A cervical pillow is a specially designed pillow that supports your neck and head. The requirement differs from person to person. However this pillow helps to maintain the right posture between the neck and your head reducing tension and increasing relaxation.
Depending upon the person's posture whether he or she is lying down or sitting the angle changes between the neck and head. This pillow is designed in such a way that the empty space is filled with the cervical pillow with the change of the posture.
Cervical pillows are made in different shapes. They are cylindrical, rectangular, square, circular etc. Each shape has got different significance. A triangular depression on the head cervical pillow is useful for people who sleep on their back. There are also S shaped cervical pillows available in the market. This is designed to lift the upper part of the head and neck and the back portion is on rest. This moulds with the curvature of the neck.
These cervical pillows are used to reduce discomfort. This pillow helps in positioning your neck in a proper way which reduces tension and can also heal neck injuries. It can also help you to improve your sleep and thus reducing your head aches and other illness that develops due to lack of sleep.
In earlier times, people who were using cervical pillows had to order and custom made was given to them. Each person's problem was different and it is very rare that two or more people will have identical head shape. So they were designed according to their shapes.
Cervical pillows are very expensive so they used to make based on order. In 1966 Thad B. McCarty came up with a cervical pillow that can be used by everyone. So the cost of custom made production also reduced. Thus they could afford mass production also. The cervical pillow after 1966 was made with layered flexible rubber which was made of foam. It sides were made little inclined leaving a depression in the middle.
This pillow was solving both purposes. When they wanted to lie on their side they were using the raised portion of the pillow. And while lying down people were advised to use the suppressed side. There were layers that were introduced to adjust the size of the pillow. So according to the needs people use to add or remove layers for the adjustment of sides.
In recent times technology has advanced itself. They have introduced cervical pillows that will adjust by themselves and you will not have to add or remove layers yourself. However still you can get your customized cervical pillow done if you want a unique one for yourself.