Check your mattress

[joey l]

I've had back pain for over three years now, and have various treatments, some of which have helped, but none of them permanently.

Anyway, recently I've been having some one to one remedial pilates sessions which have really been helping, but over the last two or three weeks my back has become really bad again. It was particularly bad first thing in the morning, which I thought was just me and which I also put down to being immobile for eight hours, then it would usually lift a bit during the day.

On Saturday, we had to move the bed out of the room as we were having carpets laid and my hubby noticed that the mattress on my side had gone completely soft. That night, he slept on the bad side and I kept waking up in the night feeling really light and supported and the next morning my back wasn't too bad (the pain never goes away completely, but there's pain I can live with and pain I can't).

The damage to the mattress wasn't visible, you could only tell by touch, and I don't make a habit of comparing one side of the mattress to the other. This is an orthopedic mattress with a ten year guarantee and we've only had it for five years, so hopefully it will be replaced. We've got the company coming to look at it this week. We do turn the mattress, but only every couple of months, so we had no way of knowing this had happened.

So if you are suffering with your back, check your mattress often.

Lesley

 

[03terrier]

I used to have back pain some time ago which I knew was definitely due to the mattress but it took years before I could persuade my husband to get a one. We eventually got one of the top- range mattresses; luckily it was in a sale and we got it on interest -free credit over 10 months but it's worth every penny, I no longer have to get up early because I can't stand the pain of lying in bed. I would recommend that you get a new mattress now as you may be damaging your back irreparably. Try lying on the mattress in the shop ( take your shoes off, of course!), if they won't let you then go to another shop because that shop is not interested in your back - a good shop will not object to your trying out the bed; give it a good ten minutes at least. I found, contrary to the received wisdom, that a soft mattress suited me better than a hard one.
Lochain