Which pillow for neck pain? How to find the right height

No pillow can treat neck pain. What matters is a pillow that lets your neck rest at a suitable height at night: head and cervical spine in one line, with enough room for your shoulder. The right height depends on your body measurements, your sleeping position and your mattress.

What can a pillow do for neck pain, and what can't it do?

A pillow is a means of support, not a remedy. It can help your neck rest in a suitable position all night. It cannot resolve complaints.

This applies to every pillow, ours included. Neck pain and neck tension can have very different causes. If your complaints persist, get worse or are joined by new symptoms, please have them assessed by a doctor. We do not give treatment advice here.

What we can explain: a pillow at the wrong height can leave your neck in an unfavourable position all night long. That can be avoided.

Why is there no single pillow for neck tension?

Because bodies are built differently. If you want to know which pillow might suit you for neck tension, start by looking at three things:

• Body measurements: Shoulder width, neck circumference and neck length are different for everyone. A broad shoulder needs more height than a narrow one to fill the gap between your head and the mattress.
• Sleeping position: When you sleep on your side, the distance between your ear and the mattress is greatest. When you sleep on your back or your front, your head sits differently. You can read more in our guides for side sleepers, back sleepers and front sleepers.
• Mattress: On a soft mattress, your shoulder and body sink in deeper than on a firm one. This changes how much height the pillow has to make up.

The right height comes from all three factors together, not from a label such as “soft” or “firm”.

And what about neck and shoulder pain?

If you wake up at night with neck and shoulder pain, you may well ask whether your pillow is to blame. There is no blanket answer. A pillow that is too low lets your head drop downwards when you sleep on your side. A pillow that is too high pushes it upwards. In both cases, your neck is not in line with your spine.

With the shoulder, there is a second point: it needs space. If the pillow is too short or sits in the wrong place, your shoulder ends up in the way. Whether your complaints come from your pillow is something a doctor or a physiotherapist can tell you better than a guide can.

How do you find the right pillow height?

You can work towards the right height in three steps:

1. Observe your posture. Have someone photograph you in your usual sleeping position, from the front or from behind. Look at whether your head tilts upwards or downwards.
2. Check the signs. How to tell whether a pillow is too high or too low is explained in our article Pillow too high or too low?. You can find the background to the calculation under Calculating pillow height.
3. Measure your body. Choosing by feel remains guesswork; with measuring, you do not have to guess.

How does Pillowise choose your size?

Pillowise is a made-to-measure memory foam pillow. We do not choose the pillow size by feel, but from three measurements:

On top of this come your sleeping position (back, side, front) and your mattress (soft, medium, firm). An algorithm uses this information to select the best-fitting pillow. There are six sizes, each with its own colour: pink, orange, green, blue, red and purple. The pillow measures 55 x 35 cm. The core is made of 100 per cent memory foam and is manufactured in the Netherlands. You can wash the cover in the washing machine at 40 °C. The materials are certified to STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX.

You can read more about the construction on the page The Pillowise pillow.

Pillowise is not a substitute for medical assessment. It is only meant to answer the question of pillow height, so that you do not have to guess.

Why do we measure this way?

The method comes from practice. Thijs van der Hilst trained as a physiotherapist in Breda and specialised in neck and shoulder complaints. He could not recommend a suitable pillow to his patients with neck complaints. So he developed a measuring method himself: three measurements from which the right pillow follows. Pillowise grew out of this, together with United Comfort Industries. The company has been making ergonomic sleep products since 1990 in its own factory in the Netherlands.

Where can you get measured?

There are two ways:

• At a stockist: There, we measure you with the Pillowise tape measure. Stockists include chiropractors, physiotherapists, sleep specialists, wellness practices and specialist retailers. You can find a stockist near you under Stockists. At a stockist you can try lying on your size and a second one for comparison.
• At home with PillowScan: You determine your size yourself at scan.pillowise.com, on your mobile phone or via QR code. The instructions are on the page Taking measurements.

There is no webshop for private customers on pillowise.com. You get the pillow through the stockists.

What about neck pillows and orthopaedic pillows?

Neither term describes a fixed type of pillow. “Neck pillow” can mean a pillow with a hollow, a travel pillow or a pillow with a neck roll. “Orthopaedic” is not a uniformly defined feature. So pay less attention to the label than to whether the height suits your measurements. You will find an overview in our guides to the neck pillow and the orthopaedic pillow. For further guidance, see the guide to choosing the right pillow.

So: which pillow for neck pain?

One whose height suits your body, your sleeping position and your mattress. A pillow cannot do more than that, and that is already quite a lot. It does not treat pain. If your complaints persist, have them assessed by a doctor.

If you wake up without complaints in the morning and your pillow feels good, you do not need to change anything. A new pillow is mainly worth considering if you have been unsure for some time whether the height is right.

Find your size

Find your size yourself or find a stockist.

Thijs van der Hilst, physiotherapist (non-practising)
Inventor of Pillowise