PillowFacts / Problems / I wake up sore / My bottom shoulder aches from side sleeping
My bottom shoulder aches from side sleeping
An under-lofted pillow lets the head drop toward the mattress, which loads more of the upper body's weight through the shoulder that is already carrying it. Correct loft does not remove the shoulder's load, but it stops the head adding to it. The mattress matters at least as much here — how far the shoulder is allowed to sink is a mattress property, not a pillow one.
This one is not a pillow question alone. Shoulder pain is a clinical matter and this page makes no claim to address it. It describes only how pillow loft changes the load path. Persistent shoulder pain should be assessed by a professional.
What the pillow has to do
- loft in measured range — Pillow loft within the range your own measurement implies. This is first for every constraint in this cluster, because no surface is soft enough to rescue a pillow your head has already flattened.
- remeasure after change — The measurement is a property of body AND mattress. Change the mattress and the answer changes, even though the pillow did not.
How people ask this
- Shoulder pain from sleeping on side
- Pillow for shoulder pain side sleeper
- Shoulder hurts after sleeping
The pillows indexed here
| Pillow | Loft | Opening | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cushion Lab Deep Sleep Pillow | 5–5.5" | No | not published |
| The Pillow With A Hole Ltd. The Original P.W.A.H® V2 | 3.5" | Yes | 14 nights |
| Coop Sleep Goods Original Adjustable Pillow | not published | No | 100 nights |
| Blissbury Ear Pillow | 4–5" | Yes | stated two ways |
| Elviros C1 Adjustable CPAP Pillow | 2.4–4.1" | Yes | 100 nights |
| Pillow Cube Side Cube Original | 5" | No | 60 nights |
| Purple Harmony Pillow | 5.5–7.5" | No | 30 nights |
| Cushion Lab CloudLoft Pillow | 8" | No | not published |
| Cushion Lab Neck Relief Ergonomic Cervical Pillow | 4.3" | No | not published |
| Layla Kapok Pillow | not published | No | 30 nights |
| Coop Sleep Goods Eden Adjustable Pillow | not published | No | 100 nights |
Work out your own loft first → Loft comes before everything else on this list.