Pillow for Shoulder Pain: What Side Sleepers Should Look For

A pillow does not treat shoulder pain. But it can help your head and neck rest at a suitable height when you sleep on your side, so that your shoulder is not put under extra strain.

Can a pillow help with shoulder pain at all?

Shoulder pain has many possible causes. The pillow is not one of them, and it is no substitute for treatment. Anyone who promises you that a pillow will make shoulder pain disappear is promising too much.

What a suitable pillow can do is limited, but not unimportant: it helps your head and cervical spine stay in line and gives your shoulder room. That is the prerequisite for a sleeping position in which you are not working against your own pillow.

Why does pillow height matter so much when you sleep on your side?

When you sleep on your side, part of your body weight rests on your shoulder. The pillow fills the gap between your head and the mattress. This gap is different for everyone, because it depends mainly on the width of your shoulders.

• The pillow is too low: Your head tilts towards the mattress. Your shoulder then carries more than it needs to, and your neck lies at an angle.
• The pillow is too high: Your neck bends to the other side. In this case, too, your head and cervical spine are not in line.

The right height lies somewhere in between, and it cannot be given as a general figure. We describe how to tell whether a pillow is too high or too low in our guide Is your pillow too high or too low?. You can find more about side sleeping in general in The right pillow for side sleepers.

Which pillow for shoulder pain suits side sleepers?

An answer such as “the pillow with height X” would not be credible. Which pillow suits you depends on several things that differ from person to person:

• Shoulder width: It determines how big a gap the pillow has to bridge when you sleep on your side.
• Neck circumference and neck length: They determine how your head and neck rest on the pillow.
• Sleeping position: If you mostly sleep on your side, you need a different height from someone who sleeps on their back or front.
• Mattress: Whether it is soft, medium or firm changes how deeply your shoulder and body sink in.

The material alone does not settle the question. A memory foam pillow can work well if the height is right, and badly if it is not. The same applies to any other material. You will find an overview of the properties in our guide Memory foam pillows.

If you mainly want to know which pillow suits you overall, Which pillow is the best? will help you.

Is there a best-in-test pillow for shoulder pain?

Anyone looking for a test winner is hoping for a simple answer. There isn't one, for two reasons.

First, even a test winner does not treat shoulder pain. Second, a pillow is assessed in a test under certain conditions, not on your body.

A test winner does not automatically suit your shoulder width. If your shoulders are wider or narrower than those of the test participants, the same pillow may be too high or too low for you. Tests can give some guidance. Whether a pillow suits you when you sleep on your side only becomes clear from your own measurements.

How does Pillowise determine the right pillow size?

Pillowise is a made-to-measure memory foam pillow. I developed it together with United Comfort Industries, who have been making ergonomic sleep products in their own factory in the Netherlands since 1990. It began with a question from my practice: which pillow can I recommend to a patient with neck or shoulder complaints? I could not find a method that suited every body, so I developed one myself.

The size is based on three measurements:

Your sleeping position (back, side, front) and your mattress (soft, medium, firm) are also taken into account. An algorithm uses these to choose the right size. There are six sizes, each with its own colour: pink, orange, green, blue, red and purple.

The Pillowise pillow measures 55 x 35 cm. The core is made of 100% memory foam. The cover has a moisture-regulating top layer made of Tencel and can be machine washed at 40 °C. The materials are certified to STANDARD 100 by OEKO-TEX.

Our guide Measuring your shoulder width explains exactly how to measure your shoulder width.

How do you find your size?

There are two ways to determine your size.

1. Have yourself measured: At a Pillowise stockist, your size is determined with the Pillowise tape measure.
2. Measure yourself: With PillowScan at scan.pillowise.com you can work out your size yourself, using your mobile phone or a QR code. You can also find the tool on the page Taking your measurements.

Pillowise is not sold through its own online shop on pillowise.com. You can get the pillow from a stockist, which you can find on the page Stockists.

And what if your neck bothers you more than your shoulder?

Your shoulder and neck are closely connected, and sometimes it is hard to say exactly where the pain begins. If your neck is more of a concern for you, read on in our guide Pillow for neck tension.

When should you have shoulder pain checked by a doctor?

A pillow is no substitute for a diagnosis. Have shoulder pain checked by a doctor if any of these points apply:

• The pain persists.
• The pain wakes you up at night.
• The pain started after a fall.

A doctor can establish the cause and decide on treatment. We do not give advice on that. The pillow only becomes a topic afterwards, and even then only as part of your sleeping position. If you would like to read more about exercises in connection with shoulder impingement, you can find an overview in our article on shoulder impingement exercises.

So: do you need a different pillow for shoulder pain?

Not necessarily. If you lie comfortably on your side, without your head tilting or your neck bending, and the pain has been checked by a doctor, you do not need to change anything.

If, on the other hand, you notice that your pillow is too high or too low when you sleep on your side, it is worth getting measured. The pillow does not treat pain. But it can help your head and neck rest at a suitable height, and that depends on your shoulder width, not on a test result.

Find your pillow size

Three measurements determine the size that suits your body.

Work out your size yourself or find a stockist near you

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