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Is An Orthopedic Mattress The Best For A Bad Back?
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If Sandi Toskvig and Alan Davies found themselves with nothing to talk about one week, they could fill a whole episode of QI discussing mattresses. Admittedly it would not be a ratings-winner and they have gone past series M, but there are numerous myths and misconceptions about the mattress market.
For example, how many springs would you expect to find in a 1000 pocket spring single mattress? It’s certainly not 1000 (it’s more like half that as the number relates to how many you’d fit on a king size mattress). |
Will an orthopedic mattress help you look after your back?
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One of the most enduring myths is that people with a bad back should have a very firm bed. I'm not a chiropractor but after starting to read mattress guides online I realised pretty quickly that it's not that simple.
According to both the British Chiropractic Association and the Sleep Council, what you actually need is a ‘supportive’ bed. For some people, that will be a firm mattress but for other people it will actually be quite a soft mattress.
Back in 2003, academics in Spain carried out an interesting piece of research with about 300 participants ('Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain: randomised, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial' by Kovaks, Abraira et al).
Some were given firm mattresses whilst others were given 'medium-firm' mattresses. The people taking part had some back issues (patients were those who 'had chronic non-specific low-back pain, but no referred pain, who complained of backache while lying in bed and on rising). After 90 days, patients were assessed and the conclusion was reached that 'A mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain'.
In more detail, the study found that those with the medium firm mattresses had less pain in bed and during the day ('patients with medium-firm mattresses had better outcomes for pain in bed...pain on rising... and disability...than did patients with firm mattresses' and the medium firm users had 'less daytime low-back pain...pain while lying in bed...and pain on rising...than did patients with firm mattresses.'
According to both the British Chiropractic Association and the Sleep Council, what you actually need is a ‘supportive’ bed. For some people, that will be a firm mattress but for other people it will actually be quite a soft mattress.
Back in 2003, academics in Spain carried out an interesting piece of research with about 300 participants ('Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain: randomised, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial' by Kovaks, Abraira et al).
Some were given firm mattresses whilst others were given 'medium-firm' mattresses. The people taking part had some back issues (patients were those who 'had chronic non-specific low-back pain, but no referred pain, who complained of backache while lying in bed and on rising). After 90 days, patients were assessed and the conclusion was reached that 'A mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain'.
In more detail, the study found that those with the medium firm mattresses had less pain in bed and during the day ('patients with medium-firm mattresses had better outcomes for pain in bed...pain on rising... and disability...than did patients with firm mattresses' and the medium firm users had 'less daytime low-back pain...pain while lying in bed...and pain on rising...than did patients with firm mattresses.'
The key to getting a mattress that will look after your back is finding one that creates a nice straight spine when you are lying on your side. With a firm mattress, an 8 stone jockey will not sink into the bed enough so the spine will end up curvy (resembling a frowny face was how one guide described it). Similarly, an 18 stone wrestler will be swallowed up by a soft mattress and would need something firmer to help keep their spine straight.
Also, the position that you usually sleep in plays a part in deciding how a firm a mattress you need. Side sleepers should go for softer mattresses than people who sleep on their front or back. This is because a very firm mattress will put a lot of pressure on your hips and shoulders if you are sleeping on your side.
You can achieve a straight spine with a memory foam, pocket sprung or latex mattress. Several bed comparison websites conclude that a good quality memory foam or latex mattress has the potential to offer superior support, although you can certainly look after your back with a decent pocket sprung mattress. Also worth noting is that the charity Versus Arthritis says that ‘many people find memory foam mattresses or toppers helpful’. Obviously that advice is specific to arthritis rather than bad backs in general.
The hard mattress myth is confused further because some manufacturers offer a mattress which they describe as ‘orthopedic’. It sounds kind of scientific and medical, much like those shampoo adverts with diagrams of hair strands. However, what it usually means in the mattress market is that it is extra firm but there’s no blanket rule (pun intended) that it will be the best option for your back.
And here’s another weird quirk of the mattress market – no-one has ever decided what ‘firm’ or ‘soft’ actually means. One company’s ‘soft’ could be the same as another company’s ‘medium’ mattress, in much the same way that a medium t-shirt from one shop might be a large t-shirt in another. There is something called the 'European Committee for Standardisation' but I've only seen passing mentions of it in relation to a 1-10 mattress firmness in academic papers.
That’s terribly confusing for the mattress buyer, particularly if you buy something online. Your options are either to buy from a bed shop where they may not stock that award-winning mattress which you’ve read about, or to buy online and hope that it is the right level of firmness for you. Some mattresses offer a free return after a month or two of sleeping (see our guide to mattresses with a risk free trial) but I’m rather too British and would be reluctant to return it unless it had completely fallen apart.
The best advice I’ve found online after many (many) hours of reading is to put your hand flat underneath your back whilst lying on the bed. If you can’t fit your hand in, it’s too soft. If there’s a huge gap then the bed is too hard for you.
Personally, I’d like to see more bed companies offering a rating which explains that ‘this bed is ideal for people who weigh 10-12 stone’ or something similar (Vispring are one of the few companies to offer this - they recommend soft for up to 11 stone, medium for 11-16 stone, firm for 16 - 20 stone and extra firm for 20 stone+).
Until then, we’ll have to settle for awkward trips to the bed shop where we attempt to work out if our spine is straight.
Also, the position that you usually sleep in plays a part in deciding how a firm a mattress you need. Side sleepers should go for softer mattresses than people who sleep on their front or back. This is because a very firm mattress will put a lot of pressure on your hips and shoulders if you are sleeping on your side.
You can achieve a straight spine with a memory foam, pocket sprung or latex mattress. Several bed comparison websites conclude that a good quality memory foam or latex mattress has the potential to offer superior support, although you can certainly look after your back with a decent pocket sprung mattress. Also worth noting is that the charity Versus Arthritis says that ‘many people find memory foam mattresses or toppers helpful’. Obviously that advice is specific to arthritis rather than bad backs in general.
The hard mattress myth is confused further because some manufacturers offer a mattress which they describe as ‘orthopedic’. It sounds kind of scientific and medical, much like those shampoo adverts with diagrams of hair strands. However, what it usually means in the mattress market is that it is extra firm but there’s no blanket rule (pun intended) that it will be the best option for your back.
And here’s another weird quirk of the mattress market – no-one has ever decided what ‘firm’ or ‘soft’ actually means. One company’s ‘soft’ could be the same as another company’s ‘medium’ mattress, in much the same way that a medium t-shirt from one shop might be a large t-shirt in another. There is something called the 'European Committee for Standardisation' but I've only seen passing mentions of it in relation to a 1-10 mattress firmness in academic papers.
That’s terribly confusing for the mattress buyer, particularly if you buy something online. Your options are either to buy from a bed shop where they may not stock that award-winning mattress which you’ve read about, or to buy online and hope that it is the right level of firmness for you. Some mattresses offer a free return after a month or two of sleeping (see our guide to mattresses with a risk free trial) but I’m rather too British and would be reluctant to return it unless it had completely fallen apart.
The best advice I’ve found online after many (many) hours of reading is to put your hand flat underneath your back whilst lying on the bed. If you can’t fit your hand in, it’s too soft. If there’s a huge gap then the bed is too hard for you.
Personally, I’d like to see more bed companies offering a rating which explains that ‘this bed is ideal for people who weigh 10-12 stone’ or something similar (Vispring are one of the few companies to offer this - they recommend soft for up to 11 stone, medium for 11-16 stone, firm for 16 - 20 stone and extra firm for 20 stone+).
Until then, we’ll have to settle for awkward trips to the bed shop where we attempt to work out if our spine is straight.