Waking up with a sore neck, headache or tightness in your shoulders or back can be common. Luckily, it’s a problem that is often very easily rectified. Here’s what you need to do: In addition to chiropractic care, you should check your pillow. Whether you have neck pain or lower back pain, the problem may be that you neck was not in a neutral position while you were sleeping.

If you sleep on your back, you want to put a small amount of pillow under your neck, but very little pillow under your head. Sleeping with a large pillow under your head will push your head and neck forward. This can lead to the same kind of pain people experience from spending too much time looking down at their phone.

If you sleep on your side, you want a large pillow supporting your head. To keep your head in a neutral, or straight, position, you will need to stack pillows up until they are the height of your shoulder.

The easiest way to assure your neck is in the correct position is to use the Therapeutica Sleeping Pillow. I recommend this pillow more than any other product.  (I do not get any commission from recommending it.) I like it because it works for people who sleep on their sides or their backs, and also for people who switch back and forth between the two. You can buy it on a few different websites. I’ve never seen it in stores. If you need help figuring out what size to order, let me know next time you are in the office and we can measure you.