Waking Up With Neck Pain? It's Probably Your Pillow.

If you sleep on your side and wake up stiff, sore, or unable to turn your head properly, the problem may not be your age, your posture, or your stress. It may be the pillow holding your neck in the wrong position all night.

That stiff neck before your first cup of coffee can start with the pillow you slept on all night.

5:55 a.m.

Before you even open your eyes, you run the audit.

• Right shoulder: tight.
• Base of skull: dull ache.
• Left side of your neck: won't turn properly without a click.

You haven't checked your phone yet. You haven't sat at your desk. You haven't had time to "stress" your shoulders.

So if you sleep on your side and this is how your morning starts, there's one thing worth looking at first:

Not your phone. Not your chair. Not your age. Not your stress or your "bad neck".

Here's why.

The Back-and-Side Sleeper Trap

Your neck needs two completely different things from a pillow depending on which way you're lying.

On your back, your spine is slightly curved and close to the mattress — your head needs a low pillow that just cradles it gently. Too tall and your chin gets pushed toward your chest. You spend the night in the same hunched position you spend the day in at your desk.

On your side, you need more support. Your shoulder is now between your spine and the mattress, and there's a gap between the top of your shoulder and the side of your head. Your neck needs a much taller pillow to fill that space and stay level with the rest of your spine. And your shoulder needs somewhere to go — because if it doesn't, it gets squashed under your body weight and rolled inward.

That's where the dull ache between your neck and your shoulder comes from — the one you've been calling tension or stress for years. It's why you wake at 3 a.m. with a numb arm or pins and needles in your hand. Your shoulder has been pressed in and rolled forward under your own body weight, hour after hour.

A pillow that's the right height for your back is too low for your side. A pillow built tall enough for your side is far too high for your back — your chin is pushed toward your chest and you'll feel a different kind of stiffness, the one that spreads across your shoulders and gives you a headache by lunchtime.

And if you're like most people, you don't stay in one position. You toss, you turn, you flip from your back to your side all night. One pillow's not enough, so you try folding your pillow in half, or you add an extra one and find it too high. We've been there too.

That's the main reason you wake up sore — and it's why the stretches, the Tylenol, and the ergonomic chair only ever buy you a few hours of relief. Your neck is not getting the recovery it needs.

The Pillow For Back AND Side Sleepers

The Original Groove® Pillow is built around the fact that your neck needs different things on your back and on your side — and that you may move between the two during the night. The design is four specific zones that work together so the pillow has the right shape in both positions.

The Head Cradle is a slightly recessed center with a lower height for when you're on your back. Your head settles in. Your chin stays up. Your neck stays level with the rest of your spine.

The Ergonomic Groove is a contoured rise that fills the natural gap behind your neck and helps keep your spine in neutral alignment when sleeping on your back.

The Side-Sleeper Lateral Raises are the wider, taller flanks of the pillow, for when you turn on your side. Higher than the Ergonomic Groove, because side sleeping needs more support than back sleeping.

The Shoulder Underhang is the deliberate cut-out on each side of the pillow where your shoulder drops in when you lie down. Your shoulder goes into the curve. Your neck stays level instead of bending toward the mattress, and your shoulder isn't getting squashed and rolled under your body weight.

When you're on your back, your head is in the cradle. When you turn at 2 a.m., your shoulder drops into the curve and your head moves to the taller Side-Sleeper Support Area. When you roll back at 4 a.m., the cradle is right where it was. There's no wrong spot on this pillow. Each position has its own zone.

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Neck Pain Relief, Backed By Science

A contoured neck-support pillow isn't a marketing idea. It's an evidence-backed category.

A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis found a strong link between pillow design and neck pain, and that cervical alignment can be affected by pillow shape and height.¹

Another review found evidence for contoured pillows with higher sides for side sleepers, a lower middle for back sleepers, appropriate height, and a cooler sleep surface.²

That's why the Groove is built the way it is.

That same principle is why Groove is now recommended by more than 1,000 chiropractors, physical therapists and other practitioners across the US and UK.

500,000 Customers Have Already Switched

You've seen a hundred pillow ads this year. Here's what makes this one different.

There are 12,964 verified reviews on our US store. 4.8 stars average.

We also have 2,268 reviews on Trustpilot, with an average rating of 4.6 out of 5.

We've won numerous "Best Pillow For Neck Pain" awards from the Sleep Foundation, Good Housekeeping, Men's Health, Women's Health, and others.

Here's what some of our customers said.

You can read another 12,958 reviews on the product page. We'd recommend you do.

Risk Free With A 100 Night Trial

Some people take about a week to settle on the pillow. We give you 100 nights. If it doesn't work for you, you can get a full refund.

For most customers, it takes just one night.

1. Pang JCY, Tsang SMH, Fu ACL. The effects of pillow designs on neck pain, waking symptoms, neck disability, sleep quality and spinal alignment in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Clinical Biomechanics. 2021;85:105353. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiomech.2021.105353.
2. Radwan A, Ashton N, Gates T, Kilmer A, VanFleet M. Effect of different pillow designs on promoting sleep comfort, quality, and spinal alignment: a systematic review. European Journal of Integrative Medicine. 2021;42:101269. doi: 10.1016/j.eujim.2021.101269.
3. Helewa A, Goldsmith CH, Smythe HA, Lee P, Obright K, Stitt L. Effect of therapeutic exercise and sleeping neck support on patients with chronic neck pain: a randomized clinical trial. The Journal of Rheumatology. 2007;34(1):151-158.
4. Cleveland Clinic. Best Sleeping Positions for Pain. Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials. May 26, 2023. Used for the general principle that lying posture and pillow height should support neutral head, neck and spine alignment.
5. Sleep Foundation. Side Sleeping: Which Side Should You Sleep On? Used for the principle that side sleepers should keep the head, neck, shoulders and hips aligned.