Never sleep on your stomach. Sleeping on the stomach increases the normal curves in the neck and the low back resulting in additional nerve compression and stress to the guiding joints or facets of the vertebrae. Sleep on your side with the knees slightly bent and one pillow between the knees. Side sleeping  Pull your pillow down into the shoulder to support the neck. For sleep on your back, place two pillows under the knees to reduce stress to the low back, neck and mid back. Back sleeping - In order to support the neck, the pillow must accept the weight of the back of the head. The following pillows are not recommended: Foam rubber  The equal density of this material may not accept the weight of the head but rather keep the head flexed slightly forward.

Feather pillow  No matter how much it's plumped up, the feather pillow will tend to go flat and not support the neck.

Use of two pillows  You may position these pillows for good support of your upper back and neck but as you sleep, you will slide down on the pillows again flexing the head forward. The recommended pillow: A moderately stuffed fiber filled pillow is hypoallergenic and easily fluffed up to support the neck but still compressible to contour to the head and the neck in accepting the weight of the back of the head.



The newer or more fully stuffed fiber filled pillow may be compressed by hand to make a depression for the head. These pillows are inexpensive and easily available, but you may need to experiment with more than one pillow to find the right one for you.