Cervical Collar

[Linda1904]

I am a mouth breather so I read on here that a cervical collar would help keep my mouth shut so I bought one. I have been using it about a week. It seems comfortable enough and I get to sleep quickly, however I wake up in the middle of the night with pain in my right ear. After I take the collar off, I cannot even find the spot where the pain is coming from and there is no pain at all. Wondering if anyone else experienced this with the cervical collar. Thank You.

[DreamStalker]

May be related to sternocleidomastoid muscle tension.

You can try trigger point accupressure to release the tension ....



You may also want to consider messaging the muscle ....



.... and/or easier still, doing this set of excellent neck muscle stretching exercises (specifically the 4th, last stretch for your condition -- and the key is to keep that shoulder down as low as possible while doing the stretches just as Donald instructs in the video).

[Lucyhere]

May be related to sternocleidomastoid muscle tension.

You can try trigger point accupressure to release the tension ....



You may also want to consider messaging the muscle ....



.... and/or easier still, doing this set of excellent neck muscle stretching exercises (specifically the 4th, last stretch for your condition -- and the key is to keep that shoulder down as low as possible while doing the stretches just as Donald instructs in the video).

Thank you for your post. I have the same issue as Linda... I'll give this a try.

[Holden4th]

The cheaper collars have a velcro strap that sits underneath the collar and this can put pressure on any part of the neck it is in contact with. The better collars have that strap on top of the collar. One way to test is to rotate the collar further around the neck and see if it relieves the pressure.

[DreamStalker]

I've never used a cervical collar before but I did try one of those memory foam napping neck pillows years ago (just used it backwards with cushion under chin) when I was dealing with mouth leaks.



Eventually, I just trained myself to seal the air pressure out of my mouth by consciously training my tongue to rest on the roof of my mouth during the day (it took a couple of months) ... now it's kind of like an autonomic thing for me when I sleep.

Anyway, the point is that these neck pillows are much softer I would think than a cervical collar? .... but I don't know.

[ChicagoGranny]

The cheaper collars have a velcro strap that sits underneath the collar

Wow. I never saw one like that. Sounds awful.

a cervical collar

I have used one of the cheap ones, DMI Firm Foam http://www.walmart.com/search/?query=ce ... firm%20dmi , for about five years and never had a problem.

They work great, so I hope you have good luck solving the problem.