What's the Difference Between a Memory Foam Contour Pillow and a Memory Foam Neck Pillow?
A memory foam neck pillow is sometimes mistakenly referred to as a memory foam contour pillow. Neck pillows are the pillows that you see advertised on TV, newspaper, magazine and bill boards. (In other words, everywhere!)
And it's no wonder. The comfort and support that is allowed by a good memory foam neck pillow is impossible to simulate with any other pillow on the market.
I'm sure you've seen them. They have a distinctive shape—kind of fat on one side, concave in the middle and then less fat on the other side.
They are usually pictured with someone lying on their back with the fat side supporting their neck while their head is cradled into the concave portion.
This position perfectly aligns your head, neck and upper back and greatly reduces or eliminates many stress related head aches and neck pain.
The temperature-sensitive memory foam softens as it reacts to your body temperature, so it cradles your neck and head with a perfect, form-fitting mold. Because this action reduces pressure, you'll toss and turn less frequently during the night.
Also, since your breathing passages are opened in this position, you are much less likely to snore.
The main difference between the neck pillow and the memory foam contour pillow is that the contour pillow usually has a cut out on the side of the pillow, where the base of your neck would normally rest on the regular neck pillow.
Cutting out this portion of the pillow allows the remaining sides of the pillow to rest against your upper shoulders, giving increased support on your entire upper body/neck area.
This type of pillow isn't as versatile as the normal neck pillow because it doesn't support your neck as well if you turn over onto your side. It is great for someone who tends to go to sleep on their back and remain in that position for the entire night.
Probably the most well-known contour pillow is the Tempurpedic® Millennium Pillow, which retails for about $99.00 for regular and $125.00 for queen-sized.
