5 Reasons Your Memory Foam Mattress May Be Causing Back Pain

There's a good chance that if you're experiencing back pain, your mattress may be to blame. In fact, research has shown that memory foam mattresses are one of the most common causes of back pain. If you're currently struggling with this issue, keep reading for five reasons your memory foam mattress may be causing back pain.​

Too Firm or Too Soft

If you are experiencing back pain at night, the most likely reason may be that your memory foam mattress is either too soft, or too firm!

It's important to note that not all memory foam mattresses will have the same feel as one another, but this is typically most noticeable with traditional spring or even some latex designs where they sink into your body more deeply than in other types of bedding material such as wool pillows and cotton sheets because those materials are usually less dense meaning there would be greater gaps between them.

The ideal firmness for any mattress is determined by how it affects people's sleep. A too-firm bed may result in discomfort due to compression forces building up inside joints, while a soft one can leave you feeling like there's no support at all under your hips or shoulders when lying down.

Lack Of Support

Mattress support is NOT the same as mattress firmness. Firmness refers to how much pressure you feel when initially lying down on your new foam bedding surfaces, while mattress supports help provide proper spinal alignment and alleviate any pain caused by an improper sleeping position (such as hip or shoulder strain).

Mattress firmness and support depend largely on the quality of your mattress. The upper comfort layer provides a much-needed cushion for all those hard working joints, while ensuring proper spine alignment with its supportive core below it—though these two factors are not entirely independent from each other!

Mattresses should be supportive enough to allow for proper circulation and relaxation. If you feel like your current mattress is not doing this, it may be due to poor manufacturing quality or design flaws that could lead into sagging over time, therefore creating a lack of support.

Give It More Time To Break In!

Many people are surprised to learn that it takes up to 30 days for a new memory foam mattress to ‘break-in’ and adjust their body weight, type or position. This is because of how these mattresses work - they need time on your side in order establish firmness levels based off what you prefer so as not to be too soft (which would make sleeping uncomfortable) nor hard enough where certain areas may cause pain after long use!

However, 30 nights can be too long and if anything, you will want to avoid sleeping in agony. If this happens, then you might want to try some different sleeping positions in the mean-time! In all reality, there is no shortcut to breaking in a new memory foam mattress, so you may have to just bite the bullet, as it may pay off in the end once the break in period is all said and done!

Your Using The Wrong Foundation

If you’ve just bought a new memory foam mattress and plonked it on your existing base then a lack of proper foundation might be causing subtle sagging that's leading to back pain.

A lot depends upon how wide those gaps are between slat boards - anything over 2 inches should do but narrower ones won't provide enough support so it is important to consider purchasing a foundation with as many slats as possible in order to guarantee support throughout.

Explore some of our great quality foundations on our website for memory foam mattresses.

The Mattress Is Incompatible With Your Needs

If you've done everything that I mentioned in this guide and you're still experiencing back pain, it could be time to consider a different type or brand of mattress. It's easy to make the mistake of choosing the wrong one for your needs,  especially with so many options available on the market. Also, bear in mind that testing a mattress out for a few minutes is going to be a lot different than sleeping on it for 6 to 8 hours.

Your mattress store should have a trial or sleep guarantee which allows you to test ride your memory foam mattress so you can have an opportunity to exchange it if it doesn't work out. You typically get one shot at determining what you need so be sure to use your chance sparingly! 

Summary 

If you're experiencing back pain, it's worth considering whether your memory foam mattress might be to blame. Although memory foam mattresses are popular for their comfort and support, they can also cause problems for people with back issues. If you're waking up in pain each morning, it may be time to switch to a different type of mattress. We hope this article has been helpful in explaining the link between memory foam mattresses and back pain. Thanks for reading!