Comparative Study on the Effects of 3-Types of Pillows on Pressure Distribution and Cervical Alignment

Research Objectives To inspect which pillow provides the most comfortable and ideal posture during sleep, which leads to high quality sleep. Design Blinded comparison, repeated measures design of 4 different pillow conditions: (a) without pillow, (b) neck support foam pillow(NSFP), (c) standard microfiber foam pillow(SFP), (d) hybrid foam pillow(HFP). Setting The experiment was conducted in university laboratory setting. Participants The study group comprised of twenty-eight healthy adults (mean age of 29 years old). Participants with neck pain due to neurological disorders, history of cervical spine and shoulder surgery, spinal-related neurological disorders, and/or serious neck pain were excluded. Interventions Not applicable. Main Outcome Measures Head-neck pressure distribution and muscle tone of sternocleidomastoid were measured to evaluate chin-sternum distance, craniovertebral angle, cranio-horizontal angle, and level of comfort of pillow. Results The head-neck peak pressure was highest in NSFP condition, and CVA and CHA of the SFP were lower than that of all other pillow conditions (p <.05). This indicates that NSFP may provide discomfort during sleep and that SFP may provide an undesirable forward-head posture with prolonged use. Conclusions We established the importance of pillow selection to have a high-quality sleep. Specifically, pillow design that combines cervical support and comfort provides even pressure distribution, which induces high-quality sleep by adjusting position of cervical spine closer to a normal alignment. Author(s) Disclosures The authors report no conflict of interest. To inspect which pillow provides the most comfortable and ideal posture during sleep, which leads to high quality sleep. Blinded comparison, repeated measures design of 4 different pillow conditions: (a) without pillow, (b) neck support foam pillow(NSFP), (c) standard microfiber foam pillow(SFP), (d) hybrid foam pillow(HFP). The experiment was conducted in university laboratory setting. The study group comprised of twenty-eight healthy adults (mean age of 29 years old). Participants with neck pain due to neurological disorders, history of cervical spine and shoulder surgery, spinal-related neurological disorders, and/or serious neck pain were excluded. Not applicable. Head-neck pressure distribution and muscle tone of sternocleidomastoid were measured to evaluate chin-sternum distance, craniovertebral angle, cranio-horizontal angle, and level of comfort of pillow. The head-neck peak pressure was highest in NSFP condition, and CVA and CHA of the SFP were lower than that of all other pillow conditions (p <.05). This indicates that NSFP may provide discomfort during sleep and that SFP may provide an undesirable forward-head posture with prolonged use. We established the importance of pillow selection to have a high-quality sleep. Specifically, pillow design that combines cervical support and comfort provides even pressure distribution, which induces high-quality sleep by adjusting position of cervical spine closer to a normal alignment.