Core Products Original Tri-Core Firm-Cervical Support Pillow for Neck, Shoulder, & Back Pain Relief-Ergonomic Orthopedic Contour Pillow for Back and Side Sleep-Assembled in USA- Firm, Full Size

Normally I would not give a product 5 stars if I didn't think that it was perfect, but this product is an exception.In early June I woke up one morning with a sore neck. A day later the area around my shoulder blade was extremely painful. The next day, my elbow started hurting. I'm not someone who usually has aches and pains, so I just figured that I had some kind of injury that would go away on its own. A week later, the pain was no better so I called my family physician to set up an appointment. The soonest that I could get an appointment was a week and half out. Several days after calling for the appointment, the pain was getting worse so I went to one of the immediate care places in the area. The doctor there said that I had three totally unrelated problems - wry neck, an injured rotator cuff, and tendonitis. It seemed strange that I would suddenly go from having no pain related problems to having three problems, but I went ahead and tried the exercises and prescription strength anti-inflammatory that he prescribed. Neither did anything to relieve the pain.The night before I was scheduled to see my family physician, the pain in my shoulder blade and elbow was bad enough that I could not get to sleep. I reached over my shoulder and started to press in various places to try to pinpoint where the shoulder pain was so that I could show my doctor the next day. Suddenly the pain in my shoulder blade and elbow went away. Having the pain go away in my shoulder blade was surprising, but not nearly as surprising as having the pain in the elbow go away. After a few minutes, the pain started to come back. I pressed on the same spot, and the pain once again went away. The next day when I saw my doctor and mentioned this, he said that I had a rhomboid trigger point and that trigger points could cause pain to be felt in areas other than at the trigger point itself. He prescribed various exercises that I could do to reduce the pain.The exercises made the pain bearable for a few more weeks, but gradually they became less and less effective. I researched rhomboid trigger points and found that massage therapy sometimes helps so I booked an appointment with a massage therapist. He gave me an intensive deep tissue massage. That made the pain go away... for two days. I then decided to try a chiropractor. The first appointment helped... for two hours. The second appointment helped... for one hour.I went with my wife to visit family three hours away. While there, the pain was so bad that I had to go back to the hotel room and lay with an ice pack on my shoulder blade to make it bearable. Again, I am not someone who usually has a lot of trouble with pain. I've had wisdom teeth cut out and didn't even need a Tylenol. But this constant pain was getting pretty old. I went to the chiropractor once again, and it helped, but this time the pain relief literally lasted less than five minutes. I called my family physician again, but was unable to get an appointment for two weeks.A few days later, the pain was so bad that I literally could not type or drive for more than a couple of minutes at a time. Since I still had a week and a half to go until I could get in to see my family physician, I went back to the chiropractor and told him that the treatments were just not working and that we needed to do something else. He said that I could have a pinched nerve at the C7 vertebrae. He (and the other two doctors plus massage therapist) had previously ruled that out since I was missing some of the classic symptoms. He said that the next thing was to send me to a spine specialist. Since the first thing that the specialist would probably want to do would be to get a cervical MRI, the chiropractor went ahead and ordered one so that the results would be available on the first visit to the specialist.Several days later, I showed up at the hospital for my scheduled MRI appointment. The pain at that point was bad enough that for the last several nights, I had not been able to sleep for more than a few hours a night. The MRI technician carefully positioned my head and neck and began the MRI. After several minutes of lying on the table perfectly motionless, I started to fall asleep. Anyone who has had an MRI knows that listening to the extremely loud sounds of MRI equipment is not exactly a relaxing experience. The reason that I started to fall asleep was because the pain was gone. After several sleepless nights, I was so exhausted that it didn't matter that the MRI equipment was pounding in my head. As I lay there on the MRI table, I started to wonder what could have made the pain go away. I'm no expert on MRI's but I had never heard of them being used for pain relief. It dawned on me that maybe it was the way that the MRI technician had carefully placed my head and neck. As soon as I got home, I went on Amazon and searched for cervical pillows. I found this one and placed an order with overnight shipping.The next day, I got a call from the chiropractor who said that the results of the MRI had come back. I was diagnosed with spondylosis and probable foraminal stenosis. He made an appointment for me with a spine specialist, but the soonest opening was in three weeks. The pillow came in the same day. It was uncomfortable for my neck when I first tried it, but I stuck with it for several hours before going back to my regular pillow. The next morning, I woke up pain free but the pain returned a few hours later.That night, I stuck with the pillow for most of the night. The next morning I again woke up pain free, but this time the pain relief lasted the whole day! After living with increasingly severe pain for two and a half months, I had finally found something that seemed to work. Three weeks have passed since the pillow came in and I finally went to see the spine specialist today. He said that since I had not had any pain problems for the last several weeks, to just keep doing what I am doing and that I did not need to see him again.So what things about the pillow are not perfect? The pillow barely fits into a standard size pillow case. That, in itself, would not be a problem, but I have to use an anti-allergy pillow cover because I am allergic to dust mites. If you put a standard size pillow cover on the pillow in addition to the pillow case, it scrunches up the smaller neck support to the point where it does not work right. I worked around this by ordering a 30 by 30-Inch Allersoft Square Cotton Pillow Cover (also from Amazon). The very loose fit of the pillow cover on the pillow allows for enough extra material that your head can still fit down in the head cradle without scrunching up the smaller neck support. Also, the side sleeping parts of the pillow do not seem as comfortable as my regular pillow. Still, for giving me pain relief after two and a half months of increasing pain, I give this product FIVE STARS!!

I have bought this pillow several times over the years. It simply works. It's lightweight and provides just the right height and amount of support for my neck. Also, there is a smaller side (the top of the pillow) that can be used if you want less support under your neck, unlike some pillows that are shaped to permit use of only one side for sleeping. The material it is made of is odor free. I just put a regular pillowcase on it and use it. It does require replacement after a couple of years but it has been worth every penny paid for every one I've ordered.

For those who do not have a health complication, it is challenging to have comfort with support.I have disc degeneration center of neck and double scoliosis loss of natural curve with imbalanced side curve more left than right (Jinga)I purchased this pillow back in 2020 to assist with supporting the neck proper alignment. THe pillow worked well for a while until my spinal alignment changed along with the depth of arch in my back. I like to sleep on my side, so being able to have the choice between north and south is a huge deal along with the extra cotton for the cheeks. I have tried to sleep on my side, it can be done but unsure about the alignment aspect of it. Alongside this purchase I had tried the buckwheat pillow which pulls a huge stability with great height unfortunately without the comfort of cotton. The year is 2025, I have learned more about my pillows as my body has changed since working a job full time when I was supposed to but needed the proof. I tried a rolled up towel which had mixed results; it was harder if not just as hard as the buckwheat despite being cotton, so the discussion is now density, design, and cervical neck supportI especially write this review due to the density of the portion of the pillow that hasn't been designed as a space for the head to rest. I had tried to use the dense portion of the pillow as a pillow and slept decently on it. The height is well and the density is proper. It would be well to know what the density of the cotton fluff is in hopes of creating a neck roll pillow like the buckwheat.Background addition: due to my neck curving to one side I have had challenges with sleeping as I had-have been breathing out of one nostril for six months which isn't likely to change without bone-muscle manipulation with a straightening of the spine through ballet, massage, physical therapy, ectara. Falling asleep has been challenging (noted) 2014 and has increased into sleepless nights that can span days with or without medication to the extent of being required to sleep during the day, sleep as long as possible, and adjust my life accordingly; I'm not yet 40, domestic injury expected to lifetime as the surgery is life endangering aka requires lifestyle changes and prevention.Five years ago I showed off my pillow collection to my family member, at least five of them that rotate accordingly. I am still rotating with additional supports such as a half circle foot rest of foam, rarely the foam roller for muscles, and have layered my pillows for the ability to breathe. Recently looked at some more pillows to no avail.What I like is that this is a medical grade pillow made in America. There are other pillows out there advertising for cervical pillow but I question if they are medical grade. Purchasing chairs, pillows, and the like for medical grade quality in consumer can be thoroughly expensive, too much trial and error, and not enough opportunity. Hope you find this review helpful.

I've used this pillow for 15 years. This one is my 3rd one. Keeps my head aligned while I sleep which is good when you have cervical neck issues. Will buy again in another 5 years when this one wears out.

Finally a pillow that keeps my neck and head where they need to be. My chiropractor actually pulled this exact brand up on Amazon and showed this to us. Highly recommend for BACK sleepers.

Unfortunately, this did not do the trick for my neck. I tried it for a week, but my neck didn’t feel any better and it is a rather stiff and large pillow.

Don’t buy it. It’s amazing for a week. But then the stuffing moves, the neck part somehow flattens. Now you wake up with neck pain much worse than any normal pillow could give you. They seem to be aware of the issue as the manual includes instructions how to move the stuffing back. But it doesn’t work. Why they didn’t construct the pillow with chambers so it can keep its shape is beyond me. Waste of money.