The Best Orthopedic Mattresses UK (Reviewed and Compared)

Rest Assured is a famous British brand of handcrafted mattresses with a long tradition (it’s been on the market since 1898). The 1400 Pocket Ortho is one of its best-rated mattresses. So if you’re looking for the best orthopedic mattress in the UK, you should definitely check it out. This firm orthopedic mattress will make you forget you’ve ever struggled with knee, hip, or back pain due to inadequate sleep positioning.

So what makes 1400 Pocket Ortho unique among the many quality mattresses you can get in the UK? As its name suggests, this mattress is orthopedic, made from pocket springs completely independent from one another (unlike traditional coil springs, working as a whole). Each of them adjusts to a certain level of pressure. As a result, the mattress is highly adjustable to different levels of support required.

What’s more, this reduces motion transfer to other areas of the mattress. This will especially suit partners of significantly different weights and those who tend to turn over a lot throughout the night.

Another comfort guarantee is its filling, made from natural cotton, which doesn’t trap body heat. In addition, body temperature regulation is great thanks to the air vents, which allow for unrestricted airflow through the mattress.

This orthopedic mattress review wouldn’t be complete without mentioning that its filling is eco-friendly, made exclusively of recycled materials.

This mattress is also hypoallergenic, even though it contains natural materials, thanks to good airflow. Its soft knitted cover makes it resistant to dust and other allergens, too, and it’s chemical-free.

The mattress is single-sided, so it requires little maintenance. However, to prolong its quality and make sure it wears evenly, you could rotate it weekly for some time and, after approximately three months, once per month.

The Royal Backcare 2000 is the true superstar of Sleepeezee’s Royal Backcare Collection and one of the best orthopedic mattresses in the UK. Like all the products in the collection, it’s made from natural materials and an abundance of individual pocket springs, offering both firmness and comfort thanks to its British-wool-and-cashmere-padded interior.

As we’ve already discussed, the number of pocket springs is directly proportional to the amount of support a sleeper can expect, and this magnificent mattress contains 2000 of them.

Furthermore, this orthopedic pocket sprung mattress features a luxurious filling. Namely, the cashmere layer ensures an exceptional soft cushioned feel, and the British wool layer is a natural isolator for temperature maintenance in both summer and winter.

It is also a low-maintenance option, and does not require routine flipping. It’s heavy and difficult to manipulate due to the lack of grab handles, but this is not a significant drawback. Once you assemble it, no further rotations are needed.  

According to Sleepeezee, it is an exceptionally firm orthopedic spring mattress, with excellent edge-to-edge support. In other words, you can sleep even on the very edge, and it won’t sink.

However, a couple of user reviews claim that it was not as firm as they expected (even though many report their back pain subsiding). It all depends on one’s personal preferences, after all, so the 60-night sleep trial offered by Sleepeeze is a great way to learn if this mattress matches yours.

Still, we cannot help but notice that, despite its numerous advantages, this mattress might be a bit pricey for those on a shoestring budget. Even those more lavishly inclined might find £424.95 for a single orthopedic mattress to be a non-negligible expense. Still, based on its exceptional features, it might be worth the cost.

John Lewis & Partners offer some of the best orthopedic mattresses in the UK across several collections. The collections at your disposal are Natural, Essential, Classic, Climate, and Ultimate, and they include all kinds of mattresses. We’ve taken a closer look at their best-seller—Classic 1000 Ortho Support, from the Classic collection.

As was the case with all the other best orthopedic mattresses we’ve reviewed so far, the support comes from pocket springs. The special type of pocket springs used for Classic 1000 Ortho Support is ReActive Pocket. The producer claims it provides additional comfort due to a specific combination of white fibres, polyester duo pads, and the cotton interior of the springs. Together, these components enhance airflow throughout the mattress. The manufacturer also claims that the springs are so dense that they compensate for their relatively low number, thus providing enhanced support.

One advantage of this model is its hand-stitched sides, making for stable edges. Another is that this orthopedic mattress is a double-sided model, so it can be turned over periodically. It’s a common opinion that doing this can prolong mattress life.

Customer reviews are varied. Some complaints about comfort are to be expected with lower-priced mattresses such as this one, but most users report satisfaction and improved sleep quality.

Can you really rely on Relyon Mattresses? We were intrigued by the brand’s name and researched one of their best-sellers—the Relyon Ultimate Ortho Support 1500 Pocket Sprung Mattress.

This is a firm orthopedic mattress, so it’s not for everyone. But if that does work for you, you’ll be happy to learn it’s double-sided and has grab handles for easy manoeuvring. The fact that it is double-sided is probably one of the features prolonging its warranty to eight years—slightly above average within the mattress industry.

Front sleepers will be particularly well-served by this mattress, due to its ideal level of firmness. They usually don’t benefit from soft or extra-firm mattresses, since both put a lot of pressure on the neck and back, which are already overly strained in this unusual sleeping position. Back sleepers may also enjoy this firm orthopedic mattress, since their shoulders and hips require ample support.

Like most orthopedic mattresses, Relyon’s Ultimate Ortho Support is also pocket-sprung, but it’s slightly thicker than the two top-ranking mattresses. Polyester and cotton contribute to body temperature regulation and protection from allergens, as is the industry standard.

Based on the customer assessments, this is a mattress one can definitely rely on, and there are no conflicting opinions on its effectiveness and comfort. However, this is by no means a cheap orthopedic mattress, so you’ll need to weigh your preferences, sleeping habits, and overall expectations carefully against the price.

Here’s one of the most unusual mattresses we have stumbled upon. It comes from Tempur—a notable memory-foam-mattress brand—and it’s sold exclusively at Bensons for Beds.

Its peculiarity lies in the fact that it’s a memory foam orthopedic mattress, but, at the same time, belongs to the “extra firm” category. When thinking of a foam mattress, firmness is probably the last feature that would cross your mind. However, Tempur mattresses are designed to endure larger bodies and front sleepers in particular.

How can it be made of memory foam and extra firm at the same time, then? The answer lies in its complexity. The Helsinki mattress consists of multiple foam layers of different thicknesses:

• The top layer provides pressure relief for sensitive areas.
• The transitional support layer adjusts to the spine while providing a comfortable cushion to natural movements.
• The Durabase™ layer provides stable back support.

Also, some orthopedic memory foam mattress reviews claim these are more durable than sprung ones, as they develop sags and wears less easily. What’s more, they’re often hypoallergenic since they’re made from materials that don’t attract dust mites and other allergens.

The number of available reviews is fairly small, as this is a high-end mattress, but from what we could find, it may not be the best orthopedic mattress in the UK for hot sleepers. However, this isn’t a surprise since memory foam mattresses generally sleep hotter than pocket-sprung ones.

Silentnight is one of the best orthopedic mattress brands in the UK, offering both cheap and high-end options. It makes various mattress types, so you can find pocket-sprung and foam products within Silentnight’s assortment. It also produces the so-called hybrid mattresses (combining pocket springs and memory foam), such as the one that caught our attention—the single-sided Pocket Memory 2000 Mattress.

As you might have guessed, this orthopedic single mattress has 2000 pocket springs, but also a memory foam layer on top, providing solid support cushioned with a layer of softness. This results in medium firmness, so front sleepers might require something firmer.

Hybrid mattresses offer better breathability than any memory foam orthopedic mattress, and therefore prevent overheating. In addition, this Silentnight mattress has breathable borders, which improves airflow. That’s why we believe it might be a good choice for hot sleepers.

From what we could notice skimming through its reviews, most customers are satisfied with how comfortable this mattress is. However, some complain about its weight, especially since it has no handles.

REM-Fit was founded as an independent company in 2014, but it’s already ranked among the UK’s best orthopedic mattress brands. It became an independent manufacturer after operating for several years as a subdivision of Protect-A-Bed, and is already a multiple-award winner, with great potential to transform the UK mattress industry.

The REM-Fit 500 Ortho Hybrid is the best quality orthopedic mattress. It’s a hybrid mattress combining premium pocket springs with a topping and sides made from memory foam.

This is a firm orthopedic mattress—its core consists of 2,000 pocket springs providing firm support to your body. What makes it different from the Silentnight Pocket Memory 2000 Mattress is that the pocket-sprung core is also surrounded by memory foam on the sides for greater edge-to-edge support. Another difference is the memory foam layer on the bottom of the mattress.

Users say that this orthopedic double mattress provides good support for front, back, and side sleepers alike. It’s also reportedly superb at absorbing motion, so you won’t get bothered by your partner’s movements as they toss and turn. Sleepers are also happy with the temperature regulation system of this mattress—good to know, as memory foam often retains heat.

Some of the disadvantages of this orthopedic mattress are that it takes a bit for the mattress to bounce back after you get up, and many users say that putting the mattress cover back on after washing it is extremely difficult.

Looking for a cheap orthopedic mattress? Happy Beds offers plenty of budget-friendly mattresses and mattress toppers, made of natural materials or memory foam. One of their most popular models is the Majestic 1000 Pocket Sprung Orthopedic Mattress. The outside is covered in beautiful damask fabric, contributing to its aesthetics and cosy feel alike. It’s hand-stitched on both sides to provide good edge support.

The interior of this cheap orthopedic mattress contains a thousand pocket springs and absorbs motion efficiently, which prevents partners with different habits from disturbing one another’s sleep.

This mattress also has air vents for extra breathability and freshness. It should be rotated every six weeks to ensure even pressure distribution.

Even though this is one of the cheapest mattresses (orthopedic ones) in the UK, most customers are delighted with it and say it’s comfortable to sleep on. Unfortunately, there are multiple complaints concerning the supposed edge-to-edge support. Apparently, sitting on the sides squashes the area flat, which shouldn’t happen if the manufacturer’s hand-stitching claims are true. Also, this is a mattress of medium firmness, and as such, might not provide enough support for every sleeper.

The Millbrook Beds Ortho 1400 mattress is regarded as the best firm orthopedic mattress in the brand’s Ortho assortment. It contains 1,400 pocket springs combined with white cotton layers (including the Egyptian cotton cover). It’s chemical-free, eco-friendly, and incombustible, thanks to its unique M-PURE technology.

It also uses the so-called “zonal edge springing”—two rows of firmer springs along the edges. We found they provide additional firmness to the edges of the mattress and prevent dips and sags. Therefore, we’d recommend this mattress to couples looking for the best pocket–sprung orthopedic mattress since they’ll be able to use every inch of the sleeping surface.

The Millbrook Beds Ortho 1400 mattress is available in a firm version and comes with the Millbrook Beds’ five-year guarantee and warranty. There aren’t many reviews available, but those we managed to find were quite positive. The only misgivings users had were about the excessive firmness, as some of them prefer softer mattresses. So if you’re a side sleeper, we suggest you look for the best orthopedic mattresses that offer a higher level of pressure relief.

The Cotton Pocket 1000 from the British Bed Company is one of the quality mattresses from the brand’s pocket-sprung collection. In our orthopedic spring mattress review of this model, we found it provides enough support even though the king-size mattress has only 1,000 pocket springs.

What differentiates this mattress from those we reviewed previously is that it has rods along the edges, which is quite an old-fashioned way to maintain edge-to-edge firmness. However, its soft cover made of a viscose-polyester blend and polyester fibre filling provide enough cushioning, so you won’t feel the rods. Still, we wouldn’t say that it’s the best pocket sprung orthopedic mattress for side sleepers, who typically need more pressure relief.

The Cotton Pocket 1000 can be classified as a medium-firm mattress. Therefore, this mattress will best suit people of average weight. On the plus side, it’s designed for people who tend to switch between different positions in their sleep.

This is a one-sided mattress, and while you don’t need to flip it, it is recommended that you still rotate it once per season.