A new mattress can relieve low back pain and improve sleep quality

Lower back pain is one of the most frequently seen problems in general Chiropractic practice and is the second leading symptom, after the common cold, for physician visits.

A study by Garfin SR, Pye SA. Bed design and its effect on chronic low back pain — a limited controlled trial. Pain. 1981;10:87–91. tested 4 selected bedding systems for patients with chronic low back pain. The following bedding systems were tested: (1) an orthopedic bed with a built-in bed board; (2) a standard 500-coil, inner-spring mattress; (3) a standard water bed; and (4) a hybrid bed of foam and water. To qualify for the study, patients had to have low back pain for at least 3 months, not be surgical candidates, and not be in acute pain. The patients were randomly assigned a bed and slept on the bed for 2 weeks. Patients had to try at least 2 of the 4 beds. Fifteen patients completed the study, with 9 sampling all 4 beds. Results indicated that half the subjects improved on the waterbed, and half improved on the orthopedic hard bed.

Monsein M, Corbin T. Back pain outcomes on an air bed versus an inner spring mattress. Presented at the annual meeting of the North American Spine Society, Chicago, 1999, Back Lett. 2000;15:5–6. compared an air bed with the patients' current bed for pain and quality of sleep. Ninety subjects participated, with outcome measures derived from the SF-36 health questionnaire, pain diary, and Visual Analog Scales for pain and quality of sleep. The first night of the study the subjects slept in their own beds. For the next 28 nights, they slept on an air bed; then they slept on their regular beds again for the next 14 nights. Assessments were carried out at baseline, 28 days, and 42 days. The air bed resulted in a 32% decrease in pain and a 74% increase in sleep quality.

In the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics. 2002 Feb;25(2):88-92. Effectiveness of a selected bedding system on quality of sleep, low back pain, shoulder pain, and spine stiffness. Results suggest that subjects obtain significant improvement in shoulder and back pain, back stiffness, and quality of sleep after 28 days of prescribed bedding system use as compared with 28 days of personal bedding use. Female subjects and those with lower body weight were more likely to significantly improve than heavier and more obese subjects. The participants in the study recorded significant improvement in shoulder (60.83%) and back (57.21%) pain, back stiffness (59.12%), and sleep quality (60.73%). These data suggest that reduction in pain and stiffness and a better quality of sleep occurred after use of the prescribed bedding system when compared with use of personal bedding system.

Subjective rating of perceived back pain, stiffness and sleep quality following introduction of medium-firm bedding systems. Journal of Chiropractic Medicine Volume 5, Issue 4, Pages 128-134 (Winter 2006) indicated that subjects who suffered from persistent back pain found immediate and significant relief by switching to a new mattress and that the improvements persisted past the initial switch to the new mattress. It also found that subjects who were sleeping on mattresses five years or older were significantly more likely to suffer from back pain and stiffness. The research team at Oklahoma State University quantified the link between back pain relief and bedding systems. The study analyzed the difference in lower back discomfort, spine stiffness, sleep quality, comfort and efficiency. Subjects reported immediate and sustained benefits in all areas of measurement following their transition to a new mattress, regardless of their age or weight. This was especially true of participants who entered the study with high back pain complaints; they reported a 63 per cent improvement in back discomfort.

According to the studys authors “health professionals may safely recommend a medium-firm sleep surface with a certain degree of confidence for patients experiencing minor musculoskeletal sleep disturbance.”

In Applied Ergonomics. 2008 Mar;39(2):247-54. Grouped comparisons of sleep quality for new and personal bedding systems. The study compared sleep comfort and quality between personal and new bedding systems. Subjects recorded back and shoulder pain, sleep quality, comfort, and efficiency for 28 days each in their personal beds (pre) and in new medium-firm bedding systems (post). There was significant improvement between pre and post test means for all dependent variables. Furthermore, reduction of pain and stiffness and improvement of sleep comfort and quality became more prominent over time. No significant differences were found for the groupings of age, weight, height, or body mass index. It was found that for the cheapest category of beds, lower back pain was significantly more prominent than for the medium and higher priced beds. Average bed age was 9.5 yrs. It was concluded that new bedding systems can significantly improve selected sleep variables and that continuous sleep quality may be dependent on timely replacement of bedding systems.

The study shows that sleeping on a new mattress can significantly improve sleep quality during the night and reduce physical pain during the day. In fact, when sleeping on new bedding systems, study respondents on average reported significant improvements in:
- lower back pain (62.8 percent)
- shoulder pain (62.4 percent)
- back stiffness (58.4 percent)
- sleep quality (64.4 percent), and
- sleep comfort (69.6 percent)

A mattress, like an old pair of shoes, can still feel comfortable long after it has lost its ability to provide the comfort and support your body needs.

In the Journal of Chiropractic Medicine. 2009 Mar;8(1):1-8. Changes in back pain, sleep quality, and perceived stress after introduction of new bedding systems. This study compared sleep quality and stress-related symptoms between older beds greater than 5 years and new bedding systems. Results indicated that the subjects' personal bedding systems average 9.5 years old and were moderately priced. Significant improvements were found between pre and post test mean values in sleep quality and efficiency. Continued improvement was noted for each of the 4-week data gathering period. Stress measures yielded similar positive changes between pre and post test mean values. Based on these data, it was concluded that, in this population, new bedding systems increased sleep quality and reduced back discomfort, factors that may be related to reducing stress related symptoms.

The Better Sleep Council Canada recommends performing a bi-annual bed check to evaluate the state of your mattress and foundation. Look for these simple ABC'S:

• A – Age: has your mattress had more than eight to 10 years of nightly use?
• B – Beauty: would you be embarrassed to show your uncovered mattress in public? Does it have stains, soils or tears? Does it sag?
• C – Comfort: over time you become desensitized to the dwindling comfort and support of your mattress – just like you would to an old pair of sneakers. When you lie down and concentrate on the comfort of your mattress, does it feel the same as it did when you first tried it at the store?
• S - Support check – when you lie flat on your back, and place your hand under the small of your back, how much space is there? You should be able to move your hand around.