Neck pain is a common condition amongst people who don’t sleep correctly. You can develop immense neck pain because of muscle strain, joint damage, or nerve compression. The quality of your pillow plays a massive role in whether you have neck pain.
Factors like the material of the pillow, the loft height, your sleeping position, and the level of support offered by the pillow affect whether you get neck pain. That’s why it’s imperative to find the best neck pillow possible.
There are a lot of different types of pillows out there, but a contour memory foam pillow is one of the best types of neck pillows available. Memory foam has the ability to conform to the shape of your body, which provides great pressure relief.
In this article, we discuss the importance of memory foam for the best pillow for neck pain and we review the best memory foam neck support pillows in 2021.
Is Memory Foam the Best Pillow for Neck Pain?
Memory foam is widely hailed as the best material for neck pillows. But before we discuss exactly how memory foam helps you, it’s important to discuss how traditional pillows fail.
Most traditional pillows — down-filled pillows, feather pillows, synthetic pillows, etc — are unsuitable for your neck muscles. These pillows are usually stuffed to the brim, which creates a situation wherein your neck is propped up unnaturally, thus putting your neck out of alignment with your spine and closing your airways.
Furthermore, even pillows that aren’t overstuffed usually thin out with age, leading to the formation of uneven lumps on the surface. This can also cause considerable strain on your neck muscles, which can be dangerous for you.
Memory foam pillows are the best choice for neck pillows because it conforms to the shape of your body. Wherever or however you may be sleeping, it will mold itself according to your shape. This ensures that your body has complete support throughout.
For example, when you’re sleeping on your sides, this material will develop a high arch around the neck to support your neck and shoulders. If you’re sleeping on your stomach, you can simply get a shredded memory foam pillow and remove excess foam to flatten it out and sleep comfortably with perfect spinal alignment.
As such, memory foam is truly the best material for neck pillows and neck support.
Do Contour Pillows Help Neck Pain?
Contour pillows, also known as cervical pillows, are the best pillow for side sleepers and for neck pain. You generally get neck pain if your neck and shoulders aren’t supported well enough. Contour pillows are usually elevated and rounded around the sides.
As such, you can rest your neck on the elevation while sleeping on your sides so your neck is perfectly aligned with the rest of your body. The elevated contour supports your neck and shoulders perfectly. So yes, a cervical pillow does make for a good neck support pillow as well.
3 Best Memory Foam Neck Support Pillows
Elite Rest Contour Sleeper — Editor’s Choice of the Best Contour Memory Foam Pillow
Elite Rest Contour Sleeper is undoubtedly the best neck support pillow on the market by a long shot. This pillow is filled with slabs of memory foam that’s extremely durable and hypoallergenic. The memory foam is ideal for neck support because it conforms to the shape of your body, offering ideal comfort.
This neck pillow is ideal for back and side sleepers and it provides therapeutic support to the users. This pillow is contoured — the elevated part is 4 inches high and the lower part is 2.75 inches high. As such, you can rest your head on the part of the pillow you’re most comfortable with. If you’re a side sleeper, you can rest your neck on the rounded ergonomic contour that can cradle your neck safely.
This contour pillow is 12 inches wide so your head has ample space to move around. It also comes with a 100% cotton cover that’s machine washable and highly breathable.
Coop Home Goods Premium Loft Pillow — Best Adjustable Neck Support Pillow
Different people have different specifications for the ideal loft height — and that’s precisely what makes Coop Home Goods Premium Loft Pillow so brilliant. This is not a contoured or cervical pillow, but it’s highly adjustable, which may be even more valuable to some people.
This pillow is stuffed with shredded memory foam rather than memory foam slabs. As such, you can manually add or remove the shredded foam from the pillow to control its loft height. This makes it one of the best neck pillows for all kinds of sleeping positions — back, stomach, or side sleepers.
The only issue is that the shredded memory foam can move around inside the pillow. That’s why you may occasionally need to readjust the shredded foam and smoothen it out.
TEMPUR-All Purpose Pillow — Best Travel Neck Pillow
TEMPUR-All Purpose Pillow is a highly portable pill-shaped memory foam travel neck pillow. This pillow also serves as a neck roll or a lumbar cushion and it includes a strap so you can easily carry it around or strap around your seat while traveling.
This travel neck pillow has been made by NASA and its material is perfect for alleviating pressure off sensitive points in your neck. You can use it however you like and place it behind your neck while traveling to sleep comfortably without straining your neck.
What is the Best Pillow for your Needs?
As you can see, different people have different requirements so you need to choose the best neck pillow based on your needs. We hope these pillows will give you the comfort you need.