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I am looking for some advice reconfiguring my latex mattress. I am a big male 6' 4" and 320lbs. I have been waking up with lower back pain after 4-5 hrs sleep. My situation is unique, our baby is in the bed preventing me from rolling over. (let's not have a debate about co-sleeping, please) I have a Flobeds mattress with 3 2.8" latex layers plus their convoluted top. Config was: Top convoluted, then soft 20ILD, then xtra firm 36ILD, with superfirm 44ILD on the bottom. I just swapped the bottom two layers, and flipped one upside down, so we have at the moment, Top convoluted, then soft 20ILD, then superfirm 44ILD, then xtra firm 36ILD upside-down on the bottom. I know if I make things too firm, I will have pain in my shoulder. Actually I get a little bit of that now but not bad compared to lower back. We'll see what happens with this setup. I'm thinking about getting rid of the soft layer and using memory foam there instead, or replacing it with medium/firm 30ILD. Another option woulld be to put rigid foam (ILD70) on the bottom raising the firmer layers taking out the soft. Also thought about a combination of this with 2 or 3 1.5" or 1" layers. I could use some advice. Thanks. This message was modified Jul 4, 2009 by mbubba
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| I would swap the way too soft 20 ILD for a 32 ILD or another 36 ILD. |
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I haven't any experience in the layering of latex, but I have some input about supporting the low back/pelvic area. I think that the low back pain comes from the hips not being supported, ie, sinking a bit too much. The muscles of the low back try to keep the body in alignment and so during our sleep, try to keep the heavier pelvis from dropping. That's why the pain in the am...your low back has spent the entire night holding up the pelvis, or trying to. So it doesn't do any good to add foam to the low back. I think that foam is for padding, and support comes from springs(springs push back, foam makes it softer. Also, there is a stretch that really helps with low back issues....which can be independent from the bed. Sit indian style on the floor, then take one foot and put it over the opposite thigh closer to the knee. Wrap your arms around the knee in front of you and pull gently toward your chest. You will feel a pull across your tight areas, across the buttocks, possibly down the outside of your leg too. Can pull all the way to the center of your back. This is very helpful for those of us with low back pain. I keep tension in this area and this helps remove it. Kait (my bed: L&P Offset coils, insulator of wire and burlap, cotton batting, 4" P/U foam soft but good quality. Topped with a poly-fiberfilled down-like pad) |
I removed the 20ild layer and zipped the mattress back together 3 inches shorter. So now I have,
So far, results are much better, 2 short nights sleep. I wake up having to check to see if there's any back pain, and it was barely detectable... maybe no worse than when I was getting into bed. I will leave it like this at least until I've been able to sleep-late a couple nights on the weekend. I can't help but wonder if I can make it better. The cover is designed for three more inches so I think abouting something hard or rigid at the bottom to keep the same feel, or adding more 36ild or 30/32ild on the top. I think about getting this stuff in 1" thicknesses so I can experiment. I assume that adding more 36ild latex on top will be more of a good thing, but I don't know about the 32ild. I can get it cheaper (e.g., with foambymail) but I don't know whether the slight increase in softness will make things better or worse. I guess an inch or two of memory foam near the top would be a bad idea at this point? Seems like soft=bad but good memory foam seems to change the game for a lot of people. |
| Maybe you should exchange the 20 ILD latex core for another 44 ILD latex core to have the two firm on the bottom if this is what is making you comfortable or go with another 36 ILD core but no softer. |