The Best Mattress for Hip Pain and Pressure Relief

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Our take - The Casper Dream Max is part of Casper's recently launched line of new mattresses. Since its firmness profile is around medium-soft, it commonly makes our list of the best beds for side sleepers and many of our pain-related best lists. 

Our take - If you’re looking for a more traditional mattress style to accommodate hip and shoulder pain, this is the bed for you. If buying a bed made in the US is also important to you, then it's worth mentioning that this quality mattress is handcrafted out of Wisconsin. It has coils and supportive foam to provide heavier people with lots of pushback.

Our take - Sometimes, you need a bed that is versatile to accommodate an ever-changing health condition. The Layla Hybrid is a flippable memory foam mattress with a different firmness level on either side. If your hip pain flares up, you can flip the mattress to the soft side and back to the firm side whenever you see fit.

Our take - The AS5 is the softest mattress from Amerisleep. It’s available in two support options: all-foam and hybrid versions. Its softer firmness profile and responsive memory foam feel give it plenty of pressure relief for those who suffer from hip or shoulder pain.

At CNET, our sleep experts have tested and reviewed hundreds of online beds, dedicating countless hours to growing our expertise. The beds chosen for this list were the main standouts for our team, but if you want to check out some others, here are a few to consider regarding nightly hip pain.

Layla Hybrid: This is essentially the Layla mattress, but it has pocketed coils instead of foam for support. It’s also double-sided and features a responsive memory foam feel. If you’re a bit heavier and suffer from hip pain, the “soft” side of the Layla Hybrid might be the way to go since it’s right around medium-soft on our scale. The firm side is also softer than the original Layla’s around a medium, which might be better for all sleep styles.

Nest Sparrow Signature Hybrid: This is the most popular and accommodating bed from Nest Bedding. It’s a pillow-top mattress with an almost cloud-like level of comfort. I’d say it should accommodate most people with hip pain, particularly on the “plush” firmness level. The Nest Sparrow Signature Hybrid comes with a lifetime renewal exchange, where you can get a replacement top comfort foam one time during the bed’s lifespan. This means the mattress will last you for years to come.

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For this list, we mainly focus on finding beds with lots of cushioning and ample pressure relief. Hip pain usually occurs at night while our hips dig into mattresses while sleeping on our side. A mattress with tons of pressure relief is crucial for reducing nightly hip pain.

We also considered different mattress feels that could help alleviate chronic hip pain. Mattresses with a memory foam feel can contour to the shape of your body and help accommodate hip pain a bit more than your average bed. Having a supportive mattress is also essential for chronic health conditions.

Read more: How We Test Mattresses

Pressure relief: The best mattresses for hip pain provide plenty of cushion without sacrificing support. If you’re primarily a side sleeper, a softer bed with more pressure relief will cradle your hips more and alleviate pain in that area of the body. 

Firmness: Plush mattresses are more pressure-relieving than firm ones. If you're a back or stomach sleeper, you’ll probably want something on the firmer side (just not too firm). Firmness is subjective based on your weight. 

Weight: Speaking of weight, this factor can apply to people with hip pain. If you’re a heavier person, you’ll want a hybrid mattress that offers plenty of support. Smaller-sized folks can get away with sleeping on an all-foam bed, and more average-sized people can probably go either way. If you weigh over 200 pounds, you may want to go the route of a hybrid bed.

Health concerns: If you have a chronic health condition like hip pain, you should speak with your doctor before changing up your bed. For hip pain, softer beds with a Zoned Support design may help the most out of any online option. Pressure-relieving beds usually help cradle your pressure points more than an average mattress.

Generally speaking, getting a softer mattress is better when it comes to accommodating hip pain. You also want a bed that offers an excellent amount of support. Beds with Zoned Support help to promote neutral spinal alignment while you sleep, so getting a mattress with that feature combined with a softer profile is best.

Memory foam is usually a great material for hip pain, but it does depend on the style of memory foam you choose. A firm, denser style of memory foam bed may provide more resistance than you’d like in your mattress. Softer beds with lighter, more responsive memory foam feels are usually best for accommodating hip pain.

Based on our years of expertise and observations, hip pain usually comes into play when sleeping on your side. Since the hips dig into beds more when you’re in this position, more pressure is placed on this area of the body, resulting in more pain. We recommend sleeping on your back or stomach to reduce the amount of nightly hip pain you experience. Sleeping in one main sleeping position throughout the night may also help reduce the pressure put upon the joints in your hips.

A mattress has the ability to cause hip pain if it's too soft or hard or has started sagging over time. Your hips may sink uncomfortably when laying on a mattress that's too soft, leading to misalignment. A mattress that's too firm will put a lot of pressure on your joints, particularly your hips and shoulders.