Best Bed For Back Pain Side Sleeper

How We Chose The Best Mattresses For Back And Neck Pain

We explored top-rated mattresses on the market, paying careful attention to features important for pain relief. To create our list, we considered:

• Customer reviews. Many brands say their mattresses can relieve pressure and pain, but reviews from other shoppers often present a more accurate picture. We read what customers had to say to see how these picks actually helped improve their pain and sleep quality.
• Company reputation and transparency. We focused on brands known for good business practices, quality mattress construction, and a reputation for providing good customer service.
• Company policies. Most brands understand the leap of faith required to buy a mattress online, and many offer a trial period so you can return the mattress if it doesnt work out. Reputable mattress brands generally offer a lengthy warranty to cover product defects and excessive sagging.
• Expert insights. We consulted peer-reviewed studies for more information on the connection between sleep and pain and the qualities that make a mattress good for pain relief. We also reached out to Krystle Howald, PT, DPT, owner of Expecting and Empowered and Empower Movement Physical Therapy, for her tips on getting pain-free sleep.

Are Memory Foam Mattresses Good For Back Pain

Memory foam mattresses are often touted as the best option for back pain, and they certainly can be, thanks to their balance of support and cushioning. However, choosing the right firmness is essential. If you go this route, find a mattress made with high-quality, dense memory foam designed to provide ample support. Keep in mind that many inexpensive memory foam mattresses are too plush to keep the spine properly aligned, which can actually worsen your back and joint pain.

Best Memory Foam: Amerisleep As2 12 Memory Foam Mattress

• Base is designed to prevent sagging

• Open-cell design promotes breathability

• Made to resist dust mites and mold

• May be too firm for some

While it doesn’t come cheap, the Amerisleep AS2 Mattress is heralded as one of the best options for people with back pain and is designed with common sleep problems in mind.

The 12-inch AS2 mattress is described as medium-firm and is popular among both stomach and back sleepers. The mattress includes several layers of material to provide comfort and support and has zones that provide extra pressure relief for your shoulders and lower back.

The mattress is made from a unique type of memory foam thats eco-friendly and keeps you cool throughout the night. Even more, the memory foam bounces back to its original shape in mere seconds, so you don’t get stuck in ruts if you shift during the night. If you buy this mattress through the manufacturer, youll have 100 nights to test it out in a risk-free trial.

Firmness: Medium-firm | Thickness: 12 inches | Type: Memory foam | Trial Length: 100 nights

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How To Get Relief On A Budget

When youre struggling with back pain, you may feel like youre willing to give anything to get relief, but the realities of your budget can mean that you have to think about the impact of any mattress purchase on your bottom line. The good news is that there are multiple wallet-friendly ways to improve your bed, enhance your sleep, and give your back a rest.

Consider An Adjustable Bed

Adjustable beds are no longer confined to the insides of hospital rooms. Today, theyre found in homes across the world helping people improve their nights rest and for sufferers of back pain, these sleep-promoting bed frames can be the key to sound, pain-free sleep.

The main feature in all adjustable beds is head and foot articulation this allows you to adjust the angle of your head and feet to find the most comfortable position for sleep. These beds also allow you to sleep in the Zero-Gravity position. In this position, youre lying flat, but your feet are angled ever so slightly above your head, creating a weightless feel. The Zero-Gravity position is recommended for those with back pain because it virtually eliminates pressure.

Those with back pain may find relief from sleeping on an adjustable bed with their legs raised, too. Doing this takes pressure off the spine and alleviates discomfort in your lower back.

Many adjustable beds come with fun features such as body massagers, which are excellent for those with pain and discomfort. You can use these massagers to help you fall asleep at night, and you can also set them to turn on at a certain time in the morning to help you wake up. The bells and whistles are going to change from base to base, so double-check to ensure the one youre buying comes with the features you need.

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What Mattress Firmness Is Best For Back And Neck Pain

Research from 2015 suggests that a medium-firm, self-adjusted mattress is best for back pain. However, firmness is subjective. What feels firm to you might feel soft to someone else. Its best to try out a mattress in a store before buying it, or to choose a mattress that comes with an in-home trial period.

What Makes The Brooklyn Bedding Sedona Mattress Good For Side Sleepers

• It has four comfort layers, and it creates excellent pressure relief.
• The mattress has a classic medium firm feel.
• The Brooklyn Bedding Sedona is a durable mattress thats a great value.

Back pain can really put a damper on your life, and sometimes, a new mattress is just the fix you need. If you frequently suffer from aches and pains, check out the Cocoon Chill Hybrid. This mattress comes from one of the most famous mattress brands, Sealy, and it boasts some impressive features.

This medium firm mattress creates a great balance of comfort and support, and thats thanks to its Perfect Fit memory foam and Active Fit coils. If youre a back or side sleeper, this mattress should help you maintain the correct spinal alignment which can ease your back pain!

If you overheat at night, youll also be happy to know that the Cocoon Chill Hybrid contains Phase Change Material. This fabric helps pull heat away from the body, and it feels cool to the touch.

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Which Is Best For Side Sleepers Firm Or Plush

A beds firmness level will significantly impact how comfortable it is. Of course, firmness is highly subjective, and it greatly depends on body type. But overall, we recommend that side sleepers look for a mattress thats slightly softer than average about 6/10 on our firmness scale.

Plush mattresses typically have thick comfort layers, which help alleviate pressure along the shoulders and hips. If a bed is too firm, you may sink straight through the comfort layers into the support section. This could strain pressure points and cause pain over time.

Youll want to avoid especially soft mattresses, too. Its important to sleep on a supportive foundation so the body stays in the proper alignment.

Benefits Of Using A Mattress For Side Sleepers

Adequate Spinal Alignment

When sleeping on your side, it is essential that your spine is aligned correctly, or youll wake up with pain and stiffness. Though every sleeper is different, side sleepers generally need more advanced technology when it comes to spinal alignment. It is so easy for your spine to become unaligned when on your side, given the many different positions possible. A bed for side sleepers will provide the necessary spinal alignment so you can sleep comfortably no matter your side position and weight.

Targeted Pressure Relief

When sleeping on your side, your body experiences quite a bit of stress where it meets the bed. As a result, youll experience noticeable pressure in places such as the shoulders, lower back, hips, and knees since your body weight is targeted over these areas. A good mattress for side sleepers will offer a few inches of soft memory foam so that you experience pressure relief at these high-stress areas to limit pain and stiffness from too much weight being targeted on just a few joints.

Proper Support in the Right Places

Improved Sleep Quality

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Which Type Of Mattress Topper Is Best For Back Pain

Any type of mattress topper may have potential pros and cons. Depending on their personal preferences, back pain sufferers may enjoy different toppers.

As memory foam toppers conform closely to the sleepers body, many back pain sufferers find they give a good balance of pressure relief and support. These toppers also usually isolate motion well, so sleepers might not notice when their partner changes position. One potential drawback is that memory foam tends to retain heat, but some models are made with special features for added breathability and cooling. Memory foam is also usually slow to respond to changes in pressure, which can make it harder for sleepers to move around and change position.

Polyfoam toppers conform to the sleepers body without the close hug of memory foam. Additionally, this material tends to be more breathable and regain its shape more quickly than memory foam. Polyfoam toppers are also frequently budget-friendly options. While many sleepers find polyfoam mattress toppers comfortable, theyre often less durable than other types of toppers on the market. This is particularly true of toppers that make use of low-density polyfoam.

Pillow top mattress toppers often use feather and/or fiber fill. These toppers typically provide a plush sleep surface. However, since they do not usually provide much in the way of support or pressure relief, they may not be ideal for back pain sufferers.

Try Changing Up Your Sleeping Position

Changing your sleeping position is one way to try to get back pain relief.

If you are a back or stomach sleeper with a soft mattress and you dont have the budget for a new bed, you can try to switch to a side sleeping position that will receive more support from your existing mattress. In general, experts recommend that stomach sleepers try to adjust to side or back sleeping because its easier to get appropriate support in those positions.

For people with acute pain, temporary changes to your sleeping position may help to reduce stress on already sore or achy parts of your back. For example, people with lumbar pain might try a period of side sleeping to avoid the excess bending of that area that can happen on your stomach or back.

While changing sleeping positions is worth a shot, its often not a long-term solution because the change can be hard to stick with. Some people just cant get comfortable in a different position or they may quickly revert back to their old sleeping position during the night. In these cases, other approaches are more likely to be beneficial over the medium- to long-term.

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The Dreamcloud Luxury Hybrid Mattress

• Price: $
• Type: hybrid
• Height: 14 inches

Sleepers who go from their side to their stomach to their back can end up with low back pain if the mattress doesnt adapt to their changing sleep shape.

The DreamCloud mattress features gel memory foam and individually wrapped coils. Together, they gently contour to your body and eliminate pressure point pain to keep your body properly supported, no matter how youre sleeping.

DreamCloud comes with a full 365-night trial, and the mattress is guaranteed for life.

Pros And Cons Of The Layla

MA Score: The Mattress Advisor Score is a weighted score that takes into account 14 different factors related to the mattress performance, function, convenience and the brands social responsibility.

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Best Mattress For Side Sleepers In 2021

These mattresses for side sleepers will have you snoozing soundly and waking up pain-free.

• $1,399 at Brooklyn Bedding

The best mattress for dedicated side sleepers should offer enough pressure relief for your hips and shoulders. Dedicated side sleepers should also consider factors like mattress firmness or whether motion transfer is reduced . And if you’re a combination sleeper, you might want a firmer mattress that offers pressure relief and support so it’s adaptable regardless of your final sleep position.

Even if you narrow the search to only look for the best mattress for side sleepers, your options are expansive, and finding your ideal match can be a challenge. New online mattress brands launch regularly and mattresses in boxes have flooded the market. But how does a dedicated side sleeper sort through all the available choices to find the best mattress? There are just so many different types, not to mention extras such as mattress toppers or adjustable bases for your bed. Seriously, who has time to sort through these or to test every memory foam mattress, gel memory foam mattress, natural latex foam mattress, hybrid mattress and innerspring mattress to determine which is the right one for a particular sleep position?

· Type: Hybrid mattress

· Firmness: 3 firmness levels | Plush Soft: Medium or 5 | Luxury Firm: Medium-firm or 7 | Firm: 9/10 or firm

· Trial: 180 nights

· Warranty: 15-year limited warranty

· Price : $1,595

· Trial: 120 nights

· Price : $1,499

How We Chose The Best Mattresses For Side Sleepers With Back Pain

When making our mattress selections, here are the main things we take into consideration:

• Company policies. We look for companies with extended in-home trial periods because who wants to bet on a mattress being comfortable without trying it first? and dependable shipping and return policies.
• Company reputation and transparency. Brands included below have a positive reputation and no shady business practices. This also means they havent been involved in recent lawsuits regarding their products or customer service.
• Customer reviews. Obviously, this is a biggie. Each mattress has rave reviews from customers. We also focused on mattresses with positive reviews, specifically from side sleepers with back pain.
• Safety. All mattresses meet federal flammability requirements.

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Did You Find Your Next Bed

Pain and stress feed on each other. When sleep gets interrupted, especially if its because the body is too hot, it can cause discomfort, making chronic back pain even worse. Pain causes your body to be stressed, which in turn can lead to even poorer sleep, which will worsen the pain. Its a vicious cycle, but it can be broken.

A healthy and comfortable nights sleep can be one of the best ways to reduce stress and combat chronic pain. Meaning, finding the best bed for back pain is critical.

Remember the key mattress features for back pain: comfort, pressure relief, and temperature control. A good nights sleep can be a hard thing to find, so take proper time to choose a solution thats right for you. The perfect mattress will have you sleeping soundly through the night, instead of tossing and turning or waking up in a sweat. Medium-firm memory foam mattresses assist vertebrae alignment, reduce muscle tension, as well as soothe and prevent aches. These factors, along with affordability, make memory foam the best mattress for a bad back.

How Temperature Can Impact Pain

Cooler sleeping experiences often facilitate deeper sleep than hotter ones. A good nights sleep requires a 1°C loss of core body temperature. Deep sleep is synonymous with more restful sleep, so seeking ways to cool your sleeping experience makes sense. Think of it this way: even if the support is perfect and your spines pressure points are alleviated, what happens if youre hot all night? Youll likely toss and turn because youre warm and sweaty, only making your pain worse.

Comfort is a complicated thing. Finding the best mattress for back pain means considering all the factors, from comfort and support to keeping cool. Gel infusions and added air channels are a couple of features that can increase a mattresss cooling abilities.

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Whats The Best Type Of Mattress For A Side

For people who have back pain, a mattress that feels medium-firmwhatever that means to themshould offer the comfort and curve-conforming support needed for them to wake up with less soreness and stiffness. We think back-pain sufferers who usually sleep on their side will like the Saatva Classic , a sturdy innerspring with just enough memory foam in the upper layers to keep your spine in proper alignment while you sleep. If youre on a budget, the medium-firm is surprisingly supportive for the price, and it may work particularly well for side-sleepers who occasionally fall asleep on their stomach or back.

The two-piece, flippable Charles P. Rogers Estate SE, a pick in our guide to the best mattresses for back pain, should appeal to people who fall asleep in any position, though the softer side will better accommodate side-sleepers. Purple mattresses are designed with a stretchy, gel-like foam that the company says is better at relieving pressure than traditional memory foam. The Purple Hybrid Premier, a notable contender in our guide to the best foam mattresses, has worked well for a 210-pound staffer with back pain and his 110-pound wife. They told us that the mattress is great for side-sleeping and gentler on the joints than most regular mattresses.

The Best Mattresses For Back Pain In Side Sleepers

• Summary

We include products we think are useful for our readers. If you buy through links on this page, we may earn a small commission. Heres our process.

The right mattress for a side sleeper with back pain may depend on the type and location of the pain.

• Best for lower back pain: Innomax Genesis 800 DX Watermattress

Please note that the writer of this article has not tried these products. All information presented is purely research-based and correct at the time of publication.

People usually sleep on their sides, fronts, or backs, or a combination of all three. There are both benefits and disadvantages to side sleeping, which the following sections outline in more detail.

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