It's difficult to have restorative sleep when part of your body is in pain. The discomfort worsens if you have recurring and excruciating pain on your hips and joints, and you're sleeping on the wrong type of mattress. Although such pain derives from different factors, your choice of mattress is usually the most common.
There are several mattress options in the market to choose from, but finding the ideal mattress for hip pain requires a different approach. It all begins with understanding what causes hip pain, including how sleeping on the right mattress can improve your sleep and help you with recovery.
What are the Causes of Hip Pain?
Hip pain can be caused by accidents or medical conditions such as cancer, bone infections, poor blood supply to the bones, and pinched nerves.
However, it's possible to go to bed without body pain, and wake up with pain in your hips and any other part of your body. If that happens to you more often, then it’s time to shop for the best mattress for hip pain.
Besides a bad mattress, hip pain occurs due to several other reasons, as discussed below:
Normal Wear and Tear
The hip is the largest ball-and-socket joint responsible for enabling the body to move from one place to another. It's the pivot point joining the leg to the upper part of the body, supported by two strong bones, muscles, and cartilage. The hip joint also supports the body's weight, and withstands repeated motion throughout a person's lifetime.
Although the cartilage and muscles are strong, they wear down over time, leading to less cushioning, and more friction on the hip. As a result, you may experience inflammation, pain, and stiffness on the hip, making it difficult for you to sleep peacefully.
Arthritis
Excruciating hip and joint pain can also result from arthritis, a common health condition among older adults. Common arthritis is often caused by general wear and tear of the body's cartilage, muscles, and joints. However, doctors also link this disease to other causes, such as obesity, family history, and autoimmune disorders like sickle cell anemia.
Sleepers with hip pain caused by arthritis and joint pain struggle with finding the most comfortable mattress or sleeping position that won't hurt their joints, including the back and hip areas. Treating the disease is the ultimate solution; however, choosing the right mattress for hip pain dictates the recovery process.
Physical Injuries
Physical injuries on the hip can occur due to accidents. Such injuries have severe effects on older adults because of their weaker bones.
Slips and falls cause injuries such as sprained muscles, fractured bones, and dislocations, requiring medical attention for treatment. But, sometimes, such injuries take longer to heal, and may cause other problems like recurring hip and joint pain.
Determining the causes of hip pain is the first step towards finding the best treatments. Bones specialists such as orthopedists recommend several treatment options for bone-related ailments, including medications, exercises, and therapy.
In addition to treatment, your mattress also influences the recovery process.
Hip Pain and Sleep Position
Your sleeping position can cause tremendous pain on the pressure points surrounding the hip, even if your bones and joints are healthy. Unfortunately, sleeping on the wrong mattress makes things worse because of a lack of support and cushioning for these body parts.
Here's a more in-depth look at how different sleeping positions influence hip pain.
Side Sleepers
Side sleepers bear pressure around their hips, back, and shoulders because they come in direct contact with the mattress when sleeping. Given that these pressure points are soft and fragile, they are prone to pain if the mattress doesn't suit this sleeping position.
For example, a mattress that feels too firm causes soreness to the hip and shoulders from supporting the weight of the sleeper's body all night. On the other hand, a softer mattress might lead to improper spinal alignment, causing too much pressure on the pelvic area.
Stomach Sleepers
Even though stomach sleepers don't exert direct pressure on their hips, a mattress with poor support can put too much pressure on the sleeper's midsection, eventually causing hip pain. Stomach sleepers need a medium-firm to firm mattress (depending on their weight) that supports the body for proper positioning of the spine. Therefore, laying on a softer mattress causes the back to sink deeper into the mattress, affecting the spinal alignment and comfort of the whole midsection of the sleeper's body.
Back Sleepers
Sleeping on the back is considered the best sleeping position, although it also causes pain on different body parts, especially if the mattress isn't the right type. Back sleepers need supportive mattresses that improve spinal alignment while cushioning the neck and shoulders.
In most cases, these sleepers are often comfortable on firmer mattresses with moderate cushioning and contouring.
The problem starts when a back sleeper's body isn't well supported by the mattress they are sleeping on. The uneven distribution of weight while sleeping strains some muscles and nerves, including the spine and pelvic area. Consequently, body aches and pains are inevitable.
Best Types of Mattress for Hip Pain
The type of mattress you sleep on determines the amount of support, cushioning, and comfort to expect. Today, the market is saturated with different mattresses, each with unique specs serving different purposes. As a result, some mattresses work better than others for sleepers with hip pain because of their structural compositions.
Here's how different types of mattresses for sleepers with hip pain compare in performance.
Memory Foam Mattresses
Memory foam mattresses are great at contouring the body and offering pressure relief to a sleeper. In addition, they generally feel softer than other types of materials despite coming in different firmness levels.
Due to their softness, they suit sleepers with hip pain, especially side sleepers. These mattresses also absorb motion to reduce movement on the surface of the mattress. Because of this, sleepers with hip pain don't have to worry about sleep interruptions, which often trigger discomfort.
One of the downsides of memory foam mattresses is their closed-cell structure, which traps heat from a sleeper's body, making the mattress feel uncontrollably hot. Sweaty nights, in addition to the discomfort caused by pain in the hip, can greatly affect the quality of sleep.
Hybrid Mattresses
Hybrid mattresses consist of a supportive inner core from steel coils, and an outer layer for comfort made from several materials, including memory foam, polyfoam, latex, wool, and cotton. These mattresses are known to have a good balance between support and comfort, depending on the materials used.
Hybrid mattresses are ideal for moderating temperature and motion isolation, allowing sleepers to rest better. The comfort layers are also suitable for cradling and pressure relief for sensitive joints, such as the hip, back, and shoulders.
Hybrid mattresses accommodate different sleeping positions and sleepers of varying body weight. However, one of the major problems with these types of mattresses is their durability. The metallic coils may break or lose elasticity, causing the mattress to lose its support as well.
Latex Mattresses
Natural Latex mattresses have a lot of benefits, including breathability, responsiveness, eco-friendliness, and durability. In addition, they provide maximum support for the sleeper without feeling too stiff. Although these mattresses don't cradle a sleeper like memory foam mattresses, their responsiveness provides pressure relief, ideal for sleepers with hip pain.
Latex mattresses are assumed to be firmer than other types of foam because of the tough nature of rubber. On the contrary, these mattresses are available in varying firmness levels to accommodate all sleepers and their preferred sleeping positions.
The softness of latex foam is also determined by its processing method. In many cases, Talalay processed latex foams are softer than their Dunlop counterparts, and would work better in terms of pressure relief without affecting their support.
Latex mattresses are pricier than other types of mattresses in the market because of their durability, and the numerous benefits they come with.
Worst Mattresses for Sleepers with Hip Pain
As mentioned earlier, some mattresses aggravate hip pain due to their poor quality, and general wear and tear. So here are signs that it's time to let go of your old mattress.
- Your mattress has permanent impressions, rips, tears, and lumps.
- The midsection of the mattress is a huge depression that makes you roll to the center of the mattress while sleeping.
- Your mattress is older than seven years, or older than its warranty.
- Your mattress sags around its edges, making it harder for you to get off the bed.
If your mattress has these characteristics, or anything similar, consider replacing it. While at it, however, be careful not to invest in an equally bad-quality mattress that won't help relieve your hip pain. As a general rule, avoid mattresses that are too hard, or lack support and cushioning.
Additionally, mattresses with too much motion transfer, and without temperature regulation capabilities will make you toss and turn in bed more than you should. This is the last thing you want to experience when suffering from body aches and pains, and trying to rest comfortably at night.
Today, mattress manufacturers use improved technology to produce better quality mattresses to improve the health and well being of consumers. However, some types of mattresses, such as the innerspring mattresses, haven't evolved so much from their traditional design and construction.
Although these mattresses have a lot of cushioning, the innerspring make them bouncier, causing undesired motion transfer.
Polyfoam mattresses are great for cushioning and complementing memory foams. Unfortunately, although they come with great pressure relief needed by sleepers with hip pain, these types of mattresses emit irritating off-gassing odors. Polyfoam mattresses also degrade too fast, forcing the sleeper to search for a new mattress sooner than later.
What to Consider when Buying the Best Mattress for Hip Pain
Shopping for the best mattress for hip pain is easier if you know the qualities to look for in the ideal mattress. Here are some of the most important factors to consider when shopping, whether online or at a physical mattress store.
Support
The support of a mattress ensures proper spinal alignment while sleeping. This is especially important for sleepers with hip pain, regardless of their sleeping position. The support of a mattress is tied to several characteristics, including its firmness, density, midsection structure, and the materials it's made of. Additionally, a supportive mattress has a good balance between its plushness and firmness, preventing it from feeling too hard or too soft.
It's important to note that a mattress that's too hard or too soft often distorts the natural spinal alignment.
Pressure Relief
The pressure points and muscles around the hip need to be cushioned to help in pressure relief. Unfortunately, a mattress that feels too firm, or doesn't have a plush cushioning layer, can't achieve pressure relief.
Similarly, a mattress that's excellent at conforming and cradling the sleeper's body, but feels too soft, may lack adequate support. For this reason, you need a mattress with a good balance between support and cushioning to achieve both pressure relief and neutral spinal alignment.
Body Contouring
A body-contouring mattress conforms closely to the shape of the sleeper's body, and is usually linked to the firmness of a mattress and its materials. However, a sleeper's weight also determines how deep they'll sink in a mattress.
For example, a heavier sleeper will sink deeper in a soft, body-contouring mattress compared to a lighter sleeper. Sinking deeper into the mattress reduces air circulation around the body, and increases the chances of bad spinal alignment.
Firmness
The firmness of a mattress describes how soft or hard a mattress feels. For example, sleepers with hip pain generally need soft cradling mattresses for hip pain with good support to cushion their pressure points. However, their body weight ultimately determines the most comfortable level of firmness.
Average-weight sleepers are often content with soft to medium-firm mattresses, while heavier sleepers prefer medium-firm to firm mattresses. However, firmer mattresses for hip pain may not necessarily be as comfortable as needed for heavier sleepers. Such sleepers use some bed accessories, such as mattress toppers and pillows to improve cushioning and support.
Temperature Regulation
You may want to avoid the heat-trapping memory foam mattresses, and choose copper or gel-infused foams instead for the cooling effect. Alternatively, you can choose to go with an all-natural breathable latex mattress that is best known for its cooling effects, and several other sleep benefits.
Foundations
Sleeping on a bad mattress is bad enough, but sleeping on a poor foundation takes it to a whole new level of discomfort. So it's always best to use a foundation base recommended by the mattress manufacturer to give the mattress the support it requires for better performance.
Placing a mattress on the wrong foundation can greatly compromise its support, causing a chain of problems for sleepers with hip pain.
Night Sleep Trial
Night sleep trial is the duration a mattress manufacturer offers the consumer to try out a new mattress before deciding whether it suits them or not. If you need sufficient time to decide, choose a mattress that offers a long night sleep trial period.
Return Policy
If you decide that the mattress doesn't provide pressure relief from hip pain, you'll need to contact the seller for an exchange or a return. This is always done as per the terms and conditions of the return policy of the mattress.
Some important details to consider in a return policy include:
- Who is responsible for the return shipping costs?
- Will you receive a refund after the return?
- Do you have any other options available besides returning the mattress?
In short, you need to choose a vendor with the most favorable return policy.
What are the Best Sleeping Accessories for Hip Pain?
Sleepers with hip pain can enhance the quality of their sleep using different sleeping accessories, as discussed below.
Pillows and Mattress Toppers
Pillows are great for adding more cushioning and support to a sleeper, especially on body parts prone to pain, such as the hip, back, and shoulders. Additionally, toppers change how the entire surface of the mattress feels.
For instance, side sleepers with hip pain can place the Shredded Natural Latex pillow from Latex For Less between their knees to reduce the amount of weight that rests on the hip. Likewise, the Solid Natural Latex option is great for back sleepers who need extra support for their back, shoulders, and head.
These pillows instantly conform to the sleeper's body and are breathable, allowing sleepers to remain cool all night long.
If you don't know how to find the best mattress for hip pain, consider using a topper to add plushness and more comfort to your mattress. One great option is the soft Latex For Less Topper, and the complementing cotton cover. This pair works best in providing the sleeper with the ultimate comfort for a rejuvenating sleep.
What is the Right Firmness for a Mattress for Hip Pain?
Generally, a soft to medium-firm mattress works well for many sleepers who suffer from hip pain. However, heavier sleepers may need a firmer mattress that supports their weight and ensures proper spinal alignment.
Are Latex For Less Mattresses Good for Hip Pain?
Are you struggling to find the best mattress for hip pain? If yes, a Latex For Less Mattress is what you need!
Here's:
- The mattress has two firmness levels on either side, allowing you to choose which side feels comfortable by simply flipping your mattress over. One side is firm, while the other side is medium.
- Its outer layer consists of natural wool for cooling, and a cover made of cotton for improved softness.
- The mattress comes with natural latex, best known for its durability, freshness, and eco-friendliness.
- Latex For Less Mattresses have up to 120 sleep night trials.
- The company offers free shipping and free returns within the contiguous US.
- The mattress comes with a warranty lifetime of 20 years!
