thumb|An ergonomic pillow
An orthopedic pillow is a pillow designed to correct body positioning in bed or while lying on any other surface. Its design conforms to orthopedic guidelines to ensure the right placement and support of one or more specific parts of the body to provide safe and healthy rest to the sleeper.
Pillows have been traditionally made of foam and fiber, but other types now exist, such as pillows made of memory foam, a heat sensitive material that can acquire the shape of the body lying upon it. It may or may not recover its original shape immediately when the body is removed from the pillow.
Orthopedic pillows are regarded as therapeutic pillows based on claims that they can help relieve various conditions including sleep apnoea, snoring, insomnia, breathing difficulty, blood circulation problems, acid reflux, gastroesophageal reflux disease, lower back pain, sciatica pain, neck pain, whiplash, and rotator cuff injury, amongst others.
There are many types of orthopedic pillows for almost every part of the human body, as well as orthopedic beds, mattresses, top mattresses, supports and cushions for different orthopedic problems. Some of them have multi-purpose and multi-position designs for different physical ailments and sleep disorders.
Pillow with a recess in the centre to protect parts of the body from uncomfortable pressure.
See main article: Sleeping positions.
The most common sleep positions people adopt in bed are:
Side sleeping is the most common of the three. According to the Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, two out of three people sleep on their sides. This position is considered the most suitable because it reduces the incidences of snoring, sleep apnoea and obstructive sleep apnoea; it helps release breathing airways; and it is the most helpful position for pregnant women to reduce the pressure of their wombs. It is twice as common in women as in men.
The inconvenience of this position is that most of the body's pressure relies over arms and shoulders which produce neck stiffness and frozen shoulder. This can be solved with a side sleeper pillow that allows the correct placement of neck, arms and shoulders.
Unlike side sleeping, this position may favour episodes of snoring and sinusitis, as well as back pain. This position requires a soft but firm support for three critical curves of the body: behind the neck, in the middle of the back and lower back. For this, an orthopedic pillow with neck contour and a wedge under knees can allow the back sleeper to lie with safety and comfort.
More common in infants and small children than in adults, this sleep position is considered harmful for the neck (neck strain, neck pain and stiffness) and responsible of the incidence of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) in babies as small children, according to a study by the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.