Sleeping on a top-rated mattress for back and hip pain will leave you feeling refreshed and revived in the morning. Meanwhile, sleeping on the wrong type of mattress will feel like you've spent the night running a marathon.
As a team of expert mattress testers, we know that the best mattress for you will be one that suits your sleep needs. For back and hip pain sufferers, a bed with soothing pressure relief and optimal support for the spine is paramount.
In this guide we'll explore how to find the right balance of pressure relief, support, and cushioning in a mattress for back and hip pain, plus why those features are so important. We'll also round up some of the best beds for back and hip pain, including our favorite offers in the current mattress sales.
How to choose the a mattress for back and hip pain
We know better than anyone how many options there are to consider when choosing a mattress, which can make it hard to find a bed that actually meets your needs. When choosing a mattress for back and hip pain, these are the three features to prioritize:
1. Pressure relief
When lying against a mattress, pressure is applied at different intensities across the body. Some areas press deeper into the mattress than others: for side sleepers, these touch points are the shoulder and hips, while for back sleepers, it's the lower back and hips. If you lie on your side and have hip pain, this can become a major source of discomfort.
During the night pressure builds up at these touch points, which can lead to soreness in the morning. A mattress with good pressure relief alleviates pressure build up through the use of comfort materials, which cradle the touch points. These materials – typically memory foam or other foams – provide cushioning where your body needs it most.
To check for pressure relief, try pushing your hand into your mattress. If the surface yields while molding to the shape of your hand, you can expect good pressure relief. However, you don't want your hand to sink too far into the mattress – we'll explain why in more detail below.
2. Enhanced lumbar support
The best mattresses for back pain use enhanced lumbar support to reduce the stress on the back during the night. Extra lumbar support holds the spine in neutral alignment, alleviating strain and allowing the muscles around the spine to relax.
Mattresses can achieve this enhanced lumbar support through different means. For example, the Helix Midnight Luxe Mattress uses strategic coil placement to provide a softer support at the shoulders and a firmer support at the hips, so the spine is held in healthy alignment with the rest of the body.
The Saatva Classic Mattress, however, uses foams and wire support to achieve a similar effect. A layer of visco-elastic is placed at the lower back to increase the pressure relief while reducing tension, so your spine isn't put to work overnight.
This can be particularly important if you have a bigger build. Our guide to choosing a mattress for heavy people with back pain can help you find a bed that suits your needs.
3. Medium-firm support
The maximum pressure relief of a soft mattress might sound appealing if you have hip pain, but for back pain sufferers, this softness is likely to make the problem worse.
Without enough support, the body will sink into a soft mattress, often causing the spine to sag and dip out of alignment. This forces the muscles in the lumbar region to remain tense throughout the night, resulting in aches and pains the next morning.
The best mattresses for back and hip pain strike a balance between cloud-like comfort and sturdy support, best exemplified in a medium-firm mattress. A medium-firm mattress should offer initial cushioned pressure relief that's backed up by a core of strong support.
Is your mattress making your back and hip pain worse?
If you're regularly waking up aching, there's a good chance your mattress is contributing to your back and hip pain. Old mattresses can be a particular problem, as the supportive interior will start to collapse with repeated use. We recommend replacing your mattress every seven to 10 years – if your mattress is older than that, a sagging core might be responsible for your pain.
Alternatively, the mattress might be the wrong firmness. Both a too soft mattress and a too firm mattress can exacerbate back and hip pain, either by not providing enough support, or not providing enough cushioning. A mattress topper can adjust the feel of your bed, although keep in mind a topper can't offer long-term support if your mattress has started sagging.
Or it might be the wrong type of mattress. When one of our sleep team switched from a hybrid mattress to a memory foam, it wasn't right for the sleep style and they suddenly found their mornings a lot more achy.
3 top-rated mattresses for back and hip pain
