Sore hips keeping me up at night?

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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?

I had the exact same symptoms and it’s was tight hip flexors and glutes. Do you have a sedentary job?
It was solved by a combo of stretching and my DH using his elbow to release the areas of tension. It was agony but solved the issue.

That is really interesting, I'd be open to trying this but my GP nearly had a fit when I asked to increase my HRT patch to 75mg. I think I need vaginal estrogen as well so will try and access that first. I think you can buy testosterone so I might see if I can try it that way before seeing the GP about it!

I recently spent a lot of money on a new mattress, spending a morning trying them out, only to find it made my hips and ankles so painful.
I bought a soft topper from M&S in the sale and it’s bliss!
This one
http://www.marksandspencer.com/comfortably-cool-mattress-topper www.marksandspencer.com/comfortably-cool-mattress-topper]]]]

I'm an illustrator so yes I'm on my bum all day! I think you could be onto something there, think my hip flexors are tight.

You're all making the mattress topper sound very tempting!

I agree with the knee pillow suggestion. I had this exact same problem. My hips would throb!! Knee pillow sorted me right out. Takes the weight off the leg underneath and aligns your legs as you sleep. Stopped my pain on the first night of use 👍

I want to avoid painkillers if possible I've already used a lot due to suffering chronic migraine in the past.

I think she got a private prescription from the Louise Newson clinic.

If you poke around your hip area and glutes when you sit down, are they ouchy?

Exercise to strengthen and stretch the muscles, eg walking, swimming, exercises with body weight resistance bands, pilates or yoga (lots of free clips on you tube).

Where in your hips is it hurting? If it's on the very outside, that could be bursitis. You might need some physio if so.

It sounds you need a memory foam mattress topper.

Don't be too quick to blame your weight - I have bursitis in my hips too and I'm a size 6. They're murder to lie on unless the surface is soft enough. I do take painkillers for it, because I wouldn't be able to sleep otherwise.

I suffer with this too! I have found even just a regular pillow between my knees helps and so does taking magnesium supplements. Good luck!

Oh and I think the magnesium has helped my migraines too 👍

As someone who is slim, menopausal side sleeps and exercises a lot, I did a sleep test when we changed our mattress but after time it was no good for my hips. What a pain - literally.

I do squats, when I don’t I have pain in my hips, it’s the muscles.

At the moment it isn't sore but I did try some stretching earlier. I guess the whole area is a bit tender though.

How old is your mattress? Is it supportive? Might be time to replace it.

I just started taking magnesium glycine, I think it is helping a bit, if it helps my hips great but not yet.

It's very new, very expensive and it is supportive / firm.

That’s your answer. Stretching and a good pummelling to get the knots out will sort it out. Good luck OP!

It is the very outside of the hip, right where my hip socket is. It isn't sore initially at night but lying on the hip seems to make it worse, and even if I only lie on one side both hips seem to get sore after a few hours in bed. It isn't typically sore during the day.

I will look into hip bursitis.

Thanks I will give that a go tonight, will pick up a foam roller tomorrow to my backside.

Egg box memory foam mattress topper.

I get this and got a Simba hybrid mattress topper and it's been a game changer. I've got EDS and am peri and was a mess, wasn't sleeping as was just too sore.

That plus amitriptyline has made a world of difference (as has getting on max strength oestrogen patches)

I found walking uphill on a treadmill exacerbated my hip pain badly. Physio said treadmills drag your feet backwards and put pressure on the hips.

I was diagnosed with gluteal tendonopathy and greater trocanteric pain syndrome. (that intense pain on the outer surface of the hip)

What helped, and mine is almost totally resolved, was glute strengthening exercises, especially isometric exercise using resistance bands.
I did a course of reformer physio pilates.

The knee pillow also helps. Highly recommend a soft topper as well.