How high the pillow is best for the cervical spine
The maintenance of the cervical spine is important on a daily basis. So, how do we strengthen the cervical spine maintenance on a regular basis? Change a good sleeping pillow is a good choice.
Scientific pillow method – pillow is better than pillow neck
Pillow, the pillow is the head, in fact, this is not right. In a strict sense, we should be pillow neck rather than pillow while sleeping. Pillow to revolutionize, must be revolutionary, do not call the pillow, to call the pillow neck or neck pillow.
Why say so? Because the pillow when the cervical spine is suspended, after sleep, responsible for protecting the cervical spine ligaments, muscle groups, joint capsule and other important tissues are persistently stretched and relaxed, over time, the physiological curvature of the cervical spine will disappear or even reverse bending, thus causing the corresponding intervertebral joint dislocation, if the vertebral artery and spinal nerve is stimulated, there will be insufficient blood supply to the brain, vertigo, headache, insomnia and other discomfort. Therefore, I recommend that you choose a suitable cervical pillow when sleeping, placed under the neck, in order to maintain the normal physiological curvature of the cervical spine. What if there is no cervical pillow around? You can also do it yourself to make a simple cervical pillow.
How do you do it? Use a large towel or bath towel, rolled into a tube, must be rolled tighter, and then cushioned on the neck can be.
How high is the right volume? Generally speaking, teenagers to 7 cm is appropriate, adults to 8 to 9 cm is appropriate. Of course, not necessarily uniformly according to a standard to do, the height of the cervical pillow must be appropriate for their comfort. For us Chinese, thousands of years passed down the habit is very difficult to change. Therefore, there are still more people are willing to keep the old-fashioned sleeping pillow does not release. But choose what kind of sleeping pillow, sleeping pillow shape, height size, filling material and softness is appropriate and our cervical spine health directly related. So, how can cervical spine patients choose a suitable sleeping pillow to minimize the degree of cervical spine damage?
Beware! High pillow and low pillow both have a killing machine
Cervical spine patients sleep too high pillow, whether supine or side lying, will make the cervical spine suffer. Why is that? We sleep on high pillows, when the body is in a supine state, the physiological bending of the neck should remain reasonably curved upward (i.e., convex), and once the pillow is too high, and the shape of the pillow is unreasonable, that will cause the neck forward flexion. The forward flexion of the neck causes the posterior longitudinal ligament, the yellow ligament, the interspinous ligament and the supraspinous ligament of the cervical spine to be in a state of tension, and involves the muscles or related muscles in excessive muscle tension; at this time, the inferior vertebral articulation above will slide to the upper part of the inferior vertebral articulation, causing the joint surface to be misaligned and the joint capsule to be tense, which will eventually cause a series of cervical spine symptoms due to pressure on the spinal cord, nerve roots and vertebral artery.
Cervical spine patients sleep low pillow for a long time, will also change the cervical spine physiological state. When sleeping on a low pillow, the cervical spine will be in a state of excessive posterior extension, the physiological bend is more than normal and excessive convexity, when the upper vertebral body tilts back, the posterior part of the intervertebral disc fiber ring is compressed, the anterior part is stretched, the nucleus pulposus moves forward, and the anterior longitudinal ligament is tense. Long-term low pillow will lead to fatigue of the anterior longitudinal ligament, forming a chronic injury. The function of the anterior longitudinal ligament is to prevent spinal hyperextension, once the formation of chronic injury to its guard function will be greatly reduced, in the role of certain triggers that may appear in the vertebral body forward dislocation, aggravating cervical spondylosis.
How high is the most suitable sleeping pillow
Usually, cervical spondylosis patients sleeping pillow suitable height to 8 ~ 9 cm, length to 50 ~ 60 cm more appropriate, but the specific size also depends on the physiological characteristics of each person, especially the physiological curvature of the neck. Shoulder wide body fat sleeping pillow can be slightly higher, while the thin people can be slightly lower.
Sleep habits for determining the height of the sleeping pillow also has an impact, people who are used to sleeping on their backs, the height of their sleeping pillow should be compressed and their fist height (fist tiger mouth up the height of the fist high standard) is appropriate; and people who are used to sleeping on their sides, the height of their sleeping pillow should be compressed and their side of the shoulder height is the same as appropriate. Of course, no matter how to sleep on your back, side sleep can maintain the normal physiological curvature of the neck sleeping pillow is the most ideal.
In fact, the most ideal pillow should be able to sleep with different postures, the degree of height can be adjusted. It can be the human head and neck and body pillow flat, so that people feel comfortable, each ministry is evenly stressed, while there is a certain degree of comfort and will not be deformed over time.
The breathability and elasticity of the sleeping pillow is also important
Chinese medicine believes that the head for Yang, is the Yang of the meeting, the essence of the House, the blood are gathered on the head, is afraid of heat. Modern medical research shows that when people are sleeping, the temperature of the head is 2 to 3 degrees Celsius lower than the temperature of the torso, which is the natural requirements of human physiology. This requires us to choose a sleeping pillow to have a certain degree of breathability and heat dissipation effect, to ensure that our sleep smoothly.
In addition, the elasticity of a good sleeping pillow should be moderate. Because too hard sleeping pillow will make the sleeping pillow and the contact area of the neck shrink, the pressure increases, feel uncomfortable; but if the sleeping pillow is too soft, it is difficult to maintain a certain height, the neck muscle is easy to fatigue, is also not conducive to sleep, and head trapped in it, will affect blood circulation.
What kind of sleeping pillow is ideal for that? We are traditionally accustomed to sleeping pillow filled with buckwheat bark, which is a good choice. In addition, filling cassia, silica sand, grains, etc. is also good. These sleeping pillows can ensure good breathability, elasticity is also moderate, and the role of heat and cooling. Soft materials such as vacuum cotton, cotton, sponge and other general may have poor breathability, poor elasticity, it is best not to choose.
We first recommend the use of buckwheat leather pillows, generally choose 2-3 together, because buckwheat leather pillows can be plastic, supine when shaped into a more concave head, neck and collar of the higher protrusion of thin pillows; side lying please shape a higher shape, next to other pillows to help fix. And buckwheat bark breathable performance and comfort is better.
Many cervical spine patients always try to find all kinds of panacea, in fact, the best medicine in our sleeping pillow. Boiled a jar of medicine, rather than choose a good sleeping pillow. Please pay attention to your pillow, to protect your cervical spine please start from the sleeping pillow.