Please help: Hip pain with Sleep on Latex

Mattress Talk
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Thanks in advance for any help – I’m kind of desperate.

I’m not much of a Goldilocks sleeper, and rarely have issues with mattresses in the past. But since switching to a Sleep on Latex medium firm I am experiencing WILD pressure point pain in my hips/low back. I’ve never had low back/hip problems in my life, and I know for sure it’s the mattress because this started when I bought it (about 2 months ago now), plus I’ve since slept over a week on a terrible dorm room bed as well as a Tuft & Needle and a hotel bed without pain. :frowning:

We added a 2" soft topper from SOL and I feel almost no difference.

Do I:

  • try a 3" soft topper from SOL (they offer free returns so it should be easy to swap these out)?
  • try a Talalay topper?
  • put a 1" memory gel in between mattress and topper (seen on a reddit sub, but then I’m adding synthetic materials when I bought this precisely to avoid those)
  • some combo of these
  • get a new mattress entirely (AGHHHHHH the analysis paralysis would start again, but thankfully SOL has a good return policy).

Possible helpful info:

I’m 5’6" and 160lbs and my husband is 6’5" and 240. He is also a side sleeper. He likes the SOL probably because he is so much heavier. We had an Avocado mattress prior to the SOL for 8 years and needed to replace it because it was sagging like crazy (maybe because of our weight discrepancy – I would roll into a big sag the closer I got to his side – although our kids’ Avocados also all had problems within that time frame). Overall I did not have issues with it until the last year when that sag really started getting to me.

I want to love SOL because I prefer smaller companies with good customer service, because latex will last longer, and because the price was right. But I’m miserable.

I would welcome recommendations for alternative mattresses if that seems to be the move. I’m really tired of spinning my wheels here and definitely can’t sustain being in pain every night/morning for much longer.

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So, the majority of your bed is medium and firm latex. Your idea to get a soft topper was good, i think the issue might be that if you’re a side sleeper, it might not be thick enough. Since my recommendation would’ve probably been to get a 3" soft instead of 2", i believe this would be a good opportunity to try another 2" of super soft blended latex from mattresses.net

The box top 15" green avocado has 3" of 8 ild latex (this is what customer service told me which I’m not sure i believe) and 2" of soft latex so that’s 5 inches before reaching the firmer layers.

Also, i know you said you prefer natural, though synthetics can have their place. 2" of memory foam underneath the latex can give you more conformity and pressure relief. Latex is very responsive and so even at a soft level it can have a pushback that can cause pressure points.

Memory foam does the opposite. So when you layer them they balance out. Memory foam slows down that pushback a lot.

Another option, you could add a high quality wool topper on top of the soft latex. I believe you basically just need some more softness on the top. If your bed is made of dunlop latex, that acts more firm than talalay.

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So you’re thinking it’s recoverable if I get the layers right? After going deeper down the rabbit hole I’ve seen quite a few posts on reddit in particular about side sleepers never getting comfortable on these dunlop latex mattresses so I was losing hope. The return policy is good enough and the pain is getting annoying enough that I’m ready to just return it and move on rather than prolong my suffering trying random things out, but that requires choosing a new mattress and I can’t tell what would be worse lol.

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Hi NYCMIDWIFE,

Welcome to the Mattress UnderGround and thanks for you question, we are happy you are here.

What you’re experiencing actually makes a lot of sense once you look at how differently two bodies can interact with the same mattress. With a big weight difference like yours and your husband’s, a single mattress often ends up being a compromise that really only works well for one person. In your case, it sounds like your husband won the round and is getting enough sink and support, while your body isn’t sinking in enough to relieve pressure at your hips and shoulders, which is why you’re waking up sore. One quick thought as I am writing, if you sleep on your side and since you now have this newer mattress, you likely need a higher loft pillow to raise your head and neck, and support your shoulders better. Too low a loft pillow, particularly one with no structure, will lead to shoulders wanting to dig into the mattress.

There’s also a pretty big difference between what you had before and what you have now. The Avocado Green Mattress you had was likely softer over time and allowed more contouring, especially as it aged, which is why it may have felt more comfortable for you for longer even though it eventually developed sagging. The Sleep On Latex mattress is built with firmer Dunlop latex, which has a more solid, “push back” feel and doesn’t really let your hips and shoulders sink in as much. That firmness is great for heavier sleepers, but for lighter side sleepers it can create exactly the kind of pressure point pain you’re describing. I would also pause again here and ask about your foundation. Avocado’s are usually made with latex and wool, which leaves room for slight body impressions, and 8 years is about what you might expect from an Avocado, but if the foundation was starting to bow or flex, that can cause issues in and of itself. Particularly, the sagging.

One approach that often helps in situations like this is separating the comfort layer experience between sleepers instead of trying to fix everything with one shared surface. A thicker, softer topper on your side or even a split topper setup can let your body get the cushioning it needs without changing what your husband already likes. It’s a way of working with the mattress you have rather than fighting its core feel. Sleepez or Arizona Premium can whip up a split comfort topper in talalay latex, one side to maintain your husband’s firmer preference and your side with more pressure relief. Actually, there are several Trusted Members here that can offer this. And some are located in NJ, @ShovlinMattress and @EthicalMattress and NYC, @TheCleanBedroom.

If that still doesn’t solve it, it may just be a mismatch in mattress style rather than something you can tune your way out of. Some people simply do better on more contouring, slightly softer systems, especially for side sleeping, and no amount of layering fully replaces that. SoL does have a nice customer service team and are generally fairly amicable on taking back their mattress within the trial period. Custom latex folks, like @Sleep_EZ, @Arizona_Premium and @CST can offer a much more customized option with a zippered cover so if each side of the mattress does not meet your preferred preferences, layers can be swapped and customized, rather than a return on an entire mattress.

Surprisingly, I dont think you will find the pricing too much different with Sleepez or APM. The bottom line on Dunlop Latex is most all of the good quality latex comes from a handful of Sri Lankan factories, so it is not about fetching quality. It is more about professional guidance, which is what you will find with the Trusted Members at TMU.

Hope this helps to gain some perspective.

A last thought, although not a latex option, is something like the @HelixSleep Dual Comfort topper. You can not modify it as some of the folks I mentioned can with latex, but it is an option, non the less.

Maverick

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Thank you so much for your response! At this point I’m sort of wondering if it just makes sense to go back to the Avocado since it worked for me and my husband liked it fine, and just suck up that it won’t last very long. We also bedshare with our youngest child, who often sleeps in the middle, which is why we were leaning away from split options. But Avocado has so many options now it also makes my brain spin. I’m wondering if the one from Costco with the pillow top would be a good option, again because of Costco’s return policy.

Currently we have a Thuma base which we bought in 2022. Before that we had a plywood base because prior to the Avocado we had a white lotus cotton and wool futon with a latex topper on top and that needed a very sturdy base to prevent sagging.

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Hi again,

I just saw @Gc123’s, response who beat me to the post, as they say, with some good advice, and then your response. I like the 3" wool topper idea, as I have one myself (one of many toppers, but the wool is my favorite). The only issue with an organic wool 3" topper is they are fairly expensive, usually in the $650-1100 range.

The return policy is good enough and the pain is getting annoying enough that I’m ready to just return it and move on rather than prolong my suffering trying random things out, but that requires choosing a new mattress and I can’t tell what would be worse lol.

I touched on this option a bit in my larger response, but that does not mean choosing a new mattress will be a worse option. As I mentioned, a few of TMU very custom latex crafters, will make that part quite easy with their professional staff and unparalleled success rate. So remain confident that if you return your SoL, the TM’s at TMU, literally “got your back”. That might be the first time I have said that, LOL. Seriously, these folks live for folks like you.

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Yes, I’m thinking maybe I prefer hybrids to the straight latex mattress…but there are just so many options! Thinking about Avocado simply because I know it at least didn’t destroy me lol. Researching @DLX now as well as @EngineeredSleep . :slight_smile: I also had already been looking at @EXP-MyGreen-Mattress since I do prefer an organic mattress but I hear it is very firm?

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I think it is recoverable. Imagine you have a medium-firm base spring. That’s basically what your bed is. Medium dunlop feels firm. Even for me at 215 lbs 5’11 it was more firm than i wanted. So if i wouldve kept using that medium i would have added a 3" super soft topper to it.

The usual comfort layer is 4", and your 6" all latex mattress is acting as a base layer. So when you added the 2" topper you added only a 2" comfort layer.

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Without having to search the entire forum site, I can tell you that DLX makes a great mattress. I have told the story of my MiL (who passed in Nov) bought a BeautyRest mattress which developed a street sized pothole under her artificial hip in under 14months. Despite having the opportunity to invoke a warranty, the entire process would have been extremely time consuming and frustrating.

So, I ordered her a customized DLX premier hybrid in a queen (firm/med). They got it delivered in less than a week (with a little help from my friends, to quote the Beatles) and for almost 2 years she never slept better in her life. And every time I checked the mattress for sink holes, the mattress comfort layer remained perfect, like new.

My good friends had a Sterns and Foster Cassatt Firm they bought in late 2019, and it gave out after 4 years. I ordered them a DLX Premier Hybrid Firm, and they comment, the best bed they have ever slept on. Their daughter recently got the LatexLuxe as they wanted a partly natural mattress and have had it for 6 months or so, and absolutely love it.

Naturally, this can be considered isolated incidents as they described to me what they like and I made the appropriate recommendations and DLX was the right one for them. What is good about @DLX is that you can split a queen or a king comfort layer, with 4 choices of firmness in latex, 3 choices in HD polyfoam, and even viscoelastic memory foam (they dont list the MF on the website) and you can choose each half of the mattress with any combination of these foams. Plus they are genuinely nice people.

I even ordered one of my daughter’s a DLX Classic Hybrid (med) for her guest room, so we have a comfortable mattress to sleep on when we visit her in florida. Although, I would have preferred firm, I had to think of any of the other guests who might visit, so medium was the compromise.

So, you are on a good path. One of many, but still a good one.

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Hi @nycmidwife

We offer the full range of Avocado hybrid mattresses in our store, plus our own line of hybrid mattresses made here in New Jersey from natural and organic materials. I think you would do better on a hybrid…because I think almost everyone does better on a hybrid. We only sell hybrid mattresses in our store, made with pocketed coil springs and latex foam. I’ve been in the mattress business for 25 years, and in my experience nothing does a better job of balancing comfort, support and temperature management than the hybrid construction we offer.

If you’re able to visit our store in Millburn NJ, you can easily compare all of the various options while we help fit you and your husband to the right selection. It’s worth visiting a store you can trust to help de-mystify the process and guide you to finding the right mattress for a great night’s sleep.

Feel free to give me a call at 201-618-3565 if you have questions.

Best,
Bryan

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Thank you so much! We will see if we can come visit!

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I’m now wondering if the @Sleep_EZ Hybrid or the @Latex_Mattress_Fact1 Luxerion Hybrid is a good option for us. I recognize the Talalay of the latter might be too soft for my larger husband, but it sounds really nice to me. Would love if either expert wanted to weigh in!

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Look to select one with a zippered comfort layer in case you need to modify it. Even if you start out with all latex, you can insert a different latex firmness or other foam component layer of the same thickness. It gives you options without compromise.

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Good tip! Thank you for all your help.

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As always, @Maverick we appreciate you taking the time to share your experience about our Premier Hybrid with others. We could not agree more that the support system underneath a mattress is often overlooked and can absolutely contribute to comfort and durability issues, especially for heavier individuals and with more flexible materials like latex. Often, things rated for over 2,000 pounds still do not provide adequate support.

For example, every mattress I had would sag over time, no matter how well built it was, as someone who weighs 250 pounds. I ended up custom building a frame that is so sturdy it feels like standing on the floor. I can stand and walk on it without it flexing or creaking. This level of support is not necessary for everyone, but people who are heavier or who consistently have issues with mattresses sagging may need to invest in something extra heavy duty. It is hard to recommend a specific option because there are so many choices, and people have very different aesthetics and bedroom designs.

One thing to keep in mind is that latex can be very polarizing. Some people absolutely love it, while others do not. But that could be said about most mattresses.

At 5’6" and 160 lbs as a side sleeper, there is a decent chance the issue is not that the mattress is too soft, but actually that the latex is still pushing back too much against your body. Latex in particular is very buoyant and resilient. You sleep more on it than in it. Some people perceive that as supportive while others experience it as pressure. The fact that the 2" soft topper made almost no difference is also telling.

We completely understand wanting to avoid synthetic materials. A lot of people choose latex for exactly that reason and there is nothing wrong with wanting a more natural sleep setup. At the same time, we also would not want you to feel trapped into trying to make a material work if your body is consistently telling you otherwise.

That said, one thing we gently encourage people to stay open minded about is separating synthetic from bad. There are definitely low quality synthetic foams out there, but there are also high quality foams.

Based on your comments about sleeping comfortably on hotel mattresses, dorm mattresses, and the Tuft & Needle, it does seem possible that your body may prefer a more contouring and less buoyant material than latex. That does not mean your preferences are wrong or that latex is bad. It may simply mean it is not the ideal comfort material for your body.

If staying fully natural is the top priority, then we would probably explore softer Talalay configurations before moving away from latex entirely.

At the end of the day, the best mattress is the one that allows you to sleep comfortably even if it is not made from the theoretically most natural materials.

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Hi @nycmidwife - you have gotten some good advice and information in here from @Maverick and @DLX. I second all that they said (to save you time from reading more ha).

If you wanted to try a product similar to your Avocado - I would recommend our Duo Latex Plus mattress. It uses 3 inches of soft Talalay Latex on top of an 8" pocketed coil with a 1.5" HR transition foam layer. You can flip the Duo Support to use that 1.5" transition layer or to not use it. Once the latex wears out you can simply replace the latex comfort top.

If you are open to adding in some Memory Foam I would recommend our Duo Memory Plus that uses a combo of latex and memory foam and takes away the responsiveness of latex.

A third option if you wanted to meet in the middle is our new Duo Performance mattress. It uses 2 different types of High Resiliency foam to give an initial latex feel, but with some pressure relieving, slower response foam underneath. These are very durable, high grade foams. I like this combo for you, but only if you are open to synthetic foams.

Good luck and if we can be a resource for you just let us know!

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I agree with Maverick especially knowing that over half the King and Queen latex mattresses we ship out are in fact with a dual firmness Talalay topper. Nothing beats Talalay for the surface comfort and you are a perfect candidate for the dual firmness option. We have put a lot of couples back into the same bed.

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I love the company, but I’m miserable. Is this mattress just too firm for my weight? Any advice or alternative mattress recommendations for side sleepers?

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Hey there worldmattress01,

You should speak with @Arizona_Premium or @Sleep_EZ as they are latex experts who can craft a modular mattress that allows you to modify layers for targeted comfort. Both use Dunlop and Talalay, which gives you a much wider comfort range and better pressure relief options for side sleeping. Having options like these modular systems, where you are not stuck in a one size fits all system can be helpful for folks like in your situation. Of course, knowing you height and weight and what foundation you are using will be helpful in determining what precisely might be best for you.

A lot of side sleepers struggle with Sleep On Latex because their mattresses run quite firm, especially with Dunlop-only constructions. If your shoulders or hips are getting pressure buildup, the mattress may simply not be allowing enough contouring for your body weight and sleep position. Side sleepers usually need a softer comfort layer on top while still maintaining firmer support underneath for alignment.

Talalay latex in the comfort layer can make a huge difference for side sleepers because it’s more pressure relieving and less “pushback-y” than Dunlop. A modular setup as mentioned also lets you swap layers instead of replacing the entire mattress if you miss the firmness target.

Hope this helps,

Maverick

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Hello there! I read your post and wanted to share that I went through a similar cycle of trying to figure out whether I needed softer, firmer, different toppers, different materials, etc. because I was dealing with hip and shoulder pressure pain that seemed to come out of nowhere.

What surprised me is that the biggest improvement for me didn’t actually come from changing mattresses. I ended up finding a site about incline sleeping — slightly elevating the mattress on a tilt instead of sleeping completely flat. There’s a site called Incline Sleep that explains the concept in more detail and provides lots of research and videos… I eventually tried their foam wedge system underneath my existing mattress because it was the most affordable way to try this, and it helped my hip and shoulder pain far more than any topper experiments did. It uses gravity to remove pressure on your joints along with other amazing health benefits. Prior to my internet search I had never heard of this and now I’m so glad I stumbled across it!
Reading your post, what stood out to me is that you actually seem to tolerate a variety of mattresses pretty well except this particular setup, which makes me wonder if your body just isn’t happy with the pressure distribution or positioning rather than the mattress being objectively “bad.” That was very similar to my experience. I kept chasing the perfect firmness level when the real issue seemed to be how my body was positioned overnight.

The nice thing about the wedge approach is that it doesn’t necessarily require abandoning the mattress you already bought or layering endless toppers trying to fine-tune things by 1 inch at a time. It changed the feel of pressure on my hips and shoulders without making the bed feel drastically softer.

Obviously everyone is different, and if the SOL still feels like concrete to you then returning it may still make sense. But before starting the entire mattress search over again, it might at least be worth reading about incline sleep since you’re already experimenting with toppers and trying to relieve pressure points. Let me know if you have any questions… I’ve been on the forum pretty often lately just trying to share my experience. Good luck!