Hips sink way too much

Talk To The Experts
1

I’m a 135lb, 5’6’’ woman with most of my weight carried on my hips. I prefer back sleeping but since having mattress issues I can’t seem to tolerate back sleeping anymore and end up tossing and turning on my side all night long. I’m married to a man who is 6’2’', 280lbs with his weight also centered on his hips. He’s a back and stomach sleeper overall.

We bought a 2023 Beautyrest black (whatever was Mattress Firm’s priciest model at the time, in medium) that started sinking around my hips after 5 months. It has since worsened. I’ve tried some hard foam pads under the coils of the sinking area under my hips (the “Sag Away” on amazon) and my hips still sink almost to my belly button when I’m on my side. My problem overall is that my hips sink a ton compared to the rest of my body, causing a bad angle at my waist when I’m on my back or side. Then my torso sinks a little but still too much compared to my head, so that my neck is cranked up too high to sleep on my back even without a pillow and at a bad angle when I’m on my side. My head doesn’t sink in at all. I also hate the way the mattress creates a valley under me that never goes away even as I change positions. My husband generally sleeps well on all beds but has back pain with this one. We also tried another high end beauty rest in firm before buying the Black that was even worse with how much my hips sank when the rest of my body didn’t sink at all. I spent 5 hours in Mattress Firm trying out mattresses and constantly found issues with my hips sinking too much while the rest of my body didn’t sink enough to stay in a neutral position.

Before 2023, we had a beauty rest from 2012 that was awesome for 8 years. I also generally sleep well on hotel mattresses. Really, I never had issues with pain at all until 2022. When I sleep on a good hotel mattress, I reliably have zero back/neck pain so I strongly suspect it’s our mattress causing my issues.

Given that we spent $4k for a mattress that only provided top layer comfort for less than 2 years, we’re interested in DIY. If nothing else, I can buy a new top layer every year if needed versus an entirely new mattress. Does anyone have recommendations for this problem of hips sinking so much more than the rest of the body? I’m miserable, tossing and turning in pain all night.

Thanks!!

@Tempflow
@BackScience

2

Hello moonmurmur and welcome to the forums! You might want to consider the 10" organic latex mattress from Sleep EZ - https://sleepez.com/product/organic-latex-mattress/

The organic and natural mattresses (the Select Sleep mattresses) are our flagship products. They’re fully customizable, meaning you can order the mattress to be as soft or as firm as you’d like. They’re also fully adjustable, meaning you can change the softness, firmness, back support, pressure relief, etc. AFTER you get the mattress in your home. To be more specific, the 10” is our most popular, and these mattresses normally go out with three 3" layers of different firmnesses - normally the softest layer (or the cushion & contour layer) is on top and the supportive layers are on the bottom. This helps ensure our customers get the right balance of contour for their hips and shoulders but also support for their lower back. If you start with a certain setup and find that it’s too soft, you can unzip the cover and rearrange the layers to get a firmer feel out of the mattress, or you can exchange a layer to make it softer. Additionally, latex mattresses typically last 20 years. If, in 5 or 10 or 15 years you decide you want a softer or firmer mattress you would only have to buy a new layer instead of an entirely new mattress. Lastly, if the mattress starts to break down in 15 – 20 years, it’s normally the top layer that breaks down first, and at that point you can likely just buy a new top layer of latex instead of a whole new mattress and get an additional 8-10 years out of the mattress.

Furthermore, queen, king, and cal king mattresses are available with what we call “split layers,” which means you can have us cut the layers down the middle (from head to foot) so that you can have a different feel / firmness on your side versus your partner’s side, and you can adjust each side independently over the 20 year lifetime of the mattress. About 95% of our mattresses go out with all split layers from top to bottom, and we get zero complaints on being able to feel the split and we get zero complaints about the layers shifting or anything like that, even if you sleep right on the middle of the mattress.

If you’re wondering how to pick the layers for this mattress, you can go to the natural or organic mattress page, click the green button that says “Build Your Mattress Now,” then click the gray oval that says “Personalized,” and you’ll be able to enter your information. The website will then make a personalized recommendation based on your information (the layers in the mattress diagram will reflect the recommendation after you click the “Apply” button. Please note that our initial recommendations have a 90% success rate (we only have a 10% layer exchange rate) so there’s a 90% chance that the recommendation turns out to be your perfect setup!

Although it’s not likely that you’ll need to rearrange layers or exchange layers, you certainly have the option to adjust the mattress according to you and your partner’s specific needs and preferences, both in the short-term and long-term. We have a 90 day exchange and return period, so you can exchange a layer within the first 90 days for a flat-rate $30 fee for the first exchange and the full cost of shipping for any subsequent exchanges. We will ship your layers first, and we will ship them with extra plastic that you can use to package your current layers, and we will ship it with a pre-paid Fed Ex return label. Also, if you will please call us when you are ready to ship your layers back we will schedule a free Fed Ex pick up for you. You will have 30 days after its arrival to return a layer of your choosing, so you’ll have plenty of time to try a few different combinations with the layers you have and the layer we will be sending you so that you can get your comfort and support levels just right.

3

I am sorry to hear about the challenges you have experienced with getting the right mattress, but I am happy to help clear things up and offer a solution.

As a chiropractor and mattress designer, I understand your concern with keeping your body in the proper spinal alignment, while still achieving the pressure relief needed for a good night’s sleep. It seems that your primary issue is the excessive sinking of your hips compared to the rest of your body, which is leading to a lack of low back and overall spinal support. I also completely understand why you’re considering a DIY approach, as this can be a great way to address your specific needs and preferences.

However, a complete DIY approach will also put you in a position of having to run countless experiments in order to recreate what took me and my team over 20 years to develop with Back Science. I had the assistance of the objective measuring tool I developed called the Mattress Checker, which grants me the ability to discern the actual spinal alignment with each mattress and configuration I tested, as well as the feedback from hundreds of thousands of customers over many years.

The Back Science mattress was created to properly balance the spine by allowing the hips to retain more buoyancy than the lighter shoulders and legs, thanks to its patent-pending Lumbar-Flex double Zoned Support that will allow the spine to remain in a level position. This can be crucial for preventing and alleviating lower back pain, especially for those who carry more weight in their hips. The zoned support also helps to prevent sagging in the middle of the mattress over time, which is a common issue with traditional innerspring mattresses.

The luxury-firm feel of the Series 2 would specifically be the best fit for you both since it works with all sleeping positions and will give you a high level of pressure relief for your shoulders, while giving you more buoyant support for your hips and low back. The combination of the hypergel pressure relieving lift, along with the over 1000 count individually wrapped coils with Quantum edge support 2 ensures that it will hold up well over time, even with your husband’s weight. This means you can say goodbye to that sinking feeling and enjoy consistent comfort and support for years to come.

While I believe the standard Series 2 should be a great fit for you, it’s worth noting that Back Science mattresses offer customizable layers. This means that if you find the mattress isn’t quite perfect for you initially, you can adjust the firmness and support levels to achieve your ideal comfort. It’s like having the best of both worlds: a tried-and-tested mattress with the flexibility to make DIY customizations if needed.

You can also feel great knowing that we also offer a 365-night sleep trial, so you can try out the Back Science Series 2 in your own home risk-free. If, for some reason, you’re not completely satisfied, we have several options. We can send you the DIY layers to change out, or we can even change it for another mattress. And if we can’t fix it, you can return the mattress without any restocking fees.

If you are interested in learning more, feel free to visit the www.BackScience.com and/or respond to this post or give us a direct call at 800 667-1969. Also, if you do decide to purchase, don’t forget to use the code TMU10 at checkout to receive a special discount as a Mattress Underground member.

I’m here to help in any way I can, so please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or would like to discuss your options in more detail.

Thanks!

Dr. Rick Swartzburg, D.C.
Founder and Head of Product Design Back Science

4

Thank you for the responses! I’ll investigate your recommendations further.