The best pillows for aches and pains

Sometimes a warm bath and a good night’s sleep aren’t enough to ease aches and pains. If you’re living with a chronic condition or suffering from temporary discomfort due to surgery or injury, getting comfortable in bed can be an ordeal in itself. 

Enter the world of alternative pillows. Unlike regular pillows that are designed to support your head, specialist pillows help position the rest of your body more comfortably as you sleep. This helps reduce pressure on joints and muscles, which, in turn, gives your body a chance to rest more fully. This means a better night’s sleep for you!

So, if you’re suffering from aches or pain in your neck, shoulder or back, it’s something that can be avoided if you choose the right pillow for your sleeping position, frame and weight. But where do you start? 

Your sleeping position can really impact your body. Think about it like this – if you stood or sat in just one or two positions for 6 or 7 hours every single day, you’d rapidly notice an effect on your body. It’s the same with your sleeping position. That’s why it’s a good idea to choose a pillow that minimises the stress of your sleeping position on your body.

Although a bad pillow may not be the root cause, it can contribute to causing aches and pains in the head, neck, back and also shoulders.

Therefore, it’s vital to understand the importance of finding the right pillow for you, as requirements of comfort, support and depth vary from person to person. The correct pillow helps in keeping your spine in neutral alignment, without your neck being tilted.

An orthopaedic pillow is designed to support your sleeping position and prevent back, neck or shoulder pain. It’s often assumed that for a pillow to be orthopaedic it must be made with synthetic fills. But as you’ll see, this isn’t necessarily the case.

When deciding which pillow to buy, it’s best to start with identifying your sleeping position first:

Front sleepers

For those who sleep on their front, a soft, flatter pillow is best recommended to keep your head and neck aligned.

Side sleepers

Side sleepers should browse for a pillow that’s plumper and supports your neck alignment. The best way to identify this is through the ‘sleeping depth’ or ‘resting depth’ of a pillow, to measure the distance between your head and shoulder so you can select one that matches best.

Back Sleepers

Medium support is one of the best options if you sleep on your back, as the head needs to be slightly raised to help prevent pressure on the neck without causing the spine to bend lower down.

Also sold as a pregnancy pillow, these extra-large pillows are endlessly adaptable. Wrap one around your body to provide support as you sit in bed, rest a leg on it to reduce pressure on aching hips or knees or simply cuddle into it to ease pressure on the front of your body. As the name suggests, these pillows are perfect for expectant mamas. The adaptable soft pillow is ideal for supporting bumps, aching hips and swollen ankles for a more restful night’s sleep.

Chronic neck pain should be discussed with a doctor, but if you’re using the wrong pillow whilst you sleep this can be a contributing factor. It’s important that during the night your neck and back is in a neutral position - which means keeping it in a comfortable position without tilting it in a certain direction.

Not only is this range one of our best-sellers (both with customers and the press), the availability of different firmnesses makes this a brilliant range to customise your sleeping experience. Choose our soft option if you sleep on your front or a medium-firm option for back and side sleepers, and let neck pain be a thing of the past! Browse our Hungarian goose down pillows collection. 

A supportive and comforting option, this beautiful Canadian goose down pillow has options in both soft firmness and medium-firm. The incredibly large down clusters that boast plumpness and fantastic recovery, to allow the sleeper to have full comfort and movement during the night. 

Although it can be difficult to identify the root cause of back pain, there are some key reasons as to why a sufferer experiences pain. This can be due to a strain, slipped disc, or irritation of a nerve, but also lifestyles can have an impact too. For example, office workers with poor desk posture can struggle with back and nerve pain.

For some, it may be that your bedding isn’t fit for purpose for your frame and shape. This can have detrimental effects on your sleep and also aches and pains. An easy way to know if you need to re-think your bedding is if you go to bed feeling comfortable and happy and wake up feeling stiff, achy and uncomfortable.

Designed to sit between your knees whilst you sleep, this wonderful knee pillow is ideal if you are a side sleeper to align your pelvic and spine which, in turn, alleviates pressure on your back. The memory foam filling responds to the heat of your body, so offers unique, cradling support.

Hungarian Goose Down Pillow

These luxurious down-filled pillows do wonders for your shoulders, as well as your head and neck. The soft/medium goose down pillow is best for sleepyheads with narrower shoulders, while the deeper medium/firm pillow is better for those with broader shoulders. A supportive pillow guaranteeing a more comfortable night’s sleep?

We understand how frustrating not feeling comfortable and supported while you sleep can feel. So, if you’re struggling, please don’t suffer in silence and reach out to our customer service team who would be more than happy to help. Head over to our support pillows page for further options.

Want to learn more about how to have a better night’s sleep? Browse our sleep solutions pages for expert tips and advice on ways to sleep and the best products to use.

Memory Foam Pillows

Our memory foam pillows helps minimise shoulder, neck, back and hip pain and can help relieve tension on your spine, thanks to the way memory foam adjusts to the position and weight of your head. The memory foam fill softens in response to your body heat, keeping your head and neck perfectly aligned with the rest of your body for a more comfortable night’s sleep with less stress on your joints.

Discover our Memory Foam Pillow collection, designed to help alleviate stress and tension throughout different areas of your body.