How to Tell If Your Bed Is Causing Back Pain

Do you wake up in the morning with more back pain than the night before? The culprit is potentially your bed. The average person doesn’t wake up with pain first thing in the morning. Often, pain comes at the end of the day from the stresses we put on our bodies. In bed, we shouldn’t experience that kind of stress.

There are several ways to fix back pain from your sleeping position. Start by using pillows to customize your sleep experience. If there are some spinal issues, try pillows strategically placed around the body.

• If you sleep on your side, put a pillow between your knees. Maybe even hold one like a teddy bear.
• If you sleep on your back, a pillow underneath the backs of your knees will keep your spine aligned.
• If you sleep on your stomach, try a pillow under your hips and lower abdomen.

Any of these configurations can aid in reducing the stress on the spine and highlight a need for more support. In addition, you should also get physiotherapy treatment if the back pain persists. Finally, you might decide to get a new bed if it is the primary source of your problem.

Here is how to tell if your bed is causing back pain:

Your Mattress is Old

Mattresses should be switched out every eight years. This is because they begin to lose their intended shape and functionality degrades. Memory foam mattresses are known to shop cradling the body like it otherwise would after a certain period. A classic spring mattress will also start to sag over time, either in the middle, the sides, or in seemingly random places.

Your Mattress is Overly Soft

As wonderful as a soft mattress is, a mattress that’s too soft for your body will cause you to sink. Once this is done, your spine falls out of alignment and remains so all night long. Waking up afterward, you’re going to feel a lot of soreness. This is all from a lack of spinal support throughout the evening.

Read: How to Soothe Pain Muscles without the Pills

Your Mattress is Too Hard

A mattress that’s too firm also causes a problem. This puts joint pressure on your hips, which will cause lower back pain. If you roll out of bed with a terrible lower back when you didn’t have one the night prior, a firm mattress is probably why. To this point, one must find the correct mattress for their body type and weight, ensuring it is neither too soft nor too firm.

You Toss and Turn

You may not feel overly uncomfortable in bed. However, you may toss and turn throughout the night. The tossing and turning can originate from various causes, including the mattress being uncomfortable. If you didn’t toss and turn before but are doing so now, consider that you may need a new mattress.

You Sleep on Your Side

Back pain comes with sleeping on your side, or at least it can. Waking up with lower back pain within this context can be attributed to your spine being rotated throughout the night. If you are a side sleeper, put a pillow between your needs. Try to keep your body in its natural position regardless of whether you’re on your back or side.

Read: Foods and Drinks to Consume Before Bed

You’re Not Overweight

If you’re in good health, have good eating habits, and get exercise regularly, we can likely eliminate that pain in bed is from being overweight or overeating. If you are having large meals before bed and are overweight, it may not be the bed that causes your back pain.

Pain Reduces Later in the Day

Do you wake up in pain, but this slowly reduces in intensity later in the day? If so, your bed could be putting stress on the body in the same way sitting in a chair for a prolonged period does. This is a sure sign you either need a new mattress, a new bed frame, or a pain-focused method of sleeping.

You Are Compromising Your Position

In sleeping, you should have a relatively simple, straightforward position. You don’t want to be crouched or folded up in any way. You want your body to be straight, natural, and comfortable. If you’re sleeping on an old mattress or on a broken bed frame where you’re making accommodations and working around its weaknesses, it’s not unheard of to wake up with sometimes significant pain.

Your Head and Neck Don’t Have Support

When we sleep on a couch, we might wake up with a neck ache or backache because we didn’t have the right support around your head and neck. If you aren’t using enough pillows to support your head and neck, this could be transferring stress downward from the neck to the spine. If you are waking with pain in your upper back, look at the pillows you’re using.

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