"The Witch Doctor is in....."

I'm my own worst enemy, and I have a habit of nodding off over the computer's keyboard, and then suddenly falling off my chair, and landing, sometimes painfully, on the floor. Last time, I hit my head rather hard, and ever since have had a nagging pain along the right-rear side of my neck, and the neck joints now are making some disturbing snapping or cracking noises sometimes, as I do normal movements. So this is a little something about fixing all that....

Before pillows were popular, we had headrests..... plain and fancy ones...and they were custom-made for the individual's measurements if done right.

A plain one, such as might be used by "regular folks" 

A fancy one, such as Pharaoh 'King Tut', showing two lions, representing the lands of Upper and Lower Egypt over which he ruled, and a great god holding up the 'sky' upon which his head was supported, is an example of a fancy one. On this particular one, there's an inscription showing his five official and familiar names, along with a prayer which I presently can't recall exactly. Something about 'Ra' and the boat of the sun, and riding in it with him forever, I think....

Please click on this one to enlarge it. When I say above that the head should not touch the bed, etc., this is confirmed by no less an authority than Adolf Erman, former Director of the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, and author of 'Life In Ancient Egypt', (page 185) in the section on 'The House'. However, I disagree with his assumption that the sole purpose of "this uncomfortable object" was to keep the sleeper's artificial wig from being damaged during sleep. 

I don't want to question such a famous scholar, but I think if he had done more homework, he might have discovered that many of those artificial wigs he mentions came off at nights, along with other items of fancy dress, just as our modern ladies would do today. And these headrests aren't all that uncomfortable if fitted properly to the user's measurements. He should perhaps have tried one or two before writing about them. I've tried them, and in fact have even used a smoothly rounded stone in place of one, and it worked very nicely. The trick is to get something exactly the right height, and then it will feel fine when placed in the correct position. If you doubt that, experiment yourself.
And don't equate 'ancient' with 'stupid'. They aren't even kissing cousins!  

Addendum:

Using a bottle with a watertight closure, and filling it with warm water works wonders for a sore neck. You really should try it. Would The Witch Doctor lie?
"Je, nguruwe Fly, Bwana?" being loosely interpreted, "Do pigs fly, Lord?"