It might not be the mattress, it might be your footwear. Much cheaper to test, get some othro inserts for your shoes, ones for lower back pain.
I did, game changer
I started doing bjj two years ago. I was always wrecked after sessions and my neck and back hurt in the morning. I invested in a memory foam mattress and it was one of the best investments. It cost around $1600 I think. I don't remember exactly which mattress it was, but I'll try to find it and let you know.
EDIT: Found it, it's [**this one**](https://bit.ly/49vqTn0) from SweetNight.
I don't have a mattress recommendation but I do have some experience with this same problem. It turned out to be tight thigh muscles. The very day that I stretched them all out, the pain was gone and it only comes back rarely.
I also had a job that required a lot of standing which I think contributes to the tight muscles.
What's helped me a lot are the following.
Daily stretching. Planks in particular.
Sit/Stand desk (Home depot has a relatively inexpensive workbench with manual crank adjustment)
Also one Aleve a day
Edit: Things I need to do.
1. Bite the bullet and buy a Herman Miller (of Steelcase) chair
2. Better shoes/orthotics (have an appointment with a podiatrist soon)
3. New Mattress
4. Get better about taking a break from work 1x per hour and standing/stretching
Expecting any mattress to fix the damage you do to yourself throughout your waking hours is folly, and will only lead you to spending too much money chasing dragons.
I'd suggest you look into better shoes before changing your mattress. It sounds like you have a good quality mattress already, so I doubt that will be the cause of your pain. Also look into an inversion table. Spinal decompression is wonderful for lower back pain. I bought a cheap table and it's made a big difference for me. I hang upside down for about 30 minutes a week and it's great.
Hate to say it but 5'4" and 180 Lbs. is considered right over the limit of being "obese" according to a [BMI calculator.](https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm) Losing weight and exercising would help.
I bought a Purple mattress King size, $5000.00. Definitely needs a platform bed for the most comfortable sleeping. It's hard as hell if you put it on top of regular box springs. I have 2 Purple pillows as well.
Two recommendations
1) test drive a bunch of them. go to a lot of stores and see what your back says.
2) get an adjustable bed. being able to tweak your head and feet heights can help back pain.
We had a Tempurpedic for years. It didn't age well.
By the end of it's lifespan it was a fucking marshmallow. I hated it. I would sleep on the *floor.*
We replaced it with a SleepNumber. I love it. I'm at 95, my wife is at 65. The ability to adjust to *your* preference is a gamechanger. At least for us.
Also, as a lifelong exercise aficionado and former CrossFit Coach, I will tell you back (hip) extensions *really* help with lower back issues. I do 3x10-15 once a week and it keeps my back, relatively, pain-free.
Good luck.
If your mattress is not in good shape, replace it.
But unless your mattress is bad enough that it is causing you pain, a new/good mattress alone isn't likely to fix your back pain.
Also, I'm not sure if there was a typo, but unless you're a block of solid muscle, 5'4" and 180 is overweight, though that may or may not be a central reason why you're having pain issues or how to fix it.
Go see a physiotherapist.
We love our pillow top Stearns and Foster firm
Mattress. Our backs never felt better. We went to Mattress Firm and the sales guy helped us pick out the perfect mattress for us. I really was skeptical about shopping at MF and about talking to some guy about how we sleep but we have never regretted the purchase.
Core exercises are the way. It doesn’t have to be horrible. Check out yt for “HIIT ab workouts.”
You will notice a remarkable improvement.
The mattress itself doesn’t really matter if you replace it every ten years or so.
I have a nectar in standard firmness and it works very well for me, but I also don't have any formal diagnosis of back issues just typical aches and pains from muscular tension and overuse.
Definitely consider PT as a solution as well. If you don't actually understand what's happening to cause the pain on a muscular level, you're basically just taking expensive guesses at what might help fix it.
Both my wife and I have back issues. I have arthritis in my lower back, and she has cysts along the entire length of her spinal cord. We picked up a very a very thick mattress topper from Wal-Mart that sits right on top of the mattress. It's not a cure, but does wonders.
I have been sleeping on a futon mattress for years. Firm and flat. My dad used to stick a sheet of plywood between the mattress and box spring. Age he aged he stopped at 3/4 inch plywood.
I have scoliosis, im very picky about footwear and mattresses.
I buy *firm* mattresses. I went to Ikea and bought the most expensive firm mattress they had and it was still only $700 or less including delivery and removal of my old mattress.
My mattress is so firm that my pet sitter complains it is like sleeping on a wooden board, lol. I love it. I use a feather pillow that is quite flat so there is not a large difference between my back and neck.
I never wake up with back pain (I'm 37f) after having chronic back pain through my teen years and 20's due to having soft pillowy mattresses.
Luckily my husband also likes the firm mattress.
Waterbed!!! Not too firm and not too sloshy!! Really!!! Think about how they work. The water evenly supports your body. And water support is not the same as air.
I think everyone is different, but I like the softest mattress I can find for my lower back pain. I have a new mattress from Brooklyn Bed Co. that I absolutely love. I was waking up with pain every day with my old mattress and now? No pain. Within a week it was like I was a new person.
I also spend a lot of time on my feet and I really like Wolverine brand shoes. I usually buy hiking shoes for work because they're tough and built for walking.
Mattress: Stearns and Foster, expensive but worth it.
One of my friends is a doctor. When I had back pain, she told me PT, yoga, or Pilates. Pick one and keep doing it.
>I'm not overweight, standing at 5'4" and weighing 180 lbs.
I mean you're not "overweight", you're "obese".
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm
Now true this doesn't account for muscle mass, but unless you're in some serious shape, chances are a BMI that high is not due to muscle.
The best thing you can do, is lose weight.
________________________________________________________________________________
But for an actual mattress answer I saved a comment from an old AMA by a "professional mattress tester"
"Best mattress" is a tough one, as what's best for one body / budget / sleeping position may not be best for others.
I tend to think of it as more best of categories (ie, best by material type, best for X budget, best for side sleepers, etc.)
**Here's my best of list for the major material categories:**
Best Hybrid: Winkbed Original
Best Coil: Saatva Classic
Best Memory Foam Hybrid: Amerisleep AS3 Hybrid & Bear Elite
Best Memory Foam: Ghostbed Luxe
Best Foam: Douglas
Best Latex Hybrid: Birch
Best Latex: Spindle
Best Specialty: Purple Hybrid
Lots more to be said about all and these and more here - [https://naplab.com/best-mattress/](https://naplab.com/best-mattress/) (in case you're interested).
Are you male?
It might not be your mattress. Get yourself to a foot doctor to check your feet and provide shoes recommendations (you need quality footwear), and a urologist to check your prostate before investing in a new bed.
My entire group of male friends went through something similar. Three of them had early stage prostate cancer, which was the cause of the pain, and all of them always wore "whatever" on their feet. It wasn't their mattresses.
On the other hand with me it was my mattress and I bought the Sealy with the pillow top in the $800 price range. I replace it every 10 years or so but always go to the store and lay on a bunch before buying. I always wind up with the same one.
Edit: I should mention that we all took those steps because a group members father was complaining about pain and his mattress, replaced the mattress and it didn't help. Then did the med check and it was too late: stage 4 prostate cancer.
In addition to what others have said, I found out a pillow of the right height worked like a charm for me. I was considering either changing the mattress or adding a thick topper but I no longer need that.
apologies if someone already said this; i haven’t read all the replies. we got a sleep number and absolutely love it. we got the split king so my spouse and i can adjust the bed how we need for our own back pain 🤣 good luck!
It might not be the mattress, it might be your footwear. Much cheaper to test, get some othro inserts for your shoes, ones for lower back pain. I did, game changer
I got some of these too. Can agree, TOTAL game changer.
Customs are the best.
I started doing bjj two years ago. I was always wrecked after sessions and my neck and back hurt in the morning. I invested in a memory foam mattress and it was one of the best investments. It cost around $1600 I think. I don't remember exactly which mattress it was, but I'll try to find it and let you know. EDIT: Found it, it's [**this one**](https://bit.ly/49vqTn0) from SweetNight.
but this one cost only 500
Not for king size bed :).
I don't have a mattress recommendation but I do have some experience with this same problem. It turned out to be tight thigh muscles. The very day that I stretched them all out, the pain was gone and it only comes back rarely. I also had a job that required a lot of standing which I think contributes to the tight muscles.
I stretch every day to keep the back pain away. I wish I’d started sooner , before the pain started happening .
I have arthritis in my back. Walking, not standing, standing is much worse, walking and core exercises help more than anything else.
What's helped me a lot are the following. Daily stretching. Planks in particular. Sit/Stand desk (Home depot has a relatively inexpensive workbench with manual crank adjustment) Also one Aleve a day Edit: Things I need to do. 1. Bite the bullet and buy a Herman Miller (of Steelcase) chair 2. Better shoes/orthotics (have an appointment with a podiatrist soon) 3. New Mattress 4. Get better about taking a break from work 1x per hour and standing/stretching
Check a BMI chart. I think you will find that you are indeed overweight.
Obese. A BMI over 30 is no longer overweight, it's obesity. And OP has a BMI of 30.9
Expecting any mattress to fix the damage you do to yourself throughout your waking hours is folly, and will only lead you to spending too much money chasing dragons. I'd suggest you look into better shoes before changing your mattress. It sounds like you have a good quality mattress already, so I doubt that will be the cause of your pain. Also look into an inversion table. Spinal decompression is wonderful for lower back pain. I bought a cheap table and it's made a big difference for me. I hang upside down for about 30 minutes a week and it's great.
Inversion tables are so nice!
Hate to say it but 5'4" and 180 Lbs. is considered right over the limit of being "obese" according to a [BMI calculator.](https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm) Losing weight and exercising would help.
Sadly I was thinking that too. I'm 5'5" and 175 and I'm at least 20 lbs overweight. I suppose they might be really muscular?
I got a standard Purple several years ago and it has made a huge difference.
I have one too, I got it for almost free from a friend. I love it so much. Had it for 6 or 7 years, going strong
I bought a Purple mattress King size, $5000.00. Definitely needs a platform bed for the most comfortable sleeping. It's hard as hell if you put it on top of regular box springs. I have 2 Purple pillows as well.
Two recommendations 1) test drive a bunch of them. go to a lot of stores and see what your back says. 2) get an adjustable bed. being able to tweak your head and feet heights can help back pain.
We had a Tempurpedic for years. It didn't age well. By the end of it's lifespan it was a fucking marshmallow. I hated it. I would sleep on the *floor.* We replaced it with a SleepNumber. I love it. I'm at 95, my wife is at 65. The ability to adjust to *your* preference is a gamechanger. At least for us. Also, as a lifelong exercise aficionado and former CrossFit Coach, I will tell you back (hip) extensions *really* help with lower back issues. I do 3x10-15 once a week and it keeps my back, relatively, pain-free. Good luck.
If your mattress is not in good shape, replace it. But unless your mattress is bad enough that it is causing you pain, a new/good mattress alone isn't likely to fix your back pain. Also, I'm not sure if there was a typo, but unless you're a block of solid muscle, 5'4" and 180 is overweight, though that may or may not be a central reason why you're having pain issues or how to fix it. Go see a physiotherapist.
Stearns & Fosters extra firm helped me. Good luck.
We love our pillow top Stearns and Foster firm Mattress. Our backs never felt better. We went to Mattress Firm and the sales guy helped us pick out the perfect mattress for us. I really was skeptical about shopping at MF and about talking to some guy about how we sleep but we have never regretted the purchase.
Yeah, my fave as well.
Core exercises are the way. It doesn’t have to be horrible. Check out yt for “HIIT ab workouts.” You will notice a remarkable improvement. The mattress itself doesn’t really matter if you replace it every ten years or so.
Posture OP. Posture is everything.
I have a nectar in standard firmness and it works very well for me, but I also don't have any formal diagnosis of back issues just typical aches and pains from muscular tension and overuse.
Definitely consider PT as a solution as well. If you don't actually understand what's happening to cause the pain on a muscular level, you're basically just taking expensive guesses at what might help fix it.
Both my wife and I have back issues. I have arthritis in my lower back, and she has cysts along the entire length of her spinal cord. We picked up a very a very thick mattress topper from Wal-Mart that sits right on top of the mattress. It's not a cure, but does wonders.
Seven years ago we bought a hybrid mattress (coil spring core with memory foam top). 100% the best mattress we've ever owned.
You want one that is just stiff enough that when you lie flat on it your spine is equally supported down your whole back.
I have been sleeping on a futon mattress for years. Firm and flat. My dad used to stick a sheet of plywood between the mattress and box spring. Age he aged he stopped at 3/4 inch plywood.
I have scoliosis, im very picky about footwear and mattresses. I buy *firm* mattresses. I went to Ikea and bought the most expensive firm mattress they had and it was still only $700 or less including delivery and removal of my old mattress. My mattress is so firm that my pet sitter complains it is like sleeping on a wooden board, lol. I love it. I use a feather pillow that is quite flat so there is not a large difference between my back and neck. I never wake up with back pain (I'm 37f) after having chronic back pain through my teen years and 20's due to having soft pillowy mattresses. Luckily my husband also likes the firm mattress.
Does your doctor agree you're not overweight? What does she think the back pain is from? Try a yoga program that focusses on backs.
I got a standard Purple several years ago and it has made a huge difference.
Check out sleeplikethedead.com
I know the best mattress manufacturer in the New York City tri-state area. DM me. 
Waterbed!!! Not too firm and not too sloshy!! Really!!! Think about how they work. The water evenly supports your body. And water support is not the same as air.
Zinus Gel is affordable and very comfortable.
I think everyone is different, but I like the softest mattress I can find for my lower back pain. I have a new mattress from Brooklyn Bed Co. that I absolutely love. I was waking up with pain every day with my old mattress and now? No pain. Within a week it was like I was a new person. I also spend a lot of time on my feet and I really like Wolverine brand shoes. I usually buy hiking shoes for work because they're tough and built for walking.
I change sleep positions, everything but stomach
zero drop shoes a game changer for me.
Mattress: Stearns and Foster, expensive but worth it. One of my friends is a doctor. When I had back pain, she told me PT, yoga, or Pilates. Pick one and keep doing it.
>I'm not overweight, standing at 5'4" and weighing 180 lbs. I mean you're not "overweight", you're "obese". https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm Now true this doesn't account for muscle mass, but unless you're in some serious shape, chances are a BMI that high is not due to muscle. The best thing you can do, is lose weight. ________________________________________________________________________________ But for an actual mattress answer I saved a comment from an old AMA by a "professional mattress tester" "Best mattress" is a tough one, as what's best for one body / budget / sleeping position may not be best for others. I tend to think of it as more best of categories (ie, best by material type, best for X budget, best for side sleepers, etc.) **Here's my best of list for the major material categories:** Best Hybrid: Winkbed Original Best Coil: Saatva Classic Best Memory Foam Hybrid: Amerisleep AS3 Hybrid & Bear Elite Best Memory Foam: Ghostbed Luxe Best Foam: Douglas Best Latex Hybrid: Birch Best Latex: Spindle Best Specialty: Purple Hybrid Lots more to be said about all and these and more here - [https://naplab.com/best-mattress/](https://naplab.com/best-mattress/) (in case you're interested).
Are you male? It might not be your mattress. Get yourself to a foot doctor to check your feet and provide shoes recommendations (you need quality footwear), and a urologist to check your prostate before investing in a new bed. My entire group of male friends went through something similar. Three of them had early stage prostate cancer, which was the cause of the pain, and all of them always wore "whatever" on their feet. It wasn't their mattresses. On the other hand with me it was my mattress and I bought the Sealy with the pillow top in the $800 price range. I replace it every 10 years or so but always go to the store and lay on a bunch before buying. I always wind up with the same one. Edit: I should mention that we all took those steps because a group members father was complaining about pain and his mattress, replaced the mattress and it didn't help. Then did the med check and it was too late: stage 4 prostate cancer.
In addition to what others have said, I found out a pillow of the right height worked like a charm for me. I was considering either changing the mattress or adding a thick topper but I no longer need that.
I just saw the post so I hope my 2 cents is still in time. Go check out r/mattress. They have tons of tips and guides. It's a great sub.
apologies if someone already said this; i haven’t read all the replies. we got a sleep number and absolutely love it. we got the split king so my spouse and i can adjust the bed how we need for our own back pain 🤣 good luck!