Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
Why is mattress selection close to impossible for a anyone with low back pain? why are mattress makers using different names for the same mattresses in different stores? Why are they making it so hard to compare mattresses? Is this some kind of scam? Why is it that man has gone to moon but mattress makers can't make a mattress for people with low back pain? I have a herniated disk and wake up with aches and extremely tired every day. Life is hell or close to it. It can't get any worse. thanks for honest replies. This message was modified Jan 25, 2010 by lowbacpain
|
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
Welcome to the club. This has been going on for a very very long time. Greedy companies making garbage mattresses for profit and that is all. They stopped making good mattresses that were flippable a long time ago. Small companies still make them, but I am not really knowledgeable on those. I have bought so many mattresses that were garbage in the last 15 years or so. I kept my old firm mattress and put toppers on it. Got rid of the many newer ones each time. Good thing I kept the old one in a spare room. You need a firm mattress, but you need some support. That is why most all of us here have turn to adding latex topper for firm mattresses. Or some buy latex mattresses. Some are successful, some are not. It is a very fine line, and one inch to high or too low makes a difference. I am still working on the toppers to make my hips (side sleeper) and back (when I sleep on my back) happy. Right now I made the layers too soft, my lower back was so cramped I could hardly get out of bed. So I wil have to move the layers around and remove 1. When my back is happy my hips are not for side sleeping. Guess I will have to make my back happy only. |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
I'm not sure what the answer is for your particular situation, but my low back pain was 100 percent CAUSED by my beds. One way to shop is to stay the night in different hotels with different beds to check to see how they affect your back. I had to be out of town on and off while my dad was ill and slept in different beds, different types, and none really made me feel better. Then I took a trip to Denver and slept at a wonderful hotel there...and the bed worked like magic on my back! I was 80 percent better the first night, and completely rehabbed after the next night! I WAS RIGHT IT WAS THE BED! No one had believed me before this, but I came home and refused to sleep on our bed one more night...ripped it apart with an exacto knife and changed the foam around. Never did make that one feel good...it is my step daughter's bed now. Had one made as close to the specs of the hotel bed as I could...springs on springs, offset coils, made the old fashioned way(small manufacturer...mine has cotton batting inside and minimal foam). I had to futz a bit with the comfort layer...the foam was a bit firmer than I liked so added a polyfill topper...and I sleep quite nicely now and revel every morning that I can stand up and put on my pants without falling over in pain! Ya know, the doctors tried to tell me it was age, or somesuch, but it was the darn bed. Best of luck, Kait |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
Hi, I got tired of springs popping up in my back in very expensive beds and just recently changed to Latex. I got an all natural Talalay latex bed by FloBeds. I highly recommend you take a look at their site. Their VZone lets you customize the support to how you need it for the different parts of the body. I put a firmer layer in my lumbar area to support my lower back pain. So, I feel for your pain and thought you should know that my husband has several herniated discs in his cervical spine with lots of other associated issues and has been going to physical therapy for the past two months to strengthen the area. Well, after about 10 days on his new bed...his physical therapist noticed a huge improvement in him without knowing he was sleeping on a new bed! He feels a lot better since and once he hit the newer VZone the other day, even better still (yet he thought his bed was perfect before that!). So much so that his therapist actually released him from therapy the other day! We also splurged and got him a zero-gravity Perfect Chair recliner (sold at Relax the Back store) because his neck needs support when he is sitting around..couches seem to encourage terrible posture and lack of support. The chair also really helps take the pressure off your spine. (We're doing all we can to keep him from what I call an "outage!" When these attacks come on, he is completely incapacitated and out of work for up to 6 weeks at a time.) Also, I have arthritic like symptoms and woke up every day in pain and exhausted after tossing and turning like a dead fish all night long. Both he and I feel like new humans now so I am a serious supporter of latex. Go read up on it and go read the thread "I just got a new FloBeds" started by eagle2. There is a wealth of info there that may help you, Good luck! TJ |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
DING DING DING DING!!! You've just asked the MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION! The answer is that the big mattress companies only care about making $$$, and so they churn out mattresses that feel good in the show room... then break down quickly... As to how to actually find - or build - a mattress that will help your lower back pain, The answer is here on this forum. Search on this forum for: flobeds sleepez overnightmattress and mattress surgery One of these methods/companies should help you. Good luck! |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
jimsocal wrote: DING DING DING DING!!! You've just asked the MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION! The answer is that the big mattress companies only care about making $$$, and so they churn out mattresses that feel good in the show room... then break down quickly... As to how to actually find - or build - a mattress that will help your lower back pain, The answer is here on this forum. Search on this forum for: flobeds sleepez overnightmattress and mattress surgery One of these methods/companies should help you. Good luck! Let me cut all the BS. Are you saying that Mattress makers are running a scam? So people get bad products and these mattresses break down quickly. And that that is why these mattress makers are duping customers when they sell same mattress with different brand names in diffferent stores so customers cannot do a thoughtful shopping? I think so. May be CONGRESS should step up to the plate and pass laws/rules forcing these scammers into not duping customers. Thanks. And God bless. |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
| it is definitely the way the main stream brands operate. this is just one more reason why smaller companies have honesty built right in. When it comes to the "S" brands or any other manufacturer that works the same way (same beds, different names in different stores), there really is no such thing as an MSRP (Manufacturers suggested retail price) because there is absolutely no transparency. When you see one of these beds being listed @ 50% off 'market price' or 'suggested price' that is literally 50% off of their own completely fabricated number that they just assigned to the bed. It is a lot easier with certain brands to sift through all of this, so long as they use the same names everywhere. But hey, its capitalism...not really a lot you can do except to decide yourself NOT to purchase from these brands. |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
| Budgy, would you say that the basic springs are okay in the S brands and the main problem is in the foam? Or are they now cutting corners in the springs as well? Do the interlaced springs (like Sealy uses) last longer than the pocketed coils? |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
Planned obsolescence, I would assume. The more often you replace your mattress, the higher the industry profits. It doesn't make sense for them to sell you a mattress that will eliminate you as a customer for the next 20 or 30 years; if they want to sell more mattresses they need you and everybody else to come back more often. So they reduce the longevity of their products. People with back pain are their most valuable customers. We're willing to pay more than most people to get some relief. All they need to do is sell us a mattress that feels good at first. We'll be back when we can no longer stand it. Linda |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
sandman wrote: Budgy, would you say that the basic springs are okay in the S brands and the main problem is in the foam? Or are they now cutting corners in the springs as well? Do the interlaced springs (like Sealy uses) last longer than the pocketed coils? I would be curious as to what Budgy or anyone else who has industry experience would say about this. I have used cheap Sealy springs and now cheap Englander springs and both seem to be pretty decent springs - I'm sure not anywhere near "great" springs but good enough, I think. My Sealy springs did seem to be breaking down after 4 years or so and I weigh 170-180 lb so that's not a long time. I'm not SURE they broke down but they seemed to be broken down so that's why I bought the Englander springs which are a little heavier gauge. I know one "custom" manufacturer I spoke with who uses only standard 14 (or was it 13?) gauge Bonnell springs, but I've heard it said it also depends on where the springs are made, how they're tempered etc. - info that - believe me! - will be next to impossible to get from any mattress store or even from the manufacturer! And my humble opinion - admittedly I'm not an expert - is that it is the PU foam that is the problem, most of the time, not the springs. I've always heard that S&F have good springs ... When I get more money to spend on it some day I want to do some research and try to buy some really excellent springs. So along with Sandman's question I will add this: Who makes really good springs nowadays (okay, I know Leggett and Platt make most of them, but I mean, which S co. sells good springs)? And: Is there ANY way to buy an unfinished mattress, with the enclosure and springs but no foam, no quilted top, etc.? I figured the answer was no, thus I bought a cheap Englander and did surgery immediately. |
Re: Why is there infinite trouble selecting a mattress for person with low back pain?
|
Polyurethane foam is undoubtedly (from the consumer POV) the worst thing to be implemented in mattress construction in a long time. It is actually to the point that I now blatantly tell people that I have no problem selling them a pillowtop bed if they are okay with the prospect of replacing it every few years which is very likely possible. What I do try my best to do is offer people as many ways out of that cycle as I can. Usually this costs people more up front, but in the end they are usually much happier. Of all the warrantied mattresses I have seen (and the ones that should have been warrantied but were denied by manufacturers) I can count less than a handful of beds that actually had legitimate spring failures. The other ones that I have completely lost count of were undoubtedly caused by polyurethane foam breaking down prematurely (or right on schedule if you want my honest opinion). Leggett and Platt does produce a lot of springs for a lot of manufacturers, but we also have a lot of things being brought in from overseas these days. Some companies still produce their own in house, but not necessarily for all of their mattresses, just the more expensive ones. As far as tempering steel goes, its completely unnecessary if the coils are designed correctly and good quality steel is used in the first place. The main reason it is done today is because of the mass production itself. If a coil is made overseas or across the country from where the final mattress construction is done the coils are usually tempered. I can't really think of any built this way that are not tempered to be honest. It is because they vacuum pack the coils down to maybe 5% of their full height before they get put on a truck, train or boat before they get shipped to their factory destination. The tempering is done for shipping reasons, not as an end benefit to the customer. As far as if any cost cutting has happened with coils we are starting to see a little bit of that, one good example, Simmons pocket coils for the longest time were always wrapped in oversized cotton shells for its ability to breathe and also to allow the coils to move somewhat freely and do what they are intended to do. Very recently they made the switch to really stiff polyester shells just barely big enough to hold the coils, they can hardly move now without effecting the surrounding coils effectively making them behave almost like any interactive type coil joined by helical lacing wires. But in short, all of these things are minor compared to the copious amounts of foam used in most mattresses. |