What Is The Best Bed For Back Pain According To Body Weight
Sleepers who weigh less than 130 pounds and experience regular pain typically need a softer mattress to alleviate their symptoms. Firmer beds may not conform closely enough to reduce aches and pains in their sensitive areas.
People with back pain who weigh 130 to 230 pounds may want to consider a mattress with mid-level firmness. Medium soft to medium firm beds provide a balanced feel by conforming to the body while maintaining even support.
Firm mattresses are best suited to sleepers who weigh more than 230 pounds, many of whom sink excessively on softer bed models. Lighter people may not experience enough body-conforming on firm beds to reduce their pain and pressure points. Excessively firm beds can even cause added discomfort for lighter individuals.
Is A Firm Mattress Better For Back Pain
Many people will tell you that you need a firm mattress to stop back pain, but thats not necessarily true. A mattress thats too firm can also cause spine misalignment by pushing up the shoulders and hips. Instead, look for a medium-firm mattress that offers some cushioning for these key pressure points.
Can Changing Your Sleeping Position Relieve Back Pain
Sleep position plays an important role in back pain management. The side, back, and stomach sleeping positions are each associated with different types of back pain, but certain strategies can alleviate symptoms for sleepers.
Side sleeping is very common, but this position can lead to poor spinal alignment especially if the mattress is too soft or too firm. According to the Mayo Clinic, side sleepers can reduce pressure on their back by placing a pillow between their legs and tucking both knees toward their chest at a 90-degree angle. Although side sleepers tend to prefer softer mattresses, they should choose a bed that aligns the spine with proper support around the shoulders and hips.
For back sleepers who experience regular pain, the Mayo Clinic notes a pillow placed beneath the knees can be very effective for alleviating symptoms. The sleepers neck pillow is another important factor. Pillows that are too thin may cause the head and neck to dip back too far. Thicker pillows elevate the head and neck to keep these areas aligned with the spine. Additionally, people tend to snore more when their head is not elevated properly.
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Why You Should Trust Us
At Sleep Foundation, we understand the importance of choosing the right mattress especially when it comes to back pain. Thats why weve personally tested hundreds of mattress models to bring you the top picks listed above. Our expert team includes product testers that cover a wide range of body types, sleep positions, and comfort preferences. After thorough hands-on testing, we consider these selections to be the best of the bunch.
To evaluate mattresses for back pain relief, we ask our testers to lie down on each mattress. Ideally, a mattress should contour to the body while maintaining even support, so well measure how deeply the mattress sinks beneath the testers weight. We also use body-mapping sensors to pinpoint locations where painful pressure points are likely to occur. Although we relied on feedback from all of our testers, we focused on those who have a history of upper and/or lower back pain.
The Dreamcloud: Luxury Hybrid Mattress
Comfort begins with a touch and continues all the way to the base with this DreamCloud Luxury Hybrid Mattress. A quilted foam and cashmere top is like touching a cloud, making you fall asleep in no time. The individually wrapped support coils and memory foam match your individual body shape and sleeping position.
The gel layer foam helps you settle into the mattress just enough to gently cradle your body and meet the right level of sinking in. You wont overheat with this gel memory foam nor will you ever realize your partner has moved thanks to the stability of the innerspring coils and memory foam.
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Is Spinal Alignment The Most Important Factor
Spinal alignment is certainly important, but its not the only factor when it comes to sleeping with back pain. Pressure relief is also important for helping you reduce pain and get to sleep. However, its important to find a material that relieves pressure while still allowing movement.
If you find youre waking up stiff and sore but feel better after you get moving, you could be dealing with swelling or inflammation in the joints or muscle tissue. While this can occur in almost any type of injury, its usually a sign that the injury isnt getting motion, especially while you sleep.
When it comes to spinal injuries or misalignments, most chiropractors and physical therapists will treat the issue by aligning the spine and increasing motion to reduce inflammation and swelling. If you can move around easily when you sleep, either to reposition or rollover, your body may be able to help aid in that process.
What To Look For In A Mattress For Sciatica
For a long time, the general rule of thumb was that people suffering from any kind of back pain should opt for a firm mattress. Nowadays, that thinking is being revamped.
Contemporary research suggests the ideal mattress for back pain sufferers is one that feels medium-firm to the person who sleeps on it. So sciatica sufferers may want to look for a medium-firm mattress that offers a balance of support and comfort.
Beyond medium-firmness, here are a few others factors to look for in a mattress for sciatica.
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Are You Accommodating Your Mattress
Many times people put off getting a new mattress set when they actually really need one. One of the reasons being that a mattress purchase is a big investment. This is when we put it on the back burner and it becomes a lower priority item.
What happens next is that our mattress becomes more uncomfortable. This is what I call – You accommodating your mattress. This could happen for months or even years.
If you have back pain then you are only making your situation worse. Your mattress is adding to the pain and discomfort. One of the areas a weak supporting mattress will give you is poor spinal alignment.
When you are sleeping your mattress should be accommodating your sleep comfort. Not the other way around. Does this make sense? You bet it does!
How I Picked These Mattresses
I like to start all my best of roundups off by acknowledging that these selections are based on my personal preferences. While Im bringing my expert knowledge of materials and bed construction to the table, Im naturally swayed by my own experiences with pain relief on these beds. But, I also use quite a few objective tests to determine how each bed I test will perform, and those play a big role in my selection process as well!
And Im not just relying on my own opinions. I also chatted with physical therapist and Sleepopolis Expert Network member Dr. Keith Poorbaugh to get his tips for catching quality Zzzs while dealing with chronic back pain and to learn what kinds of mattresses can aid in this process the most.
You can find my conversation with Dr. Poorbaugh at the end of this guide.
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Precisely How Is Low Pain In The Back Determined
Your medical professional will likely begin by requesting for a full case history as well as performing an extensive health examination to identify where youre really feeling the discomfort. A health examination can likewise identify if discomfort is influencing your series of movements.
Your medical professional may likewise examine your reflexes as well as likewise your activities to certain experiences. If your low back distress is affecting your nerves, this identifies.
Unless you have concerning or incapacitating indicators or neurologic loss, your physician will certainly more than likely monitor your condition for a couple of weeks before sending you for testing. This is due to the reality that a lot of low pain in the back resolves using very easy self-care therapies.
Best Mattress For Lower Back Pain And Sciatica
Puffy Mattress
- Type: foam
- Height: 10 inches
Like back pain, sciatic pain may benefit from a medium-firm mattress that supports the spine and joints. The Puffy Mattress offers firm core support with thick layers of cushioning foam that cradle the body and keep your spine aligned, even as you move throughout the night.
The mattress is backed with a lifetime warranty, and you can test it out at home with a 101-night trial.
shows that even mild lower back pain is associated with sleep disturbance. People dealing with lower back pain often have problems falling asleep and experience shorter sleep durations and poor sleep quality in general.
Thats likely because of a couple factors:
- Difficulty getting comfortable. Accommodating lower back pain may mean trying out new sleeping positions, which can delay sleep.
- Greater awareness of the pain. With fewer distractions at night, lower back pain may be more noticeable than usual, making it harder to fall asleep or stay asleep.
Some medications that may be prescribed for back pain, such as opioids, can also
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Tips And Tricks For Sleeping With Pain
To wrap up this guide, I want to share some tips and tricks for sleeping with chronic pain. Unfortunately, theres no magical solution for alleviating pain, but there are some slight modifications you can make to get the journey started. I should note that not all pain sufferers will be able to implement all these strategies, nor should they were all different, and so our paths toward healing will be different, too.
I always recommend that my clients see the big picture, Dr. Poorbaugh stated. When it comes to pain, we have two options: We can seek a fix or a heal. The path to less pain is quite different depending on your choice, but each option has three pillars of management with very little overlap.
While the fix typically involves medication and surgery, the heal focuses on three main tenets: nutrition, sleep, and movement.
Best Luxury Mattress For Sciatica: Purple Hybrid Premier
The Purple Hybrid Premier is a combination of pocketed support coils, memory foam, and the innovation that Purple is known best for a purple, elastic support grid. With its open-air channels and motion-isolating design, this mattress can flex into nearly any position while continuing to provide well-ventilated support.
This mattress is medium-firm and is, therefore, better suited to the needs of back sleepers and stomach sleepers than side sleepers. However, should a customer choose to pay more and upgrade their Purple Hybrid Premier from the 3-inch grid model to the 4-inch grid model, they will find that the firmness rating drops to medium-soft, an ideal level for side sleepers.
Because this model features a great deal of built-in ventilation, it could be a great choice for hot sleepers that struggle with traditional memory foam mattresses. Purple tends to include nifty additional items with their mattresses, such as bedsheets, pillows, and sleeping masks. However, its important to note that many Purple mattresses do tend to fall in the higher price range.
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Perfect Cloud Elegance Gel
Now, I gave this mattress the first place when I was reviewing mattresses for back pain. So why the sudden downgrade?
The answer should be obvious if you give it a thought. I have said latex mattresses are better for lower back pain rather than general back pain, have I not? And thats what all of this is about.
This is a memory foam mattress, and because of that its more suitable for upper and middle back pain, less so for lower back pain.
There are only two sizes available: Queen and California King, but the manufacturer promises to rectify that sometime later.
The mattress has four layers, two of them infused with air. The first one is also made of high-density memory foam. It is an inch thick, while the second one is 1.5 inches thick. Unlike the other layer, it is made of low-density memory foam. Its a bit firmer. The third layer is Gel-Pro Foam. Its purpose is to regulate your temperature during your sleep. And then there is the core support layer made of basic high-density foam.
In combination, the four layer provide you with a perfect sleeping experience. Despite that, the mattress s still a bit firm, which is a good thing for a person who suffers from lower back pain. You can any moment. Also, I believe it wouldnt hurt you to know that the mattress comes with a premium cover.
Pros:
- Perfect for people with back pain
Cons:
Other Bedding That Can Help Back Pain
Some mattress companies also sell pillows designed to alleviate back and neck pain. People can adjust the heights of these pillows to better support their spinal alignment.
Also, if a person wants to keep their mattress but adjust its firmness, they might try a mattress topper which may be made of memory foam, wool, or latex.
In addition, some people may benefit from adjustable beds, as a change in positioning might provide better back support.
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The Amerisleep As1 Mattress
The plant-based Bio-Pur material keeps sleepers cool all night and features an open-cell design to allow more air to circulate and wick away warm air. The Bio-Pur is available in every Amerisleep mattress, provides a healthier sleeping experience and offers responsive support to back pain.
The layers of the memory foam have a better bounce back in the mattress so you dont feel stuck when you move during sleep. Sleep better knowing the mattress will relieve painful pressure points and prevent heat build-up.
A Mattress With Special Layers Of Memory Foam For Softness And Support
Helix Sleep
Use code FORBES100 to receive $100 off + 2 free Dream Pillows when you spend $600 or more.
Use code FORBES150 to receive $150 off + 2 free Dream Pillows when you spend $1,250 or more.
Use code FORBES200 to receive $200 off + 2 free Dream Pillows when you spend $1,750 or more.
- Materials: Memory foam, Helix dynamic foam, wrapped coils
- Sizes: Twin, Twin XL, Full, Queen, King, California King
- Trial period: 100 nights
Helix offers mattresses that are tailor-built to your needsyou answer a short questionnaire, and the company will recommend the perfect mattress for you. The Helix Twilight is a top choice for back pain. It offers a firm feel with no sink or give, but its not so hard that you feel like youre sleeping on a rock. The mattress has a special Memory Foam Plus Foam layer to help cushion your pressure points, especially when youre sleeping on your side, along with a polyfoam transition layer for added support.
Many reviewers rave that their pain is gone after upgrading to this mattress, calling it the perfect combination of soft and firm.
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What About Sleeping Position
For sleep positions, side sleepers often benefit from softer mattresses. This sleeping position can cause poor spinal alignment, and a bed that conforms closely will cushion the shoulders and hips in order to align the back more evenly. Back and stomach sleepers may need more support to prevent their bodies from sinking too deeply. As a result, many people who use these positions prefer mid-level to firm feels.
Why We Get Back Problems
About 80% of sleepers are likely to come across some type of lower back pain throughout their lifetime. Of course, it goes without saying that not everyone is actually affected in the same way by these issues.
However, this doesnt mean that you should stay uninformed about them. Some have the potential to get worse over time.
There are two types of back pain that are commonly observed: Acute pain that lasts for less than about six weeks and chronic pain which is less frequent but longer lasting. This is according to the reputable Mayo Clinic. The breakdown is followed by serious research and studies carried over periods of time and a lot of back pain sufferers.
With this in mind, there are also different causes for back pain . Here are a few common ones and some tips on how to prevent them.
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Which Type Of Mattress Is Best For Back Pain
A key step in choosing a mattress is deciding which mattress type is most likely to work for you. Virtually all mattresses on the market today can be broken into five types based on their construction and materials.
Within each category, you can find consistent features however, there can be notable variation from one brand or model to the next. Some types allow for a greater diversity of designs, which leads to a wider variation in the expected feel and performance of any specific mattress.
Low Back Pain Triggered By Spinal Column Deterioration Along With Injury
Repeated hefty hauling or an abrupt uncomfortable motions can stress back muscular tissue mass as well as back ligaments. Continual stress on your back can activate unpleasant muscular tissue convulsions if you stay in poor physical condition.
Disks function as cushionings between the bones in your spine. The soft product inside a disk can protrude or break as well as continue a nerve.
You can have a protruding or burst disk without back soreness. Disk illness is generally discovered incidentally when you have spinal column X-rays for a few various other factors.
Osteo arthritis can influence the lower back. Oftentimes, joint inflammation in the spinal column can cause a constricting of the location around the spinal cord, an issue called back constriction.
Your spinal columns vertebrae can establish undesirable fractures if your bones wind up being porous as well as additionally weak.
Heres another thing.
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