BackFix Tips from Dr. Jeff Keysar, DC

Rehab Lesson #7:  Choosing the Right Mattress

Getting a good night’s sleep is essential for your back to heal up from the day’s traumas and return to normal. However, the only way to ensure you get a good 7-9 hours of sleep is for your back to be comfortable while sleeping. A painful, stiff, or sore back will make you miserable all night long, and you can bet you’ll feel the same way come sunrise.

Getting your back comfortable and ready for a night’s sleep starts with your sleeping position. The best sleeping position is 1) on your side with your knees bent, and 2) on your back, with or without a pillow under your knees (not important if you can do without it.) These two positions put the least amount of stress on your back when sleeping. You should try to make either or both of these positions the norm for your sleeping routine to ensure your back has the best chance to recover from the day’s activities.

Having the right mattress will also ensure your back stays comfortable while you sleep. I get asked all the time what kind of mattress is the best, and the answer is: the best mattress for you is the one that is as firm as possible BUT still comfortable FOR YOU to sleep on. A firmer mattress will keep your spine in proper position as you sleep. A softer mattress will bow under your weight during the night, essentially forcing you to sleep as if you were in a hammock. Sleeping in a bowed position will do the same thing to your back as if you walked around leaning to one side for several hours a day. This is easily avoided by taking the time to find a mattress with the perfect blend of firmness and comfort.

Shopping for the right mattress should be an all-day affair. You can’t possibly know whether a particular mattress you try out for five minutes in the store will still feel the same after a month of sleeping on it. When trying out mattresses, be prepared to lay on a possible mattress choice for 45 minutes to an hour before deciding whether you like it or not. Kick your shoes off and get comfy. As you lay there, grab your cell phone and start scrolling through your apps, just like you’d do in bed. You’ll have a much better chance of picking the right firmness by “living in it” for an hour and seeing how it really feels.

The only mattress brand I have ever recommended is the Sleep Number Bed. It has an adjustable air-filled mattress with a hundred different firmness settings, making it effortless to find the firmness that works for you. It’s like buying 100 different mattresses and, through trial and error, finding which one matches you perfectly.

The Sleep Number bed even has dual adjustability for each side of the mattress, which means you and your partner can have different firmness settings that work for both of you, ensuring you both sleep your best each night.

No matter which mattress you end up choosing, pay attention to their return policy. Make sure it gives you sufficient time to really test the mattress out and that you can return the mattress for a full refund if it's not the one for you.