Beds and backaches?

[Librarian of Doom]

This one is going to require a little backstory. Please bear with me.

During my last pregnancy, I had serious hip issues. Like, my hips would pop out of whack and I'd be hobbling around like an arthritic old lady. I would go to the chiropractor (a lot) and get adjusted, but the next day, they'd be right back out. I figured out, through trial and error, that it was sleeping on my bed that was messing them up. When I started sleeping in the recliner, they didn't get messed up. Unless I walked for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. Then they got messed up again. Which did wonders for my physical activity level, let me tell you. But I assumed it was the pregnancy hormones, and it would get better after the baby was born.

When K was two months old and it was still a problem, I started attending yoga class. I saw immediate benefits, as I built up the muscles designed to hold my hipbones in place. Huzzah! I thought. I'll be able to sleep in the bed again.

Nope.

I cannot sleep in a bed for an entire night's sleep. My back starts aching; the lower back especially, but if I stay in the bed it spreads to encompass my shoulders and my neck as well. I've been in some situations where I've slept in a hotel or someone else's home and had to sleep on a bed the entire night; I wake up feeling like someone beat me with a stick, so it's not just our mattress.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me? I really don't love sleeping in the recliner; it's comfortable enough, but not extremely restful. It's been over a year since I've been able to have a good night's sleep in a bed.

Our mattress is memory foam. I wondered if maybe we should get a memory foam topper for some extra cushioning, but I don't know if it'll do any good, and I hesitate to spend a couple hundred dollars if it's not worthwhile. I really don't want to spend money on a new mattress, since this one is less than a year old. And I can't think of a good way to figure out if a mattress would work, since it usually takes at least an hour for the backache to surface.

Help?

[Jcannon98188]

It could be TOO soft. I love how comfortable my memory foam is, but it doesn't offer the support I need (every morning when I wake up I pop my back and neck in with a loud audible crackkkkkkkkK) My parents have a sleep number bed, as it allows you to adjust the firmness/softness to your needs. Perhaps look into that?

[Cléo Xymore]

Do you get a different body incline from the recliner? Perhaps you simply need to prop up your mattress under your head (or under your feet)?

In what other ways is it different from a bed?

[RaeVynn]

We got a firm bed, and the hip pain dropped dramatically.

When I was at a meditation retreat, we slept on 4" foam pads on plywood. After a few nights' adjustment, I found that very good for my back!

Memory foam is, I'm sorry, not nearly supportive enough. I know several people who have had to get rid of theirs after just a few years.

[Rhiarti]

As others have observed, the trouble with memory foam is that, while something which moulds to your shape sounds great in theory, in practise that means it cheerfully enables and encourages any poor posture you already have! I found a really firm mattress with a thin memory foam topper seems to suit me well. It's definitely worth trying out various options to see which suits you best. (A cheap way to do so is by visiting lots of friends for an overnight stay!)

You may also find something like practising the Alexander Technique semi-supine posture on a daily basis will help: http://youtu.be/Iehtr8X3qMc He takes his sweet time talking you through it, but is an excellent teacher, and worth listening to.

[Librarian of Doom]

It could be TOO soft. I love how comfortable my memory foam is, but it doesn't offer the support I need (every morning when I wake up I pop my back and neck in with a loud audible crackkkkkkkkK) My parents have a sleep number bed, as it allows you to adjust the firmness/softness to your needs. Perhaps look into that?

Do you get a different body incline from the recliner? Perhaps you simply need to prop up your mattress under your head (or under your feet)?

In what other ways is it different from a bed?

I do get a different incline, since the recliner doesn't like to stay flat, so I end up sleeping in a semi-seated position.

We got a firm bed, and the hip pain dropped dramatically.

When I was at a meditation retreat, we slept on 4" foam pads on plywood. After a few nights' adjustment, I found that very good for my back!

Memory foam is, I'm sorry, not nearly supportive enough. I know several people who have had to get rid of theirs after just a few years.

As others have observed, the trouble with memory foam is that, while something which moulds to your shape sounds great in theory, in practise that means it cheerfully enables and encourages any poor posture you already have! I found a really firm mattress with a thin memory foam topper seems to suit me well. It's definitely worth trying out various options to see which suits you best. (A cheap way to do so is by visiting lots of friends for an overnight stay!)

You may also find something like practising the Alexander Technique semi-supine posture on a daily basis will help: http://youtu.be/Iehtr8X3qMc He takes his sweet time talking you through it, but is an excellent teacher, and worth listening to.

Thanks for the responses. I wondered about it being too soft, but I've also slept on a soft inner-spring mattress (at a hotel) and a firm inner-spring mattress (at a friend's house) with the same or worse results, which baffles me. I may have to try that posture correction and see if it helps.

[Corbab]

For the past month or so, I've been sleeping on the floor as opposed to in a bed. A couple of teammates mentioned it, so I decided to give it a try. I don't know if I'm sleeping/resting/recovering better, but at least as well, and I've found some evidence that points to overly soft mattresses as a possible source of discomfort. In a regular bed, you're supported mainly by the soft tissues, with the bones pressing on them, whereas on a harder surface, your bones take more of the load (as they're supposed to). When I was in a cushy hotel bed recently, I woke up with some back pain, and I had to crack it, something that I haven't had to do on the floor.

Don't know if this is at all useful, but I figure I'll throw it out there...