Mattress Forum

I get back pain if I sleep on a too soft mattress. If as a guest, I am offered a mattress that’s too soft, I’ll opt to sleep on a carpeted floor. For side sleeping, too soft causes back pain due to not providing enough support to align the spine…hips sag in and the spine curves excessively.

Too hard also creates back pain, and pressure points can form at the shoulders. When the broader shoulders are not sufficiently cushioned, they cannot sink in to allow the upper spine to straighten in relation to the hips…this forces the spine to curve from the lumbar region to the shoulder, throwing the spine out of alignment. I'm a male with broad shoulders; I imagine a female with broader hips would create a similar issue. 

Read through the Vzone material on Flobeds and also 'zoning' on this forum. Also, look how certain latex mattress makers have a multiple-zoned single slab of latex (a different approach to the same zoning issues, often with additional ‘pin cushion holes' creating a softer latex zone).

I returned my S&F mattress and I am now sleeping on a 6-year-old traditional Japanese cotton futon (thin!), which has little cushioning. I’ve had a bad back for years, including now a herniated disc. I’ve had an old injury of torn cartilage in my shoulders. My sleeping arrangements are currently makeshift until I decide on a new mattress solution.

In the interim, this week I’ve had to try to make this futon more comfortable…there’s just not enough cushioning for side sleeping.  I still use my IKEA platform bed with flat wood slats. Directly on top of the platform bed, I placed 4 thin closed cell camping/backpacking sleeping pads (maybe 1/2” thick each) ….a couple of them folded in half to get more cushioning under my torso (hips/shoulders). With this setup, my shoulders were still in pain from lack of cushioning; it was just too hard to sleep comfortably on. My back also hurt as it was thrown out of alignment by my shoulders.

So, on top of the sleeping pads, I placed two memory foam pillows laid side by side, also in the torso area. Above that, the thin Japanese cotton futon. Still too hard.

I added a polyester fill sleeping bag on top of everything as a sort of thin ‘topper’.  I am at the tipping point: it is just bearable, I get some pain but it is minimal. For now, I sleep on top of this crazy amalgam, on my side in a sort of quasi-fetus position, laying over top the area with the most cushioning. My shoulders get just barely enough cushioning to not become pressure points and to keep my spine fairly aligned. This pain can be eradicated with some more cushioning layers, but I’m out of padding. I have a couple old blankets and a comforter I will wash this evening and add to the ‘sleeping pile’ and that will likely take all the pain away (I may as well be sleeping on a pile of clothes or pile of rags, makeshift as my setup is now ).

Another poster ( Lynn?, I forgot her user name) had to go from Flobeds 2” topper to a thinner one due to her lightweight body. I’ll add this: collectively, I’ve easily spent a couple years sleeping on the ground outdoors camping. This gives you instant feedback on the padding layers you use, what works and what doesn’t.

ANyway, there IS a point to all of this. This sort of ‘exercise’ teaches one about alignment of the spine, how cushioning works, how support works, how comfort is gained incrementally, how much is too much and in the wrong places. Really, it is just about shifting things around until one gets comfortable, which is no different than doing so in a mattress showroom except the shifting around is done with mattresses. Or, alternatively, the Flobed type layer system.

 I think there are numerous ways to arrive at the same point, various sleeping systems, materials, and mattresses that will get you a similar final result. I've slept very comfortably outdoors, in a hotel, at home. Conversely, I've slept uncomfortably outdoors, in hotels, at home. 

Your wife is lightweight. You are right, the 2” soft topper may not work for her. If she sleeps on a hard-carpeted floor or hard sofa, this suggests to me she needs a firm lumbar support…she may just need a firm surface – PERIOD. However, starting from this premise, if she softens up her shoulder and hip area – minimally, without going too far in the other direction - just enough to provide some more comfort, relieve any pressure points, and fine tune spinal alignment - she may be golden. 

I would suggest empirical trial and error methodology.  For the moment, get rid of the 2” topper and work your way up the cushioning scale, starting with the firmest. Btw, another poster (Lynn? I forgot her user name) had to go from Flobeds 2” convoluted topper to a thinner one due to her lightweight body.  You may even want to try just TWO layers of latex (for your wife) to start. See how it goes.  Keep moving incrementally softer to adjust pressure points/spine alignment. You will then hopefully be in the general ballpark. Then you can tweak with either zoning to cushion and fine tune alignment of her hips/shoulders for her body weight, or perhaps add a thin topper, which may function similarly. The Flobeds Vzone or similar system might allow more precise and localized adjustments. 

PS: one of the most comfortable sleeping arrangements I EVER had was while camping: I scavenged a (new) piece of standard PU foam about 2.3”- 3” thick and folded in half to make a 5” –6” block of foam. I slept on top of it in a standard lightweight sleeping bag, for two months…blissfully. Better than the $900 S&F mattress I just returned.