MAAAADE IN the USAAAA"- My husband corrected me, its "BORN IN THE USA" by Bruce Springsteen. Oh Yes... I corrected myself.

 

It's March 2020, and the headliner is the Coronavirus.  You cannot get away from it. This is a time in history that no one will forget. Travel plans, event plans, mortgages, work - everything is being affected. Even schools are being cancelled. This coronavirus continues to spread globally, with over 111,000 cases and 3,800 deaths as of Monday March 9, 2020,  Johns Hopkins University. It is important to practice good hand washing, be vigilant, don't get too close to people , and don't even think about going on a cruise . Even for me personally, we have family who is supposed to be visiting in both March and April - they are trying to postpone ✈️, and with good reason. The airlines are being more lenient and allowing customers to postpone flights.

 

Recently we received this concerned email from a customer who wanted to order our Arc4life Traction Pillow:  " I’m interested in ordering a cervical traction pillow. I’ve struggled to find correct pillow and have not seen one like this before. Before I purchase I need to know your return policy. And if it ships from US. Not China. Thanks -Maple" 

Our arc4life traction pillow, arc4life gravity pillows and adjustable foam-fiber pillows are made in California, USA . Our return policy is 30 days. You have to ship the pillow back to us to our Port orange Florida location. There is a 5% return fee and the shipping is not refundable. The shipping we charge when you order is $5. Email us back if you have any questions about our pillow. 

Additional Reading:

• The Switchboard that controls everything
• Wake up with More Pain
• How does Traction work on a Traction V Pillow
• Keeping at a healthy weight naturally
• Exercises to Help you with neck pain

 

 

Help for Pain at the Base of the Skull

Here is an awesome treatment (at home) for pain at the base of the skull. Bob and Brad go over this in detail. 

Pain at the base of the skull, or in the suboccipital muscles can cause pain, headaches and decrease in range of motion (turning in all directions with the neck)

They will share with you the following techniques:

• Ice pack
• gentle massage
• stretching- neck stretching with a towel

 

Additional Reading:

• The Switchboard that controls everything
• Wake up with More Pain
• How does Traction work on a Traction V Pillow
• Keeping at a healthy weight naturally
• Exercises to Help you with neck pain

Exercises to Help you with Neck Pain Relief

Here are 7 amazingly effective neck exercises that you can do on your own at home:

These neck exercises will help to strengthen your neck muscles. They involve putting your head and neck into certain ranges of motion. Make sure to do on both sides of your head:

• rotation
• flexion
• extension
• lateral flexion

Additional Reading:

• I just received my NEW Pillow... and HELLO, its nothing like my OLD pillow
• Do you have a Closet Full of Pillows?
• A Pillow that Gives you Neck Support - not just in times of Pain
• The Pillow for Alleviating Neck Pain
• Frozen Shoulder Fix..not for the Faint of Heart