Joints Cracking/Popping with New Latex Mattress = Pressure Relief Issue?

[phoenix]

Hi kasuvandi,

The most perplexing symptom I have is joint cracking. Ever since I started sleeping on my new mattress, my joints have been noticeably popping and cracking (similar to the sound of knuckles cracking) occasionally throughout the day… It was ridiculous the first few nights on the new mattress–I remember waking up in the middle of night and changing position and hearing tons of cracking and when I would get up I’d often feel a deep crack in the middle of my back. I’m a healthy 140 pound woman who has never in my life had an issue with this before! The popping is not painful, just really odd feeling. A forum search didn’t seem to be fruitful–any ideas of what this indicates about the mattress?

While it’s not possible to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty because there are too many unique unknowns, variables, and complexities involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of “comfort” and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or any “symptoms” they experience … there is more about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here.

There is also more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel”.

These posts are the “tools” that can help with the analysis, detective work, or trial and error that may be necessary to help you learn your body’s language and “translate” what your body is trying to tell you so you can identify the types of changes that have the best chance of reducing or eliminating any “symptoms” you are experiencing (at least to the degree that any symptoms are from your mattress rather than the result of any other circumstances or pre-existing issues you may have that aren’t connected to a mattress).

Having said all that … “joint popping” isn’t one of the symptoms that are included but if I had to guess based on your comments and feedback about your previous mattress and the Beautiful (which is much softer than your mattress) It seems that your joints are probably extended outside of their normal range of motion and may be “cracking” when you change position and I would agree with you that the odds are that you probably need a little bit more thickness/softness in your comfort layers. It’s also possible that your body and joints were used to sleeping out of alignment on your old mattress and are still adjusting to sleeping in better alignment on your new mattress and you may just need a little bit more time for your “popping” symptoms to resolve themselves.

There are also some suggestions in post #2 here that may be helpful but the first thing I would generally suggest is a more detailed conversation with SleepEZ so that you can benefit from the experience they have with other customers over the years that may have similar “symptoms” to yours.

Given all of the above, I am thinking that issue is likely that the mattress is offering me good support but not enough pressure relief (i.e., the soft 2" top layer of Talalay isn’t enough and I’m feeling the firmer layers below) and I need more inches of comfort layer. I haven’t a clue how much and am worried about my hips sinking in too far again. Any recommendations for going with an additional 1", 2", or 3"?

I don’t have any specific recommendation because there are too many unknowns and variables involved for me to be able to predict how a specific mattress/topper combination will work for any specific person but there is more information about choosing a topper in post #2 here and the topper guidelines it links to which along with a conversation with a reliable supplier that can provide you with good information about how their toppers compare to each other or to other toppers they are familiar with that are available on the market can help you use your sleeping experience as a reference point and guideline to help you choose the type, thickness, and firmness for a topper that has the least possible risk and the best chance for success.

A good “average” choice would be a 2" - 3" depending on whether you are looking for “a little to a fair bit” or “a fair bit to a lot” of additional pressure relief but your own personal experience is really the only way to know for certain whether any mattress/topper combination will be a good match for you in terms of PPP.

Phoenix