Back pain is a common medical condition, and it has several causes. Some of these include age, hernias, and injuries to the spine. However, sometimes the cause of your back pain can be as simple as the mattress on which you are sleeping.
You know if your mattress is the causal factor for your back pains if the pain begins suddenly out of nowhere and you haven’t been in any sort of accident. If you have been experiencing pain before, your mattress can also cause the pain to increase but the flip side is that a bad back can be improved with the right mattress.
How to Tell if your Mattress is Causing your Back Pains
• When do you experience the pains?
A common sign that your mattress is causing your backache is if you only experience the pains when you wake up. You will also notice that many times, back pains from a bad mattress go away after stretching. Mattress backaches can be treated sometimes by a quick stretch, especially if you have not been sleeping on it for a long time. If you have suffered from back pains previously, it may be a bit harder to determine the cause using this method.
• Is your mattress lumpy or sagging?
Often, back-pain stems from sleeping on a lumpy or sagging mattress. The lumpiness of the mattress can cause pressure on specific parts of the body when lying in certain positions. The pressure results in pain. Sagging mattresses can also cause you to feel as though your mattress is ‘swallowing you up.’ Sometimes, even an extremely flat mattress can cause aches as it does not leave room to accommodate your body’s curves.
• How old is your mattress?
Whether or not your mattress causes you to have back pains, the Medical Society suggests that you need to get a new one after eight months. You can, however, take longer if you do not spend a lot of hours sleeping on the mattress. Also, if you invest in a good mattress, you may not need to change it in a long while. You may also need to change it sooner if you start to experience aches, restless nights, and waking up feeling physically exhausted.
How to Treat Back Aches Caused by Sleeping on a Bad Mattress
• The primary solution to the issue would be getting a new mattress. However, it wouldn’t make quite the impact if you get a new low-quality mattress. Quality mattresses may be costly, however, the cost is justified by the benefits like durability.
• You may also want to consider a chiropractor. A chiropractor will help treat the pain and help you find out the cause of the pain. Once you have determined the root cause of the problem, you can proceed to act towards fixing the issue from its root.
Conclusion
With the information provided above, you can now answer the question; is your mattress causing you back pain? If the answer is YES, make strides towards getting a new and better one. As we’ve talked about before, mattresses are some of the items we are highly likely to forget to replace. You can find some tips to help you keep track of the age of the mattress so that you remember to make the replacement. If you get a better mattress and the issue persist, you may want to consider other measures like visiting a doctor.
