Looking for some advice on hip and shoulder pain

[phoenix]

Hi Bill S,

While it’s not possible to “diagnose” mattress comfort issues on a forum with any certainty (especially if there are health issues involved) because there are too many unique unknowns and variables involved that can affect how each person sleeps on a mattress in terms of 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 pre-existing issues you may have that aren’t connected to a mattress).

Come September, I was still having hip and shoulder pain, as well as worsening neck pain. I was using a Savvy Rest shredded foam pillow, which was initially comfortable, but as the night wore on, my head would sink into it and the support was much less, which seemed to cause neck pain. I just recently tried a generic stuffed foam pillow that is a lot thicker and I could tell it was helping after only one night- the neck pain is about 90% reduced, and my R shoulder pain was also reduced maybe 75%. So far, so good.

But I am still having hip and pain in the L shoulder, which becomes noticeable enough about 3-4am to wake me, and it only gets worse from there.

A pillow can make a significant difference for neck and upper body and shoulder issues so it’s good to see that a thicker pillow helped you with your neck and some of your shoulder pain.

While the only way to know for certainly whether any combination will be a good “match” for you in terms of PPP will be based on your own personal experience … if I had to guess (and of course it would only be a guess that would need to be confirmed by your own experience) I would think that you may do better with a softer top layer in your mattress (which could also mean that you may also need a thinner pillow because you would be sinking in to the mattress more deeply which would reduce the gap between your head and neck and the sleeping surface).

You would need to contact the store you purchased from to find out if they would be willing to make an exception to their exchange period (which would probably be unlikely after such a long time) but if you do decide to try a softer top layer and you are out of your exchange period and need to pay the full price for a new layer then there are also some sources for latex layers in post #4 here that would be less costly (some of which also have exchange/return policies) that may be worth considering.

Phoenix