10 Warning Signs Your Mattress Is Causing Back Pain

Are you suffering from increased back pain? 

Do your muscles remain sore and stiff after waking up the next morning? 

If yes, you need to realize that it’s time to change the mattress and get a new one. Usually, when you are sleeping on the wrong mattress or in a poor position without any support, you will start feeling huge pain in the back muscles and the spine. However, the pain won’t be noticeable immediately when something gets wrong with the mattress. That’s why most sleepers find out that the cause of their back pain is the mattress pretty late, and till that time, the damage has already been done.

This is why you need to know the warning signs that your mattress cannot reduce back pain and support your bodyweight properly. This article below will explain 10 situations that indicate a problem with the mattress you are currently sleeping on.

Top 10 Warning Signs Your Mattress Is Causing Back Pain

1. Your mattress is sagging

The first warning sign that you need to look for in a mattress to know whether it’s causing you back pain or not is the sagging rate. Suppose the mattress has sagged beyond the limit. In that case, the internal foam or spring layer won’t support your body weight and put pressure on the trigger points properly. Hence, it will start causing you more pain than lessening it. 

2. Depression is more than the recommended limit

If you allow the mattress to sag further, the internal layers will start depressing. You can easily detect the depression by measuring the height of the mattress, which will be lesser in comparison to the original thickness. If you sleep on a depression mattress where the supportive layers have flattened completely will cause more damage to your spine and muscles than a normal mattress. 

3. The surface has become too hard to sleep on 

After using the same mattress over and over again will cause the surface to become too hard to sleep on. It will almost feel like you are sleeping on the floor or a hard wooden frame. Hence, you will start experiencing really bad back pain that will worsen further throughout the day. 

4. Memory foam is quickly coming back to its original shape

Usually, the memory foam material is known for its long response time, which allows it to return to its original form slowly and provide maximum support to your body simultaneously. However, suppose the material is coming back to the original position too quickly than expected. In that case, you need to change your mattress immediately. A memory foam changing its shape too often will cause more pain since it wouldn’t support your body weight perfectly. 

5. You wake up with a sore back. 

Often, we believe that the sore back is the reason for sleeping in the wrong posture throughout the entire night. However, we completely forget that most mattresses nowadays are built so that they can support your body weight and maintain your posture while you are sleeping, regardless of the position. Hence, you shouldn’t wake up with a sore back if your mattress performs its functions properly. 

6. Not being able to find a proper sleep position. 

Your mattress is meant to provide you comfort and not lessen it. However, there are many nights when you feel helpless and won’t have a peaceful sleep due to constant twisting and turning. Your body does so to find a proper sleep position so that the bones and muscles are not strained further. But if you fail to do so, you will end up having back pain the next morning. 

7. Your mattress has aged too much. 

Yes, we understand that several mattresses come with a warranty period of 7 to 10 years. However, there are mattresses to have a warranty of one year, three years, etc. Suppose the mattress you have has completed its warranty period and is now quite old. In that case, it will cause you back pain, regardless of how advanced the inner layers are or a pressure-relieving zonal layer is present. 

8. You have chosen the wrong mattress topper/pad.

Often, people like to add more comfort or firmness to the mattress, especially when the mattress has sagged. A mattress topper is like an additional layer made from foam, coir, or latex, which sits at the top of the bed’s surface and will help in altering the overall firmness. A mattress pad is a thin layer of cover meant to prevent spills and stains and provide you with more comfort. However, if you choose the topper or the pad wrongly, you will have more pain. 

9. Compressions are present in local spots in the mattress

Sometimes, you will see that the mattress hasn’t compressed evenly throughout the surface. Instead, there are localized compressions in areas where your body applies the maximum pressure on the mattress. If you have these compression spots, you should change your mattress immediately because it will cause you more pain than a normal mattress. 

10. You have got the wrong firmness. 

Every sleeper needs to get a mattress having the correct firmness which will suit their body needs perfectly. However, if you choose the mattress with the wrong firmness level, you will have really bad back pain that won’t get reduced so easily. Moreover, if you are already an orthopaedic patient and have been suffering from back pains, choosing the wrong firmness will cause further damage to the spine’s structure and the back muscles. 

Conclusion

We understand that humans tend to ignore any warning signs, whether their ailing health or a bad mattress. However, now as we have explained the symptoms of a mattress causing back pain, we are sure that you can easily recognize the signs and take action at the earliest, and choose the best mattress for back pain so that you won’t have to suffer too much from spine problems, posture pain, muscle strains, increased pressure in the trigger points, and so on.