Coil gauge question

[phoenix]

Hi Mike77,

I have a wide shoulder frame, and what is happening is they can’t sink in, so due to the lighter weight when im on my side, they feel the coils beneath them (and pressure points effect them).

When you are on your side, there will actually be a more specific weight concentration and you should sink in more than when on your back, as when on your back your weight is distributed over a wider area. Not sinking in enough can be a result of not enough comfort material on top of the innerspring unit. You generally don’t want to manipulate the spring unit for surface comfort.

If i put a pillow under my trunk it noticeably helps. So my conundrum is trying to determine if a lighter coil would alleviate this or make it worse. I have since tried “softer” coils at a local mattress firm, and it actually seems to make my side sleeping worse, as my shoulder often gets jacked up to my ears.

All of the layers of a mattress work together to create overall comfort, so I can’t determine what may or may not be causing you to feel a certain way through general statements of placing a towel on top of a product without any background information about the product itself. And placing a towel on top of a product could provide relief from a mattress that was too hard by helping to uplift the trunk area and taking some of the weight off of the hips and shoulders, or if the mattress was too soft it would assist with correcting a lateral curve. This is one of the reasons I unfortunately can’t diagnose comfort issues via an online forum.

If you tried out something with softer coils in a showroom, again I have no idea what foam material was on top, and I don’t know what jacked up to your ear means, and whether that was for the shoulder in direct contact with the mattress or the one above, but you seem to be relating that the product you tested was too soft or lacked good support.

I would tell you to take some time and read through this article about the basic functions of a mattress to help you understand the difference between surface comfort and support. Also go back to my previous reply and re-read the information about surface support and deep support. Manipulating the deep support of the innerspring unit (“softer coils”) would generally not be my first recommendation to allow your shoulders to sink in a bit more.

Then, I’d strongly recommend you read the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that can help you make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Specifically, pay attention the information I linked to in my earlier reply about the information you need to learn about any mattress you tested and comparing that to the durability guidelines I linked to.

I would also advise you to avoid stores that offer items featuring products that use lower density foams, and I would avoid spending time testing major brand mattresses or any mattress where you can’t find out the specifics of the materials and components inside it and where another manufacturer doesn’t make a better quality/value mattress that they specifically describe as being similar, as this time spent testing is mostly wasted because it would be too risky of a purchase and it can’t be used as a reference point to purchase another mattress that is “similar”.

In its simplest form … choosing the “best possible” mattress for any particular person really comes down to FIRST finding a few knowledgeable and transparent retailers and/or manufacturers (either locally or online) that sell the types of mattresses that you are most interested in that are in a budget range you are comfortable with and that you have confirmed will provide you with the all the information you need about the materials and components inside the mattresses they sell so you will be able to make informed choices and meaningful comparisons between mattresses and then …

1. Careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in the tutorial) to make sure that a mattress is a good match for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP … and/or that you are comfortable with the options you have available to return, exchange, or “fine tune” the mattress and any costs involved if you can’t test a mattress in person or aren’t confident that your mattress is a suitable choice.

2. Checking to make sure that there are no lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress you are considering relative to your weight/BMI range that could compromise the durability and useful life of the mattress.

3. Comparing your finalists for “value” based on #1 and #2 and all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

I hope that helps you out a bit more in your process.

Phoenix