Choosing Mattresses
Added Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007 at 5:20 am | View Comments
Lower back pain can be caused by sleeping on the wrong mattress. If mattresses have no back support it can lead to poor sleeping posture and will not help keep the spine aligned - this is a major cause of lower back pain. Mattresses that offer poor support will also cause sleep discomfor,t so making sure you have chosen the right mattress for your individual requirements is very important.
There are many mattresses on the market today for many different types of requirement, in this article i am going to concentrate on people with lower back complaints and what decisions they should be making when choosing new mattresses.
Firstly there is no specific type of mattress for a person with a bad back, any mattress that helps someone sleep without pain and discomfort is the best mattress for that individual. Understanding the components of mattresses will help determine what mattresses to choose. The spring system will help provide back support, different mattresses have different coil arrangements and the number of coils can also have a Detrimental effect. The padding on top of mattresses can come in different thicknesses and mattress depths can range from 6in to 20in deep, choosing the number of coils, padding and thickness should be determined by the customer for overall support and sleep comfort.
Good mattresses for back pain should provide support while allowing for the natural curve of the spine. A recent survey has discovered that medium-firm mattresses offer more back pain relief than firm mattresses.
A balance between sleep comfort and back support is the key, the overall comfort of mattresses is equally as important as sufficient back support, sleeping on a mattress that is too firm can cause aches and pains on pressure points. A medium-firm mattress may offer better comfort as it allows the hips and shoulders to sink in slightly. For people who want a really mattress look at increasing the overall padding in the mattress as this will allow for better sleep comfort.
As mattresses age they tend to sag in the middle causing the mattress to loose it’s support placing boards under the mattress can work as a short term solution but inevitably replacing the mattress is what is required.
Remember to shop for quality and not for price, investing in high quality mattresses is a good investment if you are trying to reduce lower back pain. Higher quality mattresses come with better spring systems, better quality fillings and more quantity of fillings meaning the comfort/support mix is easier to obtain.
Take good care of new mattresses. It is recommended that owners reposition their mattresses every six months to ensure that the mattress is evenly worn. This includes rotating 180 degrees and flipping the mattress lengthwise on a regular basis. The Better Sleep Council advises that putting a mattress on a box spring/foundation that is not made to go with the mattress, may decrease the life of the new mattress.
3 COMMENTS
David King
September 3rd, 2007 at 4:57 am
I would recommend visco memory foam. it offers really good support and still maintains high comfort levels
Alison
October 25th, 2007 at 3:29 pm
I just got a vera wang serta pillowtop mattress brand new from a baers furniture warehouse sale. It should have $1699, I paid $499. I can honestly say it is the softest bed ever, which I thought I would love, but I have had nothing but lower back pain since the first night I slept on it. Last night I climbed into bed with my two year old in his room, just because I couldn’t face another day of backpain. So. luxurious and ultra pillowtopped is not always good.
Paul Dicker
October 31st, 2007 at 5:08 pm
I’m sure you got $1699 worth of mattress for $499, you have bought into the sales. No company could offer that genuine amount of money off.
As for your mattress you maybe getting lower back pain because the new mattress is supporting your back correctly and your so used to your old mattress. It can take 10-12 weeks to get used to a new mattress.
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