Hello forum! I need help selecting a mattress material to help with chest pain. I’ve read Phoenix’s guides and suggestions about mattress selection…I’m just looking for general comments to help narrow the search.
I recently moved to the SF-bay area and need to purchase a new mattress. I have a chest condition that causes my lower ribs to flare out slightly (pectus excavatum), and as a result I wake up every single night with chest pain. The pain is caused by a pressure point or poor weight distribution while I sleep. (Don’t worry; my doctors have examined me closely. )
I am male, 6’, about 150lbs, early 30s. I sleep on my back, side and stomach because I wake up so often in pain and half-asleep rotate 90 degrees.
I always slept on a box spring because it was cheap. I’m older now, and I’m tired of waking up in pain, and would like to invest in a good mattress, but I’m not sure how to narrow the search. I’ve looked through the forums but body sizes and sleep positions quite a bit so I thought I’d ask directly.
It sounds from the guides that foam is the best for pressure point relief, but which type of foam? Memory foam? And is a softer or firmer foam/mattress material better?
I’m relatively tall and thin and the pressure is right in the center of my body, in my lower rib.
Any comments or suggestions are much appreciated, and if you have any SF-specific recommendations (I’ve seen Phoenix’s list “post #2 here”) even better.
[quote]I always slept on a box spring because it was cheap. I’m older now, and I’m tired of waking up in pain, and would like to invest in a good mattress, but I’m not sure how to narrow the search. I’ve looked through the forums but body sizes and sleep positions quite a bit so I thought I’d ask directly.
It sounds from the guides that foam is the best for pressure point relief, but which type of foam? Memory foam? And is a softer or firmer foam/mattress material better?[/quote]
Softer and or thicker materials in your comfort layers will tend to be more pressure relieving than thinner or firmer materials. Both memory foam and latex in a mattress design that is suitable for you can do a great job in providing pressure relief so the choice between them (or even other types of material combinations as well that can also provide good pressure relief) would be more of a preference choice than a “better worse” choice. There is more about the pros and cons of memory foam vs latex in post #2 here.
Outside of very generic comments such as these … there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved for anyone to know which specific mattress or material will be most suitable for you based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” and your own careful testing on different mattresses will be the most reliable way to know which specific mattress is the best match for you in terms of PPP and which materials you tend to prefer (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).
The type of support system that would be most suitable for a mattress will also depend on the type of mattress and the materials and components inside it but most foam mattresses (regardless of whether they are polyfoam, memory foam, or latex foam) will tend to do best on a firm, non flexing, and evenly supportive foundation or platform bed. Box springs (that have springs inside them that flex under pressure) are generally more suitable for innerspring mattresses. There is more about the different types of support systems that would generally be most suitable for different types of mattresses in post #1 here.
I went to a large chain retail store to get a better sense of how I respond to different types and thicknesses of memory foam. I was put on Tempur-Pedic Cloud series, Serta iComfort series, and Stearns & Foster Lux Estate Hybrid series. (I also stopped by the Natural Mattress Store to try their line.) Of course lying on a mattress in a showroom (ten minutes, relaxed) isn’t a very good test, but my evaluation in each case was the same:
The softer the feel the less rib pain at the pressure point.
Memory foam hurt less than other foams.
Now that I have a clear sense of subset of mattresses that work better for me I need purchase something. Unfortunately, softer mattresses/more memory foam within a line usually means a higher price within a product line.
Is there a good low-cost alternative to the S&F (Montgomery) or Serta (Epic or Acumen)?
Also, all else equal, is there a trade-off between pressure point relief and alignment as you increase the thickness of the same memory foam layer?
10 minutes is better than the testing that many people do when they purchase a mattress but it’s still a little bit too short … especially for a memory foam mattress which may need a little more time for the foam to soften with your body heat. I would make sure that you use the testing guidelines in the mattress shopping tutorial … especially if you have some special “challenges” that can make choosing a mattress that is the best “match” for you in terms of PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and Personal preferences) a little bit more difficult.
There is more about the different ways that one mattress can “match” another one in post #9 here but it’s unlikely that another manufacturer would make a mattress that was designed to match either one of these or have exactly the same layers so unless a manufacturer or retailer is personally familiar with how their mattresses compare to a specific mattress you have tested or a mattress description specifically mentions that a mattress is designed to be a close approximation of a specific mattress you have tested the only way to find a mattress that would perform or feel similar to you would be based on your own careful testing and experience (although this would be a more subjective comparison).
Both of these mattresses are also mattresses that I would tend to avoid, since they don’t disclose the quality of the materials inside them and they both use lower quality materials than I would be comfortable with (see the guidelines here). I wouldn’t spend any time testing mattresses where you aren’t able to find out the specifics of what is inside them (see this article). There would almost certainly be other mattresses in lower budget ranges that would feel similar to you, that use higher quality materials, and/or are more transparent about the quality of the materials inside them.
The mattress shopping tutorial includes a link to a list of some of the better online memory foam options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) and if you let me know your city or zip code I’d also be happy to let you now about any of the better options or possibilities I’m aware of in your area.
Yes … pressure relief and alignment are opposites in many ways. Thicker/softer comfort layers (or materials that can contour to the shape of your body more effectively) can improve pressure relief because they can provide a deeper pressure relieving cradle that can redistribute your weight over a larger surface area and reduce pressure points … they can also “allow” the heavier parts of your body to sink in more deeply before they are “stopped” by the firmer support layers that are deeper in the mattress and there is a higher risk of alignment issues with softer mattresses. There is more about primary and secondary support and their relationship to pressure relief in post #2 here and post #4 here. In very general terms … it’s usually less risky to choose a mattress that provides “just enough” pressure relief in all your sleeping positions so that there is less risk of experiencing the back pain and discomfort that can come from sleeping on a mattress that doesn’t keep you in good alignment over the course of the night.