Are you suffering from hip pain or sciatica joint pain? Can you feel a burning or tingling sensation originating from your lower back and shooting down your legs?
If so, you may be suffering from lower back pain caused by incorrect sleeping posture or wrong use of pillows. However, with the right knee pillow or contour pillow — combined with the best sleeping position for upper back and neck pain — you can find relief.
Side sleepers need to be careful. While it’s generally good to sleep on your side, you need to be careful. If you choose the wrong pillow or position yourself incorrectly, you may suffer from hip pain, sciatica pain, or neck pain.
In this article, we give you some valuable tips for sleeping on your side hip pain and we review the best hip pillow for side sleepers.
Tip for Sleeping on your Side Hip Pain
Side sleepers need to follow these tips in regards to their sleep position and choice of pillows:
- If you’re a side sleeper, you should sleep in the fetal position by pulling your knees close to your chest. This position extends the spaces between your vertebrae, thereby minimizing the risk of herniated discs or hips and knees pain.
- If you’re a side sleeper who prefers sleeping with the legs straight, you should place a leg wedge pillow between your knees. The pillow will take the pressure off your hips and knees, thereby minimizing the risk of sciatica joint pain.
- You should ideally choose a knee pillow or leg pillow that’s contoured for optimal orthopedic support.
- Use a high-loft pillow under your head — one that covers the distance between the mattress and your head. This is necessary to ensure that your neck doesn’t flex downwards as that can throw your entire body out of alignment.
Review of the Best Knee Pillow and Leg Pillow for Side Sleepers
So now that you understand the best sleeping position for upper back and neck pain, it’s time to review the best knee pillow and leg pillow for side sleepers.
Elite Rest Contour Sleeper — Best Contour Side Sleeper Pillow
Elite Rest Contour Sleeper is the best side sleeper pillow on the market because of two primary reasons.
First, this is a contour pillow in which the higher contour measures 4 inches and the lower contour measures 2.75 inches. The elevated and ergonomically rounded contour functions like a neck roll — you can rest your neck on the ergonomic contour and your head nestles in the middle. The loft height is also enough to cover the distance between your mattress and your neck, which ensures that your neck has optimal support and your body doesn’t fall out of alignment.
Second, this pillow is made of memory foam, which is one of the best and most comfortable materials for pillows on the market. This material conforms to the shape of your neck and shoulders, thus offering support and taking the pressure off your shoulders.
It also comes with a removable and machine washable cotton cover that facilitates air circulation and keeps you cool at night.
Elite Rest Shredded Memory Foam Pillow — Best Pillow with Adjustable Loft
Elite Rest Shredded Memory Foam Pillow is another brilliant side sleeper pillow for several reasons. The biggest issue with most memory foam pillow is that they trap body heat and can lead to night sweats. This pillow actively works against that while also being extremely versatile.
In its default state, this shredded memory foam pillow has a loft height of 6 inches. That’s perfect for a side sleeper because it covers the distance between your mattress and your head perfectly so your neck doesn’t crane down.
This is a pillow with adjustable loft — you can add or remove the memory foam filling to increase or decrease the loft height according to your sleeping style. As such, if 6 inches is too high for your neck — or if you change your sleeping position — you can remove some of the memory foam fillings.
It also comes with a bamboo cover that’s extremely breathable and keeps the pillow cool so you don’t suffer from night sweats.
Contour Products Memory Foam Leg Pillow — Best Knee Pillow
Contour Products Memory Foam Leg Pillow is the best knee pillow on the market. This is an orthopedically designed pillow that relieves lower back pain and sciatica joint pain by aligning your knees and hips. This pillow is ergonomically designed to conform to the shape of your knees and legs and it keeps your legs stable. This ensures that your legs remain in a stable and neutral position all night so you maintain spinal alignment. It’s made of 100% durable visco-elastic memory foam and it comes with a removable velour cover.
ComfiLife Orthopedic Knee Pillow — Best Leg Wedge Pillow
ComfiLife Orthopedic Knee Pillow is the best leg pillow on the market. This leg pillow provides sciatica joint and back pain relief by aligning your hips and knees. It’s an ergonomically designed leg wedge pillow that conforms to the shape of your knees and keeps it stable at night. It’s made of premium memory foam and is covered in a breathable machine washable cover. This pillow has dimensions of 9.8 x 7.9 x 6.3 inches.
Snuggle-Pedic Ultra-Luxury — Best Full-Body Knee Pillow
Snuggle-Pedic Ultra-Luxury isn’t a knee pillow or a leg pillow, but it can help align your hips and knees regardless. This is a full-body pillow with adjustable loft height. This pillow measures 20 inches by 54 inches, making it large enough for the tallest people as well. It’s made of shredded memory foam pillow, which means you can add or remove the memory foam filling to adjust the loft height. As a side sleeper, you can cuddle against this pillow to offer support to your entire body and you can tuck it between your knees to provide relief back pain leg. It comes with a highly-breathable machine washable cover as well.
