Choosing Bed Wedge Pillow?

Choosing a bed wedge pillow can be hard. Especially with all the choices you have in the market. Each claiming to be the most comfortable and the best for GERD, acid reflux, breathing problem, poor circulation, back problem, hiatals hernia and yada yada yada. On a side note, some people might find a tall bed wedge suitable for reading on the bed. Just something to keep in mind if you don't want to buy a bed rest pillow.

A good bed wedge pillow will focus on solving these health and body problems.

First of all it will help people with back pain or hiatal hernia. This is achieved by taking of the stress on your lower back muscles and spine. There's even some pillow that has built in some groove in the middle for your spine. As for side sleepers, some wedge pillow provides neck support that makes sure your spine is straight. The most important thing is that your spine is straight.

You might be buying the bed wedge pillow for this reason. To prevent acid reflux or heartburn and sleep soundly at night. I will talk more about how the bed wedge helps with this below. For now, just know that even severe acid reflux sufferer can benefit from a wedge pillow that is inclined more than 6 inches. This kind of therapy is called the positional therapy and it works really well for those suffering from Gastroesophageal reflux disease. (GERD)

Sometimes a bed wedge pillow is also called an acid reflux wedge because of the popularity of using these kind of pillows to prevent acid reflux. A normal pillow that is simply high will not do in this case. This is because you will need to incline the whole upper body in order to stop the stomach acid from reaching your esophagus. A pillow for acid reflux normally inclines slowly from your waist to your head. This lengthen your upper body and give your stomach a little more room.

A wedge pillow can even help a pregnant women sleep better at night because the weight is not centered on her back anymore. It is distributed more evenly and there is no need to sleep on your side anymore.

There's a few types of pillow for gerd available on the market. First of all, the classic foam wedge pillow can be found with the price tag from $20 to $30. A slightly more expensive but better version would be the memory foam bed wedge pillow. Which will cost around $40. This extra cost, however, would be well spent if you have the budget. This is because the memory foam wedge pillow will shape itself according to the contour of your body and the weight of your body. This means more comfort.

There's also a pillow called the adjustable bed wedge pillow. As explained by its name, you can adjust the pillow according to your needs. Whether that'd be reading or sleeping. It has a full range from 1 inch to 26 inch so you have a lot of flexibility here. This also gives you a chance to get used to it slowly and naturally.

One of the most popular one in the market is called Duro Med bed wedge. It's a white foam pillow that has an average height slope. It doesn't slope suddenly but instead gradually. A reasonably tall person will have the bed covering him/her from the waist until the head. This ensures maximum comfort. The mechanism for preventing acid reflux in this case is pretty simple. You keep your acid reflux down by utilizing gravity. I suspect it won't prevent severe case of acid reflux. However, reviews at amazon points otherwise. It seems that even people who has been taking lots of drugs (and did not improve) benefited from using the Duro Med bed wedge pillow.

However, it is not a soft pillow. That's of course, one of the features that makes it work.  You will be used to it after a while. If you can't stand hard pillow and need something softer, you could get a  memory foam bed wedge pillow. Its surface will support and be molded according to your body shape. Don't get this if you're a heavy person however.  Back to the duro med bed wedge. It seems that a lot of people are also reporting that they have solved their back or neck problem since using the pillow. Its works amazingly well because of its contour, says some of the reviews.

Ok, so far its all bed and roses. What are the negative features of the Duro Med bed wedge pillow? Well, for one some people reported having to slip down the pillow when sleeping. It seems that the incline is too steep for some. You might want to keep that in mind. To solve this Duro Med could easily put some ridges to the pillow.

Another negative point is that you can't seem to be able to sleep on your side. Despite the claim by manufacturer that its good as trunk stabilizer for side sleeping. How do you sleep on the side 12 inch elevated? It seems impossible and thats what the reviewers are saying as well.

If you want something lower, i would recommend that you get something that is at least 6 inch in incline slope. (the Duro Med is 12 inch) This is because research shows that in order to prevent acid reflux you will need at least 6 inch of height. This is the minimum of course and you should try to buy a higher bed wedge pillow. Also, buy a firm and hard surface pillow. Its good for you back and neck.

The conclusion is, bed wedge pillow is great for many things, from acid reflux or gerd to simple things like reading on the bed. Consider getting one but consult your doctor first.