Tri-Core Ergonomic Cervical Pillow Neck Pain Relief, Petite GR Firm

My body is pretty much a mess and a good night's sleep is hard to get due to past injuries. I am both a back sleeper (due to a broken lumbar vertebra and misaligned cervical vertebrae) and a side sleeper (left side due to two reconstructive surgeries in my right shoulder and some broken ribs on the right side). I spent years sleeping directly on the floor without a mattress and with my legs raised to prevent my spine seizing up. I have tried pretty much every "orthopedic" pillow on the market since the mid-'90s and most work well for either back or side sleep - claims regarding pillow comfort are generally greatly exaggerated. Only the Core Products pillows (recommended by my chiropractor) actually delivered on their promise to provide sufficient support no matter how you like to sleep. Tempurpedic is great for mattresses but terrible for neck support as it compresses quickly and stops providing support after about a half hour. And some of the dedicated high-tec pillows are great once you're "in position" but just too uncomfortable when shifting body position during the night, with the result that I would wake up many times each night. I've been using the large version of the TriCore for years but it doesn't fit easily in any of my pillow cases and it's just a couple inches too wide for me - when I roll onto my side my cheek doesn't quite make it up onto the thicker side padding. So when it came time to replace it I went with the medium size and it's perfect. In order to pick the best size for you, try lying on your back with a piece of paper under your head, then rolling to one side, mark where the tip of your nose is above the paper, then do the same thing on the other side. That gives you the best pillow width for your body. As far as the firmness/ thickness of the cervical roll, that's a little tougher to figure out before buying, but the nice thing about the TriCores is that every pillow has two options - one of the long edges of the pillow has a very firm cervical roll, the other has a softer cervical roll. I actually use my TriCore "upside down" (compared to the product photo and compared to the intended sleeping position). The company doesn't do a very good job of telling people just how adaptable this pillow is. If it doesn't work in one position, flip it over and try it the other way. It takes a few nights to get used to any new pillow design. I'm one of those people who said "I've never a met a pillow too firm for me" so I ordered the standard (firm) density on this new TriCore - lo and behold, the (intended) cervical roll was too firm for me, but the roll along the other edge was perfect. That actually works out great because as the pillow compresses over time, I will eventually shift to the firmer edge of the pillow. I know how frustrating it can be to lose sleep because you're fighting the pillow's design. This pillow was the right solution for me. I hope it works for you too.

This is the right size for an adult female. For side sleeping I have a pillow under it to give it the height needed to keep my neck straight. But you can back sleep without another pillow under it. It doesn't come with a waterproof cover, but it fits in your standard pillowcase. I also have the medium sized one and that one is too big by far. I would only use a corner of the medium one. The thickness and firmness of the petite pillow is the same as the medium... The medium just has more space in the center for a giant head. The medium one also fits in a standard pillowcase. I use the medium one underneath the petite one for side sleeping. The center is completely flat and only the edges of the pillow are full, so you can support your neck and keep your head from rolling to the side. I didn't notice any smell. This brand and the firmness were recommended by my Occupational Therapist.

These pillows are half the size of the same pillows I have bought over 10 times. Not the same pillows. I am very unhappy with these, they do not work for my size. I opened one up and paperwork said they would get bigger, they didn't. Looks like they were made for a child. I will send a Pic compared to old pillow

Yes this pillow looks bizarre and seems like it will be impossible to use comfortably. GIVE IT ONE SHOT and your neck and sleep will be forever changed. I love the two sided option and how it fixed my wrenched neck in ONE NIGHT!

I was having difficulty sleeping due to neck pain and since I started using this pillow I have been sleeping so much better. I recommend this pillow. Great product, no weird smell, perfect size

About a couple years ago I began experimenting with pillows, because the standard pillows I had were annoying me in a number of ways. They were too soft, even the supposedly "extra firm" pillows I bought. So when I slept on my side, I'd have to fold the side of the pillow under itself in order to get any decent firmness. And invariably over time even that wouldn't work, because the material would always wear out. I often found myself sleeping with my arm tucked under the pillow, but that would cause my arm to lose blood circulation. It was really sub-optimal no matter what I tried and no matter what pillow I used. I'm a light sleeper, too, so that made it even worse. Then I tried out one of those memory foam pillows with the two bumps in it. Actually, I think I bought a cheap foam rubber version rather than true memory foam. It was a lot more firm than the normal pillows, so I thought it would do well. Pretty quickly, however, I found myself waking up with a stiff, sore neck. It was so bad that I just couldn't even turn my head any more than about 20 degrees. And that was every single day practically, for almost a year. Memory foam or latex foam would have done the same thing, I believe. Finally I decided to buy one of these Tri-core pillows. Immediately, the next day my neck pain had completely gone away. I thought it was a fluke, but I've had this pillow for about a month now, and so far no neck pain. What I really like about it is its firmness. It's about as firm as you can get without it being hard. It makes all the regular "extra firm" pillows seem like they're actually "extra soft". And firmness is a good thing. Without that firmness, your head just collapses down into the bed, and it causes your neck to get bent at an awkward angle, which leads to neck pain and sleeping problems. On the other hand, you don't want it to be too firm. That would just cause pain. This Tri-core pillow has just enough give (softness) to allow you to rest easily without pressure points digging into your face, ears, and head. I like that. I'm a side and back sleeper. The instructions say to sleep right on the edge of the pillow if you're sleeping on the side, and in the middle of the pillow if you're sleeping on your back. But I don't always find myself following those instructions. I just naturally find a "sweet spot" somewhere between the middle and edge when sleeping on my side. But sleeping perfectly on the edge is good too. The point I'm making is that there are subtle variations in the depth and angle of the pillow and the way it makes you feel. You may have to play with it a bit to find out what makes you feel the best. I don't know how this pillow will perform over the long-term, since I've only had it a month now. But so far it doesn't appear to be losing any of its firmness. Or if it is, it's not enough to really notice. I'm sure it won't last forever. But at this price, you can afford to buy a new one when that day comes. I highly recommend giving it a try. UPDATE June 11, 2012: --------------------- It has been a while since I reviewed this pillow, and I've had a chance to try other pillows since then. It must be about a year and a half or so since I bought this product. I've been using it ever since. Here's an update. First of all, I want to say that the product has held up remarkably well. There's not much softening, wearing, or indentation of the pillow at all. It remains very firm despite using it more or less continuously the entire time. So that's very good. But it hasn't been all good. At first it was great. But little by little the pillow started annoying me in different ways. Mostly, the trapezoidal depression in the middle of the pillow proved more difficult to tolerate than I wanted. I would often wake up in the middle of the night, because I was fighting with the pillow to find the best spot for my head. You can't just roll over in your sleep, because you'll end up in the hole with no support whatsoever. It's great if you never roll over. It's also good if you only sleep on your back and one side but not the other side. For example, if you go back and forth between sleeping on your back and your left side, but never your right side, then that's okay. But going from the left to the right side is not going to be easy. And because it's not easy, it requires some thought, which will actually wake you up. Something else that annoyed me about this pillow was the thickness of the pillow on the sides. I'm all for support. Support is a real problem with most pillows. This pillow has super support. However, the fact that it was too thick for me meant that it felt a bit too firm at times. I wanted to compress the pillow down with my head, but because it's so firm, I couldn't. So if I were making a wish list of future improvements, I wish this pillow didn't have the hole in the middle. I just want a constant thickness throughout the pillow. And I would like it to be a bit less thick. And it would be nice if it had a thin top layer of memory foam or something just to relieve pressure points a bit better. Because of these irritations, I'm now removing one star. I used to rate it at 5 stars. I now rate it at 4 stars. On the plus side, it never caused neck problems. It was great in that respect. It is still a very good and dependable pillow that I recommend trying, especially for its price. In the meanwhile, I recently purchased an excellent pillow that solves all of the problems I've seen with pillows. It's called the IntelliPillow. It's made with "intelli-gel". You can find it at: [...] That IntelliPillow is much more expensive, but in my opinion at this time, no other pillow beats it. If you're trying one pillow after another with no luck, it might be better to buy the IntelliPillow and be done with it. Might save you money in the long run. I just wish Amazon was selling it so I could review it. Hope that helps!

Okay, so I felt like this was a product that definitely deserved a review, because I've read dozens of reviews on pillows to try to find the best neck pillow (for lack of a better term). I don't have any major spinal problems or anything to that extent, but I have had minor neck and back pain for a while. Additionally, about a year ago I had an injury which caused a pinched nerve in my lower neck, which causes some random pain and tightness. So, I've been trying to find a pillow that alleviates those pains, although maybe there isn't such a thing. Let's talk about the pros first. It's stuffed very nicely and offers good support. It's nice and large and works pretty well for back sleepers. It doesn't (or hasn't after a month), lost it's firmness. It MAY have had some impact on my neck pain, but I really can't say that with much confidence as I feel essentially the same after using it for a few weeks now. It's reasonably priced when compared to some other pillows out there. The cons. I'm a side sleeper, despite really trying to sleep on my back. No matter how hard I try, I end up on my side, so why fight it? On this pillow, I was honestly confused when I received it as far as how I was supposed to use it on my side. I mean, there are obvious labels in the picture that say "comfortable side sleeping", but when looking at the actual pillow it just seems odd. From the picture, it appears that there are large areas on each side of the center to use for sleeping on your side, not so much. My head literally will barely fit on either side of the pillow. Why is that a problem? Well, for starters I have to carefully balance my head on what feels like a tiny vertical pillow roll. If I'm sleeping on my left side, I have to slide all the way to the right of the pillow to use the very outside of the pillow. Nearly every time I wake up in the middle of the night, I find that my head has rolled back in the center area, off the side, or is in some weird halfway between position. Then, if I roll over to my right side, I have to shift all the way across the pillow to the other side, otherwise my face will roll in to the center area. It's just really odd to not be able to sleep in the middle of your pillow and to have to do some balancing act with the edge. What's worse, the side of the pillow really doesn't offer anything different than any other normal pillow. It's basically flat. Yes, it's stuffed nicely and is supportive, but so are a lot of pillows. I mean, sleeping on your back in the center has an obvious purpose, to keep your neck in the correct position. But if the correct position for side sleepers is just a properly stuffed pillow, than what's the point of paying for a cervical pillow? So, in short, I would say that if you're a back sleeper, it's a nice pillow and worth the money. Side sleepers, I really just can't recommend it because it really has so many issues for no benefits over a normal pillow.

Pillow was too small. Only one position was comfortable for my neck.

I took a long while musing over the non-conventional pillows available. I think it was worth it. I took to this one straight away, though I was a little concerned that it seems a bit low and, obviously, you use only one. However, it performs as described - it's comfortable and has removed what I now realized has been my problem of having too many pillows, forcing me to restrict my breathing when I move into uncomfortable positions. Having one pillow that retains its shape gives you a constant support all night, every night. The only downside would be that you might have to buy a large pillowcase for it, but so what?

It is not ergonomic and not support neck properly. Practically by increasing neck curve will increase/induced snoring.

No t for me little thick for my disc

Aunque esta es la versión supuestamente más blanda que su hermana mayor sigue siendo demasiado dura. Probé el modelo duro y no he encontrado diferencia alguna. A mí personalmente no me ha gustado, de hecho, los dos modelos han terminado en la basura.

Me funcionó exactamente como necesito, llevo usándolo un mes a esta fecha