Bad back, new mattress needed, advice please!

[knightynight]

I have a very painful back around the SI joint - really low down, much worse when I lie down and our mattress is quite old now (12 years) though feels firm and comfortable still..

I hope a new mattress might help, any advice or recommendations please? Am happy to pay out for the right one, though Tempur is maybe beyond my budget!

Thanks

We suffered bad backs for yrs and then bought the ikea memory foam mattresses, lasted brilliantly and have sorted out our backs. Feels firm to begin with - we have now added a topper to make it cosy for winter.

We bought new mattress as I have had bad back since ds was born (back to back delivery) advice was to go for medium rather than firm or soft as it then molds to your shape better and supports your back. Think firmness depends on your weight, chap in shop was quite heavy and said he had firm but petite light people probably need soft. We bought zipped mattresses as easier to get up stairs etc and also feel less movement when dh is twisting and turning whilst trying to get to sleep.

Thank you for your replies, that's interesting I might have gone for firm but as I'm quite slim this may not be the best. Will look at Ikea and Sealy. Good to hear this might be the solution (or at least a bit of the solution!)

i have had a futon with a coco fibre centre since I was 17, it's very firm and took a while to get used to. Now if I sleep on anything else I wake up with a sore back. DH hated it at first, but now agrees it's brilliant. We're hoping to get a new bed soon and will be getting a futon again (with coco fibre).

another vote for memory foam. np back ache since getting it

I would say that if you can possibly stretch to Tempur, you should. I had a bad back but not any more since being on Tempur. I wouldn't have anything else now.

We have a mattress similar to Waswondering's and it has done wonders for my back. The only thing I don't like is that the memory foam makes me so hot even in the coldest days of winter!
So I always use a mattress cover and let the bed air for most of the day.
It's a small price to pay though as I was in pain from my back.

Been trying out mattresses today and the Tempur one did it for me. Especially in light of Souper's comment, that would be wonderful if my back pain went. Now where's my piggy bank....

I would caution on the tempur one. We bought one from Dreams ( they had a 40 night guarantee at the time) and I found it unbearably hot. I posted a thread about it and some people with bad backs had not good experiences with tempur mattresses.

Now it may well be that tempur is indeed the mattress for you, but I would suggest if you get it through Dreams then you can change if it's not for you.

We ended up with a ridiculously expensive mattress ( you don't get a refund so have to pick something the same price) but it is comfy.

John Lewis do one that is part sprung and part memory foam that isn't as hot as the full memory foam ones, that is monumentally comfortable.

Value memory mattress

We bought the Tempur Elixir (Cloud) from Dreams yesterday (didn't see theoriginals comment before then!!), but I am a little bit worried as today I read a Which report which gave it a bad score and said it gets very soft over time!
Having it delivered this week, at least we will have the 40 day return if it really is too hot. But won't be able to tell in a month if it gets too soft. I was so happy yesterday and now I am worried it won't suit us.
DH said he liked it but would prefer the pocket sprung mattresses but if it helps with my back then he will do anything...we've spent a lot of money and I would hate to think we've made a huge mistake.

I went and tried loads of mattresses and found that a 3000 pocket srpung one with memory foam was the best and even better I found one on the internet for £400 instead of £1200 (which is what they were in the shops) Try looking up cool flex on the internet.

Oh just read your last post OP. You can cancel your order if you are worried. I highly recommend the Coolflex one I bought for comfort.