I recently emailed with a very nice lady named Constance who had cervical spinal stenosis and loss of cervical lordosis. She stated that she wakes up every day with a very sore/stiff neck. She has not been sleeping through the night for a long time. Chiropractic adjustments, massages, and acupuncture have all helped, but none of it is not long-lasting. All of that is very expensive, too she noted. She wanted to find a pillow or something that will give me more long-term results.
So what to do?
Constance is already doing all of the right things in terms of natural treatments for neck pain due to cervical stenosis and loss of neck curve.
The arc4life traction pillow is going to be the best recommended pillow for her. I would not recommend any other pillow to her. She seems to have a lot of sensitivity in her neck so she needs to be using the support side of the pillow.
In the meantime, she can also use the traction v side as well, but not for sleeping, but for neck stretching.
How to do this?
Simply lay on your back on the traction V side of the pillow and set a timer for 10 minutes to start. This process of stretching the neck will allow the vertebrae (bones) in the cervical spine to pull apart. This allows for release of the cervical nerves. You can work your way up to 25 minutes for this type of neck traction.
This is a very gentle form of neck traction. Once you are feeling comfortable doing this, a person can start to use a traction unit such as posture pump 1000. This type of at home treatment will help your cervical stenosis and loss of c curve tremendously.
To start neck traction in an even more gentler way, create a towel roll.
You can also create a towel roll at home. This is very simple and does not cost anything I think it would bring Constance a lot of relief.
Also, using a heating pack through out the day as needed- even once a time during the day (ex after work) can make a big difference to helping ones neck muscles). A hot shower in the morning with gentle neck stretches can also help a great deal (While the hot water in hitting your neck, you gently bring your head forward and back, gentle to the side and and then turn side to side - not to the point of pain, but to the point of feeling a stretch).
I would also recommend some kind of natural pain relief gel. I like Sombra natural pain relief gel personally. Don't just rub that in gently, do a little muscle work into your neck muscles, upper back and neck area. The chiropractor may be able to help patients with this if he/she does trigger point therapy/ muscle work).
Additional Reading:
- Sleep Deprivation and How it Affects ones Thinking
- Cliff Notes on how to Use the arc4life traction pillow
- The 3 sizes of the arc4life pillow: A pillow for sleeping
- Factors that determine the success of a pillow
- The arc4life cervical traction neck pillow
- 3 things you can do to avoid text neck
