The secret behind the Shoulder Relief Pillow is so simple: you hug it. 

 

By placing your arms around the pillow in a hug-like position, your shoulder joints, shoulder blades, and spine assume a much more natural, pain-free, position all night. 

 

There is a reason that children fall asleep faster when they are hugging their favorite stuffed animal. They are not just psychologically more comfortable, but physically more comfortable when they are “snuggling with their teddy bear”. As adults, with our larger bodies, this hug-like sleeping position becomes even more important for deep, pain-free sleep, even if we have outgrown the psychological need for it.

 

Most “shoulder” pillows are designed to alleviate the bottom shoulder from being crushed in the side sleeping position by using a wedge in the armpit region to elevate the upper body off the bed. While this does relieve some of the compression of the bottom shoulder joint, many people find the wedge pillow very uncomfortable to sleep on. By definition a pillow should make sleeping more comfortable, not less.

 

In contrast, the Shoulder Relief Pillow design tractions the entire shoulder girdle by elevating and supporting the top shoulder in the side sleeping position. This deceptively simple adjustment in sleeping position provides multiple biomechanical benefits:

 

• Spinal Alignment: It allows the thoracic and cervical spine to align naturally, relieving the pressure on the spinal facet joints caused by gravity in the side sleeping position. This abnormal lateral curvature of the spine is exaggerated by a sagging bed surface and/or by using a wedge pillow under the armpit. Spinal facet joint stress of this type will frequently cause upper back pain, neck pain, circulation deficiencies, and spinal nerve dysfunction.

• Brachial Plexus Decompression: It prevents compression of the brachial plexus (nerve bundle) in the armpit by supporting the shoulder and scapula (shoulder blade). This type of nerve compression is very common in people that sleep in the side position and will cause numbness, pain, and tingling sensations down the arm. Over time, this can lead to developing a condition called Thoracic Outlet Syndrome which has much more serious symptoms and impairment.

• Improved Circulation in the Upper Extremities: Many people place their bottom arm under the head pillow in the slide sleeping position, causing the arm to “fall asleep” with numbness and tingling after an hour in this position. The Shoulder Relief Pillow allows for the bottom arm to extend through a tunnel in the pillow, preventing compression of the nerves and blood vessels traveling down the inside of the upper arm and allowing one to sleep through the night undisturbed by nerve compression or circulatory deficiency symptoms. 

• Expanded Lung Capacity: The lifting of the top arm when using this pillow allows the chest to expand freely in all directions, allowing for deeper respiration during sleep. In addition, the pillow is shaped to have a concave surface facing the sleeper to provide more space for the rhythmic movement of the abdomen and ribcage during respiration.

• Neuromuscular Balance: Most importantly, the hug-like position of the arms when using the Shoulder Relief Pillow optimizes the muscular tension in the shoulder girdle muscles during sleep. If these muscles are over-stretched or cramped for long periods they will develop trigger point activity (very small cramps in the muscle) causing referred pain in the shoulders, neck, chest, arms, and head. Using the Shoulder-eeze Pillow establishes and maintains a neutral position for all these muscles during sleep which resolves trigger point activity and allows the muscles to recover naturally. This becomes exceptionally important when a person has a preexisting myofascial (trigger point) pain disorder in the upper back, shoulder, or neck muscles. If their sleep position is aggravating their condition, the person will not recover, or sleep, for a long time.

 

Despite it’s seemingly simple appearance, a great deal of research and trial and error has informed it’s design. In clinical practice, the Shoulder Relief Pillow has proven valuable in treating many symptoms and conditions such as:

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• Frozen Shoulder or Adhesive Capsulitis

• Rotator Cuff Strains

• Thoracic Outlet Syndrome

• Radiating Arm Pain

• Neck Pain & Tension

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

• Chest and Breast Pain

• Positional Sleep Apnea

• Spinal Articular Dysfunction 

• Arm numbness and tingling