Who Uses The Pillow
This pillow is definitely for the person with sleep disordered breathing or obstructive breathing. It will not effect your nasal passages. It is for the person with snoring, or mild, obstructive sleep apnea. It helps to assure a restful sleep and better breathing. Better breathing permits more consistent, healthy delivery of oxygen to the brain, heart and other important organs. It is comfortable, adjustable. It is intended for use while sleeping on your back, however, many users have found that they can turn slightly onto the side and still be comfortable. Contact your doctor if you feel that you might have obstructive sleep apnea. There are many therapies available. This pillow has been FDA approved as one of the available noninvasive therapies.
Home Use
Home Use Division Pillow Models
What makes the PopitzPillow different than all other pillows is the SNIFF POSITION. If you bend your head and neck as comfortably forward as possible, and then lift your chin up as high as possible, that is the Sniff Position! This maneuver is not for everybody, especially not for those with people with severe spinal problems or unstable necks or pinched nerves.If you can perform this neck maneuver comfortably, then this pillow should be comfortable for you!
This position, whether on your stomach, on your side, or on your back, is the position in which the breathing passages are maximally opened and are the most straight. These two effects are why there is a great improvement in snoring and airway obstruction. The tongue is also pulled naturally away from the back of the throat.
There are no appliances or devices placed in the mouth, nor around your neck to make you uncomfortable. Unlike other pillows, this PopitzPillow keeps your head in the same position even after you are deeply asleep. It is made of a certain density foam that does not allow the head and neck to change position with time or depth of sleep. After one falls asleep, the muscles of the head and neck relax, causing the sleeping person to "sink" into their pillow. Most pillows on todays market do not maintain the intended position of the sleeper with this sinking phenomenon. People end up in a much more obstructed breathing position. Not on the PopitzPillows! The Sniff Position is maintained. For some, this takes a little getting used to, but others will notice that your snoring goes away the very first night!!!!
UNLIKE any other pillow, the PopitzPillow is a novel pillow or headrest that is now available and which is based upon the so called Sniff Position.
For almost a full century, it has been medically known that the Sniff Position is the best position for maximally and naturally opening the upper breathing passages from the nasopharynx (where the nasal passages and the throat meet) to the voice box. The sniff position has been taught as the prime position in which to place a person requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation and medical airway management.
Now, for home and commercial use, the PopitzPillow is patented and FDA approved to help obtaining restful sleep, and to alleviate or improve snoring and mild obstructive sleep apnea. The PopitzPillow is used and recommended by Sleep Disorder Clinics. No other pillow can offer you the Sniff Position. Most other pillows place the sleeper in a neutral or a flexed neck position.
The Pillow was originally designed for positioning the patient for airway management in the operating room and emergency care situations. After studying the effects of different head and neck positions upon the airway patency, Dr. Popitz created several pillow designs all of which place the patient in the sniff position. The sniff position is bending the lower neck forward, but then tilting up the chin maximally. It was during use of the PopitzPillow in these settings that many doctors realized that the same opening effects the PopitzPillow has on the airway, allow it to be of great benefit to people trying to improve their sleep because of breathing obstruction, such as snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, two very common conditions.
Lateral Sniff Position Pillow
Up until now, all the models available for home and medical use have been pillows designed for the supine position, or where the user is lying flat on their back.
Now, for lateral position surgery or procedures as well as for those who prefer to sleep on their side, the Lateral Sniff Position Pillow will soon be available. Most people with snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, both part of sleep-disordered breathing, prefer to sleep on their side, and so this pillow was created with this in mind. It still incorporates the sniff position and maintains this position even when one is deeply asleep, maintaining the maximal airway opening that each individual's airway can have. All sleep disordered breathing is multifactorial and as such no single device can possibly cure all those with this very common problem. However this pillow is different than all other side position pillows.
Very importantly, this side position pillow is extremely comfortable and is a great choice for all sleepers as we all could benefit from breathing more easily. The one caveat is that people with neck problems should not use a sniff position pillow if it gives them any discomfort.
For use by the hospital Rapid Response Team together with end-tidal CO2 monitoring, all patients with unexpected clinical deterioration should be placed on a PopitzPillow to improve their airway, increase oxygenation and ventilation. It also places the patient in the proper position for further airway management if necessary.
Along the same vein, any patient with post-operative respiratory depression, and patients with known or suspected Obstructive Sleep Apnea or Drug induced Respiratory Depression. These patients should all be placed upon a PopitzPillow.
Call 617-435-1016 for any questions regarding the Lateral Sniff Position Pillow.