Is a morning back ache waking you up too early? Once you’re awake, does that same nagging back pain keep you from falling back to sleep again? And as soon as you get up and move around does it go away?
If your morning back pain subsides relatively soon after removing yourself from the bed, then it’s highly likely your back ache is caused by insufficient support of your mattress. Although an underlying back problem, for instance a herniated disc or arthritis, may be the actual instigator, or at least a contributing factor. Under the circumstance wherein chronic back pain in morning is relieved by getting up, then you should probably start your problem solving quest with the mattress.
Mattress support and firmness are different. So just because yours is firm does not mean it provides adequate support for your back. In fact a soft mattress can offer plenty of support so long as its internal coils and material holds up under your weight.
Over time, the integrity of a mattress’ support wears down. The level of this decline for which a backache ensues varies among individuals. Therefore, you could experience early morning nagging pain and your bunk mate may feel nothing.
Short of buying a new mattress and box spring, you could try slipping a piece of press board on top your box springs. For some, this maneuver helps extend the life of their bed and ends the cycle of achy back mornings.