Levo-Lon
Guru
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Mattresses for bad backs?.
- Thread starter keithmac
- Start date
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Why would I want to? Compared to a water bed its like sleeping on a sack of potatoes. Add to the the risk of coming home and finding Lenny Henry asleep in it and you're left with no good reason for wanting one.
I have back problems, but its foraminal stenosis in the spine and only so much can be done with the meds i'm on. I did have quite a soft mattress and although i slept ok on it, i'm sure it was adding to my back & nerve pain.
So last year i bought a much firmer mattress, a Silentnight 1000 pocket spring job. I hated the hardness of it at first and thought i'd made a massive mistake buying it as i had probs sleeping on it. But i persevered with it and got used to it. I sleep fine on it now and even though it hasn't made any affect on the nerve pain, i'm sure its lessened my back pain.
So last year i bought a much firmer mattress, a Silentnight 1000 pocket spring job. I hated the hardness of it at first and thought i'd made a massive mistake buying it as i had probs sleeping on it. But i persevered with it and got used to it. I sleep fine on it now and even though it hasn't made any affect on the nerve pain, i'm sure its lessened my back pain.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
But, structural weight of a water bed ? - I'd be a little concerned in a modern house. What's the litres, as a small hot tub weigh's a metric tonne (1000 litres)
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I'm in a bungalow, so it's not an issue to me. There is no reliable record of a waterbed ever having dropped through a floor because the load is spread across 6-8 M2.
fossyant
Ride It Like You Stole It!
- Location
- South Manchester
We had a 12"-15" thick pocket sprung that worked great for many years until I broke my back. We both slept well. Since the break, then it's been a mare for me. The pocket sprung king size was incredibly heavy. The Tempur is bad enough, but about half the weight. You'd have to drain water bed.
PS, do you have to change the water every so often etc ?
PS, do you have to change the water every so often etc ?
mudsticks
Obviously an Aubergine
I'd agree that the right mattress could make all the difference to how well you sleep, but have you investigated other causes of the pain?
If you spend a lot of time sitting, on bad chairs, or poorly designed car seats they can be really awful for your back.
Combined with the loss tone in your back muscles, resulting from being sedantry.
The bean bag idea, or an exercise ball is good, because it makes you more aware of how you are sitting
At the other end of the spectrum, if you cycle a lot, or do other athletic activities, but don't do good stretches, your hamstrings will get tighter, and that can cause a lot of lower back pain.
Also check the way you stand.. If you have your toes turned out at ten to two that will narrow the sacrum and possibly impinge on sacro iliac joints.
I started getting a lot of lower back pain in my early twenties with the heavy lifting and hefting of farm work.
Then luckily i discovered yoga, and it has majorly helped me keep everything aligned and in the right place, ever since.
Stronger, but also flexible, so less prone to injury all round.
If I do get a crick in my spine, from being too hench, then I can usually smooth it out foc.
It also has the added benefit of being extremely good for ones mental elf too.
If you can find a decent teacher who has had good training, and knows their anatomy and physiology they may be able to help.
Pilates also has a reasonable record with sorting back pain too.
But as with all this stuff, the practitioner, must be well qualified...
And you need to commit some time to classes and practice.
Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
Once full the water is there for decades. Every 6 months or year (depending on which brand of conditioner you buy) you add a small bottle of ungent which stops nasties growing and which lubricates and refreshes the bladder. I bought 25 bottles from Amazon for 12 sheets, so likely the life of the bed.
It never wears out, every night you lay down on what is essentially a new mattress - in 20 years the support is as effective and comfortable as the day you bought it.
In summer it's cool and pleasant, not at all sweaty. In the winter the bladder is heated, so you sleep on a pleasantly warm bed.
I don't wake up with my mouth feeling like a Turkish wrestlers jock strap, because the waterbed isn't home to thousands of dust mites that feed off the skin in the mattress and tthentake a dump in my mouth overnight - the typical mattress weighs twice as much at disposal time as it did when new and you've been sleeping atop that filth and nastiness and playing host to the lovely mites that set up home there. Mattresses are disgusting things.
OP
OP
keithmac
Guru
Ming the Merciless
There is no mercy
- Location
- Inside my skull
Strengthen your glutes, does wonders for a bad back.
vickster
Legendary Member
Lengthen as well as strengthen, same with hamstrings
vickster
Legendary Member
Just google, eg lie with legs out straight, towel round foot and pull foot towards you
BUT go see a physio first to get properly assessed / diagnosed
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Drago
Legendary Member
- Location
- Suburban Poshshire
I dont know for sure - my hose pipe doesn't have a meter! At a guess 2 or 300 in my super king mattress, maybe more.
