Mattress woes

October 20, 2019 8:00 AM

Help me figure out a mattress that won't aggravate my back! Ok, we had a Tempur-Pedic that I HATED. It always felt hard to me. Then Casper. When I would get into bed and lay down my back would hurt. Ditto upon waking. We finally sprang for a Purple #4.

Just got it yesterday! I kept waking up in the middle of the night with pain. It feels like it may be too soft. Any recs for a dreamy mattress great for back and hip pain? In good news, we got a cal king, and the extra room is glorious!

posted by bookworm4125 to Shopping (12 answers total)

After several cheap mattresses, I ordered an Alexander Signature Hybrid that has some memory foam but also coils. I've been sleeping on it for a year, and while my neck/hip/back pain isn't completely gone (due largely to the amount of sitting I do at work), it has helped immensely.
posted by kattyann at 8:17 AM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have arthritis, spinal stenosis, spondylosis and C6 Cervical Radiculopathy - my back is a mess.

So I bought one of these and no longer have any trouble sleeping.
posted by dustpuppy at 9:53 AM on October 20, 2019 [3 favorites]

I was going to suggest the same thing as dustpuppy -- I have an old school flippable coil mattress (made by a local company here in town) with a two inch thick foam on top.
posted by jrochest at 10:45 AM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's counter-intuitive, but I suffered for months with pains in my hips, knees, and back, and it turned out that what I needed was more supportive shoes, not a different mattress. YMMV, of course.
posted by pipeski at 10:51 AM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

I'm a big fan of Hypnos/Paramount Sleep - but the prices do vary a lot so it pays to shop around.
posted by Lanark at 11:12 AM on October 20, 2019

I just got the latex bed topper, I'm thirding the recommendation.
posted by onebyone at 12:50 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

Is the latex bed topper hot? I have a hella messed up neck and spine, but I'm also perimenopause and I already sweat to death at night.
posted by headspace at 6:50 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

I have a wonky back, particularly a wonky lower back, and I love love love my Tuft & Needle mattress. It's supposedly the firmest of the Internet Startup Mattresses, but it's still got enough give so that my (rather prominent!) hips and butt can sink in a little, providing the right amount of support for me. I also generally sleep hot, and haven't had temperature issues with the Tuft & Needle.
posted by rhiannonstone at 6:53 PM on October 20, 2019 [1 favorite]

If you want to know why it's hard to find out about mattresses read this from the blue.

Bonus: explains much about modern capitalism and the nature of information in the 21st century, using mattresses as a lens!
posted by lalochezia at 7:54 PM on October 20, 2019

Consider an adjustable base rather than a different mattress. I never woke up without pain until I started sleeping on an adjustable bed set to the zero g position - head and feet both slightly elevated, with me sleeping on my back.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:20 PM on October 20, 2019

I have the same latex bed topper on top of a normal pocket coil Sealy mattress. I LOVE IT.

headspace, latex is the material recommended for people who sleep hot. It saved me, for real.
posted by nosila at 9:38 AM on October 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

I've heard wonderful things about latex mattresses, but they are more difficult to find in person and pretty expensive. Might be worth a try if you're that miserable.

After trying several of the newfangled foam mattresses and hating them all, we finally went and tried out a bunch of spring mattresses with pillow tops. I read somewhere that you want to find one where your spine is straight when you're laying on it. So my husband and I took turns laying on them at the store and checking out the other's spine to see if it looked straight. I couldn't be happier.
posted by thejanna at 9:30 AM on October 22, 2019 [1 favorite]