Cervical spondylosis is one of the most common chronic diseases in today’s society, many patients also have some understanding of this disease, and therefore in self-care also put a lot of effort. The author in the clinical clinic, whenever asked about the patient’s sleep pillow use habits, found that many cervical spondylosis patients are very confused, home to buy memory pillows, space pillows, spending hundreds of dollars, more than thousands of dollars. With such a “good” pillow, why will get cervical spondylosis, or even aggravate the symptoms? The following is a brief introduction to the relationship between memory pillows and cervical spine self-care: a. What is cervical spondylosis Cervical spondylosis is a syndrome also known as cervical spine syndrome. It is common in the middle-aged and elderly, now more youthful trend, the author even found that there are secondary school students exist cervical discomfort and other symptoms. It is partly due to the gradual degeneration of the human cervical intervertebral discs cervical osteophytes partly due to the normal physiological curve of the cervical spine change caused by a series of integrated symptoms of small joints and soft tissue interfunctional disorders patients often feel numbness in the head, neck, shoulders and arms can lead to limb weakness and even urinary and fecal incontinence and paralysis, etc. Second, the pillow is a precursor or cause of cervical spondylosis Some patients believe, and even some specialists tell patients or cervical discomfort, cervical spondylosis patients can not use the pillow. How absurd! If the head does not have a pillow to support its own weight when sleeping, it will undoubtedly increase the burden on the neck muscles. Tension in the neck muscles will cause stiffness in the muscles and other soft tissues and displacement of micro-movement joints, leading to jamming of nerves and blood vessels. Moreover, no pillow protection, wind, cold and moisture invasion, it is easy to happen “pillow”, if “pillow” repeatedly, it will progress into cervical spondylosis. Third, what is cervical memory pillow memory pillow is also known as space memory pillow, zero pressure memory pillow, slow rebound foam pillow, polyether polyurethane pillow and so on. Polyether-type polyurethane by NASA to resolve the pressure on the astronauts and research and development, and then gradually used in various medical, civilian products above, especially this material made pillow, with viscoelastic properties, can be changed with the head and neck position, automatic deformation, at any time to maintain a close combination with the neck position, especially to fix the head, not to let the head slide down caused by the “pillow “. Is a pillow made of slow rebound material, not to increase human memory but because of the frequent use of the pillow will form the inherent shape of the human head and neck, so called memory pillow. Slow rebound pillows generally have the following characteristics: 1, impact absorption, when pillowed on it feels like floating in the water or clouds, the skin feels no pressure; also known as zero pressure, sometimes we use the usual pillow will have the phenomenon of pressure on the auricle, but the use of slow rebound pillows will not appear this situation. 2, memory deformation, automatic shaping ability can fix the head, reduce the possibility of pillow; automatic shaping ability can properly fill the shoulder gap, to avoid the common problem of wind leakage at the shoulder nest, can effectively prevent cervical spine problems. 3, anti-bacteria and anti-mites, slow rebound sponge inhibit the growth of mold, to repel the growth of mold growth generated by the irritating smell, when there is sweat and saliva, etc., appears more prominent. 4, breathable moisture absorption, because each cell unit is interconnected, moisture absorption performance is excellent, but also breathable. Fourth, the pillow is not the more expensive the better Many patients think that by using the expensive memory pillow can be treated, at least to relieve the discomfort of cervical spondylosis symptoms. But clinical observation found that many cervical cervical spondylosis can be due to the improper use of memory pillows and discomfort symptoms, and even aggravate the original bad symptoms. Then you may question, those above-mentioned memory pillow features are not for cervical spine protection? We can think so, memory pillow has a certain corrective effect, but we do not have a correct understanding of its correct use. Although the memory pillow in the material of higher technology, skin comfort and other aspects are greatly enhanced, but it ignores the most important post-pressure height. Therefore, unless the height of the memory pillow itself is suitable for the user’s shoulder width when lying on its side, or the user sleeps without turning over and other self-adjustment movements, all night to maintain lying action, otherwise the memory pillow will not bring neck comfort, but will aggravate the neck discomfort symptoms, such as muscle tension, stagnation, pain and pillow. Five, cushion pillow method and the correct use of memory pillow Shi’s injury, there is a cervical spondylosis patients self-care exercise method, called cushion pillow method. Specific method is to take the supine position, the large and thick towel or bath towel bath towel folded and rolled into a cylindrical pad under the neck, so that the arc of the cervical spine filled, that is, under the neck with a sense of support; on the other hand, the head of the back of the pillow and can not leave the bed. Each time the pad time to 30 to 60 minutes is appropriate, do not be too long. This method can generally be used before going to sleep, the length of time to be appropriate in a gradual manner, there is generally little discomfort. If there is dizziness and other symptoms of discomfort can be reduced to use the time, but pay special attention not to fall asleep on the cushion pillow or memory pillow. This method helps restore the physiological curvature of the cervical spine on the one hand, on the other hand, it is also a traction method, which uses the mechanics of the principle of leverage, using the body and the weight of the head itself to achieve traction on the cervical spine, long-term adherence can reduce the recurrence of cervical spondylosis. And its mechanism of action on cervical spondylosis and memory pillow is similar, or, excluding the memory pillow in terms of skin comfort, for cervical spine arc recovery role, the role of the two is nearly the same. It can be concluded that although the memory pillow has a certain technological content and medical technology guidance, but not a hundred percent, and should be used correctly. Of course, the premise is that the memory pillow must be a regular manufacturer of qualified products. Six, sleep with a pillow should meet the basic requirements of the role of a small cushion pillow so effective, making many patients mistakenly believe that if you use a cushion pillow instead of a pillow when sleeping, can accelerate the improvement of symptoms, but the actual results are often counterproductive, discomfort symptoms will increase. Therefore, if you believe in the magical effects of memory pillows and the wrong use, but will aggravate the symptoms. In fact, when sleeping or need to use normal ordinary pillows, such as seven-hole cotton or nine-hole cotton pillow. Drying pillows to maintain their fluffiness. Together with self-exercise and health care methods properly, some symptoms of cervical discomfort can be relieved. If you want to try the role of memory pillows, you need to have a proper understanding and use, otherwise, not only the symptoms do not improve, but will worsen the deterioration. Seven, how do we choose the right pillow Choose the right pillow, the most important thing is that it has the right height. Is not the higher the better, the party can rest easy? How high the pillow is appropriate? Very simple, when the human body is lying on its side, the head, the neck just into a straight line, that is, the pillow in bearing the weight of the head, its height is exactly equal to the width of one shoulder. In this way, the head is not too high, so that the opposite side of the muscle tension; not too low, so that the pillow side of the muscle tension, and the occurrence of “pillow”. Secondly, the pillow should be selected to have a certain degree of softness. There are some patients sleep with hardwood pillow, but after the symptoms of neck discomfort, basically no longer use. Because in the head under its own weight pressure, pillow material is too hard on the neck muscles have a confrontation force, easy to lift the muscle Qi and blood, tendons and veins are not smooth and produce discomfort. Therefore, it is recommended to use a pillow with a higher degree of softness, and memory pillows seem to have a great advantage in this regard. Its cushioning force, shaping force, anti-bacterial and anti-mite and breathable and moisture-absorbing effect can make the skin and muscles get sufficient rest. Of course, the pillow should be the right level of softness, not too soft and not enough support. After bearing the weight of the head, the pillow sinks due to insufficient support, which also causes the pillow too low to trigger the tension of the occipital side muscles, causing cervical discomfort, and even prolonged over time to cause cervical spondylosis.