Purchasing for elderly parents with bursitis and all sorts of other aches and pains

Dear forum,

I’m trying to guide my 85 plus year old parental units in their quest for a new mattress. They have plenty of aches and pains. Hips, neck, knees etc.

Their old pillow top is leaving them drained and pained. I have a super comfy latex bed that I got from Custom Sleep Design 4 or 5 years ago. Sadly, they are out of business. My parents are in New York but I don’t see them going to try out any beds in person. Nonetheless, I’d like to find some place local in case I manage to get them to a location.

Question: for comfort and support of achy aging bodies: do you suggest a hybrid or an all latex bed? For ease of getting out of bed, I’m thinking it might be easier to have that more constructed finishing of the edges on a hybrid but that’s just a guess.

If these were your parents, where would you go in the NY Metro area to procure a comfortable, supportive bed that will not make getting up from a seated position on the edge difficult?

Any body have experience with Shovlin mattress in Fanwood, NJ? How about Dixie foam? A friend suggested Sleep Number.

Thank you in advance for suggestions. I know it’s best to try out a bed before purchasing but that just might not be possible. :frowning:

Hi MaisieNellie,

I don’t make specific recommendations or suggestions because the first “rule” of mattress shopping is to always remember that you (or in this case your parents) are the only one that can feel what you feel on a mattress and there are too many unknowns, variables, and personal preferences involved that are unique to each person to use a formula or for anyone to be able to predict or make a specific suggestion or recommendation about which mattress or combination of materials and components or which type of mattress would be the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort” or PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your Personal preferences) or how a mattress will “feel” to you or compare to another mattress based on specs (either yours or a mattress) or “theory at a distance” that can possibly be more accurate than your own careful testing (hopefully using the testing guidelines in step 4 of the tutorial) or your own personal sleeping experience (see mattress firmness/comfort levels in post #2 here).

Assuming that the materials in a mattress you are considering are durable enough for your body type and meet the quality/durability guidelines here … the choice between different types and combinations of materials and components or different types of mattresses are more of a preference and a budget choice than a “better/worse” choice (see this article).

I or some of the more knowledgeable members of the site can certainly help you to narrow down your options, help you focus on better quality/value choices that are available to you either locally or online, help you identify any lower quality materials or weak links in a mattress relative to your weight that you may be considering, act as a fact check, talk about the pros and cons of different materials, or answer many of the specific questions you may have along the way that don’t involve what you will “feel” on a mattress, and help with “how” to choose but only you (or your parents) can decide which specific mattress, manufacturer/retailer, or combination of materials is “best for you” regardless of the name of the manufacturer on the label or whether anyone else (including me) would have the same criteria or circumstances or would make the same choice.

Just in case you haven’t read it yet … the best place to start your research is the mattress shopping tutorial here which includes all the basic information, steps, and guidelines that you will need to make the best possible choice … and perhaps more importantly know how and why to avoid the worst ones.

Two of the most important links in the tutorial that I would especially make sure you’ve read are post #2 here which has more about the different ways to choose a suitable mattress (either locally or online) that is the best “match” for you in terms of “comfort”, firmness, and PPP (Posture and alignment, Pressure relief, and your own Personal preferences) that can help you assess and minimize the risks of making a choice that doesn’t turn out as well as you hoped for and post #13 here which has more about the most important parts of the “value” of a mattress purchase which can help you make more meaningful quality/value comparisons between mattresses in terms of suitability (how well you will sleep), durability (how long you will sleep well), and the overall value of a mattress compared to your other finalists based on all the other parts of your personal value equation that are most important to you.

The only meaningful answer to a very general question like this would be “it depends”. I don’t think that there is a single answer to this that anyone can say that one is “better” than the other for any specific person or area or set of circumstances. For me it would really depend on whether they were willing to test mattresses locally and on the specific mattresses that I was considering or that I knew were available to me locally compared to the online options that I was also considering based on suitability, durability, and all the other parts of my personal value equation that were most important to me.

There is also more about the pros and cons of an online purchase vs a local purchase in post #2 here and this topic. This is something that each person will need to decide for themselves because there are pros and cons to both of them that will depend on the person, their circumstances, and on the area that they live.

The better options or possibilities I’m aware of in the NYC area (subject to making sure that any mattress you are considering meets the quality/value guidelines I linked earlier in this reply) are listed in post #2 here.

If you are looking at online options then the tutorial also includes several links to lists of the better online options I’m aware of (in the optional online step) that include many different types and categories of mattresses in a wide range of budgets that may also be worth considering (especially if they can’t go out and test mattresses themselves).

Both Shovlin Mattress and Dixie Foam are members of this site which means that I think highly of both of them and I believe that they both compete well with the best in the industry in terms of their quality, value, service, knowledge, and transparency although they both make very different types of mattresses. A forum search on Shovlin and on Dixie (you can just click the links) will bring up many more comments and feedback about both of them.

You can see my thoughts about airbeds in general this article. While any mattress can be a good match for a specific person because each person’s needs and preferences or the criteria that are most important to them can be very different … in general terms I would tend to avoid them unless there is a very compelling reason that an airbed would be a better choice for you in “real life” (outside of the many “marketing stories” that you will hear about them) than the many other options or types of mattresses that are available to you.

For those that are committed to an airbed and are convinced that there are no other types of mattresses that will meet their criteria then there are some other airbed options available that are listed in post #3 here that may be in a much better quality/value range than Sleep Number/Select Comfort and where you can confirm the quality and durability of the foam layers inside the mattress as well since Sleep Number doesn’t provide this information to their customers. I would avoid the major brands along with any mattress where you aren’t able to find out the quality and durability of all the layers and components in the mattress (see the guidelines here).

Phoenix

Shovlin is awesome. Spent more than I originally wanted but am extremely happy with their full latex in a king. It was nice to learn I still could go with a soft feel and have support, and it truly is awesome. I still see Room around town at times and we stop and talk, nice to give someone like that business. His workers are good too. If you’re near there, you owe it to yourself to pay them a visit.