Sore hips keeping me up at night?

[trumpcard]

I am perimenopausal and bit overweight and in the process of losing weight. I am a side sleeper and my hips get sore over the course of the night. I assume this is due to the pressure of my hips (the heaviest part of my body) pressing into the mattress at night. Our mattress was pretty expensive and is fairly new, we did the sleep test on it and it was comfortable initially but it is firm and there isn't as much give in it as the old mattress for my hips now. There is no chance of a new mattress any time soon

If I try and sleep on my back I snore and get awful headaches.

How can I take the pressure off my hips so the pain in them stops keeping me awake? Its usually fine for the first few hours but when I wake at 4am my hips are pretty sore and it can be hard to get back to sleep due to the discomfort.

Do those knee pillows work, would any stretches work?

Collagen maybe?

I had horrendous joint pain, especially hips. Only thing that worked for me was heavy painkillers as and when required. Changing your mattress won't make any difference. Have you considered HRT?

@Eyesopenwideawake I should have said I am on HRT, have been for 4 years now! I don't have pain generally it is the weight of my hips pushing into the mattress.

I'm vegetarian so collagen is out but I have been taking glycine for a while. My hair, skin and nails are all really good though, I think its just pressure causing the pain.

A knee pillow might help. It helps to align the legs so you don't overstretch the outer hip and sacrum which can lead to hip pain. It could be other factors that won't be helped by a pillow so much but its worth a try. Even just put a normal pillow between your knees to see if it helps. It can be annoying through the night to move position and turn though.

It may be useful to have an assessment as to why its happening, a well trained sports or remedial massage therapist may be able to help but its worth paying to see a private physio (who aren't often much more expensive). They will be able to do some work on it and give you stretches and/or exercises and advice on sleeping. They can also do work such as massage that may help depending on what's going on.

A firm mattress will be a support generally so its worth keeping that. How about getting a mattress topper to soften the pressure on your hips? Best of both worlds.

When we found our mattress was too hard we got a mattress topper from IKEA and that took the edge off the hardness.

Put a pillow between your knees to align yoir hips

I had this. A mattress topper solved it.

I get sore hips on a firm mattress, so much that if a bed is too firm for me on holiday it really can ruin it.
You might need to invest in a mattress topper unfortunately

Its surprising what difference a pillow between your knees can make to hip pain.

I've had this for years. I see an osteopath every three months and he fixes it for me. Mine is due to weak muscles in my lower back and peri. If I can't get in to see him, I find yoga helps.

If it's a deep pain right in the hip then it could be weak muscles - that's what it is with me anyway. Clams make a huge difference, doing them just once a week stops them it in its tracks and I find if I've missed a week or two and the pain comes back, a couple of clams while I lie there does the trick.

Snap. It got better with yoga and I might get a maternity - style support cushion.

I often wake up in a tightly hunched and crunched-up position and think “would I stand like this?? Of course not!”
Same for side sleeping- upper knees falling over is putting pressure on your pelvis and hips. Keep your legs parallel with a knee cushion. I made my own from an online video. It’s good for neck alignment, too

Yeah dh convinced me to buy a really firm mattress and it’s no good for me side sleeping, I bought a topper for my side of the bed! 😁

I broke both hips and pelvis.. have osteoarthritis and waiting for new hips.. but have to see a specific specialist.. but l use one of these... does help. ( Although I'm on morphine patches too.

I suffer with this but for different reasons and researched and bought a memory foam non heating 8cm topper. My mattress was new as well and comfortable up to a few months ago. It’s made a massive difference to me. It was from the mattress topper company

I get this, but it is due to bursitis. There is one specific pressure point that really hurts if pressed. Over the counter Voltarol and ibuprofen might help.

Thanks everyone! I will try a bog standard pillow tonight between my knees and see if it helps any. I will also look at half mattress toppers or even full ones if DH fancies it. Also will look at stretching and yoga exercises to see if they help. I am probably guilty of mono training i.e. mostly walking up hill on the treadmill. I probably do need to strengthen my core and mower back. I also need a quicker fix so I have the energy to work on that!

I have exactly this, down to the fact that I snore on my back - which wakes my partner who pushes me onto my side.
also got worse into perimenopause.
i have wide hips and a small waist, so a real pressure point.
wouldn’t want to take pain killers every night!
I find yoga sometimes makes mine worse - especially if I do lunges.
best thing for me - that blue heart-shaped knee pillow posted above, and a really good memory topper - mine is from Panda.

interested to hear of other ideas!

True for me too on holiday! Also camping pretty much a no-go for me now unless I have an air mattress which are quite good for me.

A friend had hip pain - she had some testosterone added to her hrt prescription and it completely cured it.

It must be awful. My mum had the same problem and she had to keep trying different painkiller combinations till she found the right one.

@Arcadia Ah thanks, I am the same very wide hips and a small waist so my hips take the brunt of my weight I am hoping a proper knee pillow will more evenly spread the pressure and perhaps a mattress topper will help as well.

I will try the yoga and stretching but will stay mindful if it makes things worse.