Manufacturers - overview

[phoenix]

Hi AnnaP.

I just wanted to give an update on the Ultimate Dreams 13" memory foam mattress. I have been sleeping on it for about 8 nights now. Overall, have been sleeping more soundly on this mattress, compared to the Nolah mattress. I am getting about 40-50 more minutes of sleep a night, and feel like I am tossing and turning much less…. I know I should still give it some time,

You are correct that you would need more than 8 days for your mattress to “break-in” a bit, as well as for you to adjust and lose some of your own personal “learned alignment”. This “period or retrogression” can be longer or shorter which each individual, but I would wait for at least 30 days and meanwhile collect more data points while sleeping on the mattress, along with making some postural adjustments and checking up with your physical therapist as you might be dealing with a combination of contributors to the pains that you are experiencing.

The problem with the Nolah mattress is that I get very bad lumbar pain that wakes me up throughout the night. I once woke to actually feel myself tightening the muscles (to slightly raise my hips) in a way to try and alleviate the pain. I put a folded towel under my waist, which seemed to help some. This feels kind of awkward though, do you have any recommendations as an alternative to lumbar support?

As you mentioned that you are a side sleeper only, the lumbar pain you experience on Nolah may come from insufficient secondary support that comes from the upper layers of the mattress that are not deep enough or that do not offer sufficient pushback for the recessed area of your waist, or could come from some spinal twisting or a combination of either. As a temporary solution an “ad hoc” zoning as you did with placing the towels under your waist could be helpful but with frequent repositioning during the night this arrangement may shift during the course of the night.

I have been waking up with shoulder pain that is lasting into the later part of the day. My hands feel stiff in the morning, and I have pain in my thumbs (pinching a nerve?). I also have pain in my shoulder blades which feel like they are being pushed together all night. I feel like the shoulder that I am lying on is collapsing and pulling forward, and has a weird feeling of almost wanting to pull out of the socket. I am unsure what this says about the mattress (too soft, too firm)?

While I am not a chiropractor or neurosomatic educator it seems to me from your previous description that you may also be dealing with some postural issues during your sleep due to your body configuration and side sleeping position and that your situation may be a bit more complex to pin it down.

Shoulder pressure points and pains while sleeping on your back can come from a mattress that is too firm and puts direct pressure on the shoulders, the shoulder blades, or on the back muscles and can also cause soreness or numbness and tingling in the arms or can often come from postural issues as well. There is a bit more information about sleeping positions and posture this in this article here .

Usually, when sleeping on your side your scapulae would be pushed apart and due to gravity, the tendency would be for the shoulders to “collapse” towards the chest. But the shoulder is an extremely flexible joint and it is also possible that (depending on the position of your “top” arm) your “top” shoulder could swing towards the back creating a spinal twist which may be amplified if this is counterbalanced by the twisting your hips in the opposite direction caused by gravity or unsupported knees.

Either way, I would first make sure to reevaluate your pillow to ensure that it is providing a decent alignment to keep your cervical/upper thoracic region in a relatively neutral arrangement. Improper pillow thickness is a common cause for shoulder issues, especially with a new mattress. To be a bit more specific, when on your side, if you have no pillow or a pillow that is too high the head will deviate and bend towards or away from the mattress and will impinge on your neck and the major nerves of the upper limb that branch eventually to the digital nerves. The head must be parallel with the mattress and the plain of the nose must be even with the spine to take off the pressure from your neck and upper neck.

Then because your larger hips and broad shoulders can cause rolling over and twisting the spine in the lumbar region I would also suggest placing a long pillow between your knees (in a stack knee position/one on top of each other) that would keep the “top” thigh parallel and would be long enough to keep the “top” foot from dangling.

I am wondering though, if a zoned mattress might be a better option for me based on my body type (very wide pointy shoulders, small waist, somewhat bigger hips)?

While you may be one of those more special cases where zoning systems can be useful and well worth considering in order to find a mattress with the right “balance” between comfort/pressure relief (under the shoulders especially) and support/alignment (under the hips/pelvis especially) I would still allow for the new mattress to break in and make the few adjustments suggested above which will allow you to collect more data points before deciding one way or another. There is more about zoning in this article and in post #11 here and the additional posts it links to but the only way to know whether any specific mattress (zoned or otherwise) will be a good match for you in terms of comfort, firmness, and PPP will still be based on careful testing or your own personal experience.

I look forward to any updates you might have once you have a chance to check things up with your therapist and sleep on your mattress for a while longer.

Phoenix