How Different Mattresses Deal with Back Pain
Shawn Clark
Most patients notice that lying down and trying to sleep places pressure on the back, which causes pain. For many patients, this leads to them asking their DC, "Which mattress should I sleep on?" Most doctors and staff members have trouble answering this question intelligently because neither sleep nor the proper support of the body during sleep is taught in our medical schools. In addition, mattress companies make a fortune selling new, different mattresses that tell a nice marketing story, but just don't work right.
Sleep Support and Back Pain
We're told to sit up straight and stand up straight for proper spinal alignment, but what about when we lie down to sleep? How we stand and sit is important because, when done properly, it keeps the hips and shoulders on the same level plane. When we "slump," our head moves off this plane placing pressure (gravitational pull) on the lower back—that's the way the human body is formed. When we lie down to sleep, it's also important to keep our hips and shoulders in this same relationship. However, the average person carries more weight in the hip area than in the shoulders, creating a major alignment problem when horizontal. This can only be solved by introducing an element that "pushes" the hips up into alignment with the shoulders, which is why the innerspring was such a major breakthrough in mattress technology in the early 1900s. Before that time, people were sleeping on natural materials, such as cotton and straw or feathers. Adding springs into the mix revolutionized sleep quality and soon all mattresses had them.
Quality Sleep Is Important
Sleep, like air and water, is required to sustain human life. The human form cannot exist past 10 days without sleep. The lack of quality sleep affects our performance and health. The CDC has added lack of sleep as a major health epidemic in America. We're sleeping 30% less than our parents did, and 70 million people report that sleep-related pain wakes them. Serious diseases, such as stroke, obesity, diabetes and autoimmune disorders, have been linked to poor sleep quality. Many doctors also link mattress support with both the cause and
cure of serious back pain. Let's take a closer look at how we are supporting our body eight hours a day to see why.
Mattress Types
Our parents slept on mattresses made with steel springs and cotton. These wonderful products lasted for more than 20 years. If people developed back pain, their doctor told them to put plywood under their mattress for added support. It worked and everyone was happy!
Then came the space race when all kinds of new materials suddenly became available. Plastics and foams replaced cotton and steel, and new kinds of mattresses were born. From waterbeds to air beds, to pillow-top foam mattresses, and finally to expensive and highly advertised memory foam beds, a variable parade of new mattress types have been introduced to the unsuspecting public for purchase without proper testing or government oversight.
Let's take a look at the kinds of mattresses being sold today and see what industry data shows about howthey compare to the cotton and spring versions our parents slept on:
-Water and air replaced the springs in beds, but they lack the ability to push the hips up into alignment. After a couple of years, the lack of proper support weakens the muscles supporting the spine contributing to back problems. The highly advertised "sleep number" bed is an air bed with a number representing the amount of air the person chooses to put into the chamber.
-Pillow tops are mattresses that replaced cotton with a thick layer of foam for cushioning. The foam becomes hard and develops body impressions after only a couple of years.
-Memory foam is the NASA-licensed slow-reboundingfoam that replaces springs in high-priced beds. It does not push the hips up into proper alignment, is hot to sleep on, and has a useful wear life of only five to seven years.
-Latex foam is a natural rubber foam that is being used to replace the springs in high-priced beds. Although it is more natural, it does not push the hips into proper alignment and softens as it wears, giving these mattresses a useful life of three to five years.
So we see a clear picture of mattress companies using new, supposedly better materials to sell mattresses that in reality don't work properly and make you buy another new type of mattress before you want to do so.
Foam Is the Problem
Industry testing shows foam-based materials change in a predictable manner as they are used; they harden, lose their ability to rebound, and develop body impressions. As they change, so does their ability to provide back support and comfort. This creates the "perfect storm" of bad sleep because it causes sleep movement (tossing and turning), which disrupts the ideal sleep cycle and robs the sleeper of sleep stages three and four (i.e., deep, healing-level sleep when the brain is engaged in healing the body). This disruption of the sleep cycle can lead to serious sleep disorders that affect our overall health and our body's natural ability to heal.
What Should You Recommend?
For patients with back or sleep issues, there are two types of mattresses that will work:
-Firm innerspring mattresses, which use very little foam for cushioning. These products are still available, and if the patient can sleep on a "very firm" bed, it will work great for support. Most people, however, cannot sleep on a firm bed because it causes tossing and turning, and eventually hip and shoulder pain
-Pressure-redistributing intelli-gel® mattresses,
research shows that they provide firm back support and soft pressure relief atthe same time due to the hospital-tested gel cushioning. This promotes deep, healing sleep in stages three and four for patients who need a softer, more comfortable sleep surface.
B Shawn Clark, Cofounder of Advanced Comfort Technologies, Inc., a company founded in 1998 to develop sleep wellness mattresses marketed through wellness professionals under the intelliBED name.
