The Best Mattress for Back Pain
Every weekend untold numbers of Americans traipse off to their local furniture and bedding stores in search of the best mattress for back pain. With multiple visits, there are multiple salespeople who all claim their mattresses are the absolute best for alleviating bad back problems and getting restful sleep. But just like car insurance companies that all claim to save you the most, they can't all be right. So for individuals with any amount of back pain, what is the best mattress?
According to doctors and back pain specialists, there is no such thing as a "best" mattress. The primary reason, they say, lies in the fact that every individual person is different. None of us weighs the same, has the same shape, finds the same things comfortable, and so on. At the end of the day, the best mattress for the person who has back pain is the one with the optimal balance of comfort and support. It is a mattress on which the individual can get a restful night sleep along with some pain relief.
Start with the Causes
Finding the best mattress for you requires that you start by determining the cause of your back pain. Your doctor will be a big help in this regard. The cause is important because it will help determine the firmness of the mattress you're looking for. For example, many people with lower back pain find that age, weight, and undue stress are causing pulled muscles which, in turn, are causing the pain. A firmer mattress is necessary for this type of issue in order to prevent muscles from being put in odd positions or being stretched even further.
On the other hand, an individual whose back pain is caused by arthritis in the spine will probably suffer even further if his choice of mattress is too firm. Arthritis patients typically need a softer mattress that will envelop their body rather than putting pressure against it. Obviously, there are other sources of back pain not discussed here, but the idea is that you should know the cause of your back pain before you start looking for mattresses.
Learn About Mattress Construction
The next step in finding the right mattresses is to learn about the different types of construction. The most common type of mattress in the United States is the coil spring mattress. This is a product made up of a frame consisting of metal rails and dozens of stiff coil springs, all encased in a heavy fabric casing. Coil spring mattresses tend to be the least expensive and the most durable, but they do cause problems for some people with back pain. Unfortunately, coil springs cause pressure points which can exacerbate certain types of back and joint issues.
Foam mattresses are another option starting to gain popularity. You can purchase these as either synthetic latex foam, natural latex foam, or memory foam products. The nice thing about foam mattresses is the fact that they provide even support across their entire surface. Some back pain sufferers find a foam mattress to be a godsend while others insist they only make the pain worse.
A third option is the adjustable air mattress. A quality adjustable air mattress is completely different from a camping mattress for a temporary guest mattress you might purchase or $50 or so. Rather, it is designed to be a permanent mattress solution that can last as long as a coil spring model in some cases. The concept is similar to coil spring construction except for the fact that the inside of the mattress is made up of air chambers rather than steel springs. The entire thing is encased in a heavy fabric casing and allows for firmness adjustments through a motorized air compressor.
Lastly, waterbeds and feather beds are also available. However, doctors almost universally reject these two options for anyone with moderate to severe back pain. Both water bed and feather mattresses provide almost no support for the back. That's important because no matter the cause of back pain, some support is always necessary for the healing process to take place.
Try Before You Buy
Almost every reputable mattress manufacturer offers a "try before you buy" program to customers. Typically these programs allow you to use a mattress in your home for 30 nights before deciding whether or not to keep it. If you have back pain made worse by your current sleep solution, don't be afraid to take advantage of these offers. It's better for you to try out several different types of mattresses to find the best one, than simply settling on a model after only lying on it for five minutes in the store.
When you're testing a mattress there are couple of things you should be concerned about:
- firmness
- overall comfort
- energy transmission
- sleep temperature
Where firmness and overall comfort are concerned, it's important to find a good balance between the two. Too often someone will sacrifice overall comfort just to find as firm a mattress as possible. Another person might choose what seems to be incredibly comfortable in the store only to find the mattress doesn't offer enough firmness. Both extremes are bad news. Since you're never going to find a perfect mattress, look for one that balances the two.
As for transmission, this is something that is important when you have one partner with back pain and the other without. Energy transmission is the idea that when one partner moves in bed the other one feels that movement. The greater the energy transmission through a mattress, the more your partner will feel your movement. It's better to have a mattress that absorbs energy and keeps transmission at a minimum so that you don't feel sharp pains up your back every time your partner moves.
Finally, sleep temperature is also important. Sleep temperature is an especially difficult problem when it comes to foam mattresses, as these mattresses typically don't breath as well as coil spring and air mattresses. Remember that even if you find a good balance between comfort and firmness, you still might be kept awake at night because you're too hot.
Mattress Toppers
Lastly, finding the right mattress for you requires that you know a little bit about mattress toppers as well. It's not uncommon for individuals suffering from back pain to try using a foam mattress topper rather than looking for a new mattress, hoping it will solve their problem. It may help on a temporary basis, but a foam mattress topper is not a substitute for a comfortable and properly supportive mattress. When shopping for your new mattress, if you find something that's uncomfortable don't accept the salespersons premise that a mattress topper will take care of this discomfort.
The problem with mattress toppers is if they are usually too thin to offer much relief. They also break down much too quickly. In terms of offering comfort and support for back pain, the average mattress topper will be largely ineffective within 6 to 12 months of purchase. Go ahead and use a mattress topper if you must, but make sure that your mattress is comfortable and supportive even without it.
In your search for the best mattress for back pain keep in mind that it ultimately comes down to your preference. It doesn't matter what the salesman tells you, what you read in promotional literature, or what you find online. Your back pain will be relieved when you find a mattress that gives you the right amount of firmness, support, and energy transfer.