ORTHOPAEDIC MATTRESSES


In one episode of Merlin series whereby the Prince Arthur wanted to act like a normal citizen, whereby he stayed in his servant’s house. There was no double bed, only the bed for the servant. The prince has to sleep on the floor, but asked his another servant to get him his mattress from the palace. Why do you think a mattress is so important to him? It’s simple, because he do not want to get backache.
Nowadays, most of the people sleep on the bed or mattress, but why still many people suffer from backache? Maybe the mattresses they used are not good? How do you know that mattresses you are sleeping on are good enough? Just ask yourself how relaxed, rested or rejuvenated you feel immediately after you get up first thing in the morning? If the answer is not very, maybe it’s time to get a new mattress or change to orthopaedic mattress.
Why so many people suffer from back pain? There are of course many different answers to this question, but the quality of bed and mattress play a big role in this problem. Most people buy low quality mattress and kept them for too long. This bed already offer poor support and quickly goes off by time. Therefore they fail to provide support that the back need. This will avoided by orthopaedic mattresses.
The spine, along with the muscles and ligaments that enable it to work, can be easily aggravated, but the good news is that the back is also very robust and flexible and has great powers of recovery. This means that most back related problems can be rectified and that includes those caused by poor mattress support.
Do you wonder how mattresses can provide support to the back? The natural shape of the spine is double S. This shape needs to be maintained to keep the health of the back and ultimately the whole body. When this spine is not supported, the problem with back will arise.
In most of the people, the spine is poorly design structure which involve in many activities such as rotating and bending. During sleep, usually the spine get the opportunity to rest and recover. This is of course can be accomplish by a good and comfortable mattress which is designed as such to support the spine, skeletal structure and the muscles.
Nobody should use his mattress more than 10 years. This is because all mattresses that are 15-29 years old will be unable to provide an adequate support and will bring down the quality of the sleep ultimately to the health. However, the mattress does not need to be old to be changed. If you ever feel uncomfortable, achy and tense after waking up, It could be the sign to change the mattresses.
Unsuitable mattress usually manifest as minor aches or discomfort. Over time, it may progress into severe to the point that it irritates the daily activities. If the source of problem is not removed, the person has to suffer the pain forever. It is advisable to prevent the problem than to cure the disease. In order to prevent all this, orthopaedic mattress is highly suggested.

Orthopaedic mattress is a mattress is design as such to provide support to the double S shaped human spine. In a recent studies that tested mattress ergonomics, 12 women were the subjects were tested by lying on an incompressible wooden surface was compared with various mattresses. All of the mattresses were judged as significantly more comfortable that the wooden surface, but there were no differences between the mattresses type, even these included orthopaedic mattress. Measure of shoulder, elbow, hip, knee, body ankle pressures showed few significant differences and surprisingly, there were no significant associations between measures and comfort ratings.
However, how hard or soft the mattress feels is thought to be an important factor in reducing or preventing back pain. Comparison of sleeping on a futon or softer air mattress showed that sleep onset latency, waking after sleep onset and the sleep efficiency index were comparable for both mattress, but subjective sleep evaluation tended to be offer for air mattress. A study of sleep quality and bed firmness showed that 4 of 9 male subjects slept significantly better on the softer mattresses, while 2 slept better on the harder mattresses. The greatest difference in quality occurred when changing from the subject’s own mattress to one of the test mattresses, and the authors concluded that it may take several days to adapt to a new sleep surface. This is may be why business travelers often report sleep difficulties.
The Cornell University’s Ergonomics group suggests that if you are to look for a mattress, then here is the guidelines:
- Designed to conform to the spine’s natural curves and to keep the spine in alignment when you lay down
- Designed to distribute pressure evenly across the body to help circulation, decrease body movement and enhance sleep quality
- Designed to minimize the transfer of movement from one sleeping partner to the other.
- Design with perimeter edge support
The orthopaedic mattresses are of course fulfill all the guidelines above as they are designed as such to provide support to spine, skeletal structures and muscles. There are few types of this mattress which are designed differently in their structure and how they function.
There are 2 basic type of orthopaedic bed, a divan bed and bed constructed with a frame. A divan bed has under bed storage with draws or compartments and the mattress is supported by a sprung or platform topbase. These bed are therefore consider as multipurpose.
In the other hand, orthopaedic bed comprising of frame, can be constructed from any number of materials including timber and steel. There is no separate storage and can neither have a void beneath them or sit closer to the floor than a divan. These beds can also be made in such a way to be adjustable through the addition of electric motor and a remote control unit.
The mattresses are further classified according to their support and springing system. They are achieved either through one or a combination of different systems. They primary spring and support methods used today are “spring systems”, memory foam, latex foam and air cushioning.
Within the category of spring system, there are 3 slightly different construction approaches which are “posture spring” (Slumberland, Silentnight and Sealy), “open coil” (Airsprung, Silentnight and Sealy) and “pocket sprung”
Posture spring are made from a continuous single wire which enables all the spring to be interlinked. This creates support system that allow every spring to act together with other spring.
Open coils bed have a frame of springs that are linked together by further horizontal or vertical coils to create a tight and interconnected mesh of springs. They are very firm and been regarded for their orthopaedic qualities.
Pocket sprung have individual springs that are placed in separate pockets which run in rows along and across the mattress.
Memory foam beds able to contour themselves to unique shape of anyone who sleeps on them and offer superior support by balancing out weight distribution across the body. The ability to give orthopedic characteristic made them highly popular.
Latex foam beds is fairly new, but offers many advantage of memory foam and the natural rather than synthetic latexes have the additional advantage of sleeping cool, hypoallergenic and no noticeable odor.
There is also a type called gel bed which is relatively new innovation. Contrary to the name, it is not a viscous liquid like material, rather something that resembles rubber and it is usually manufactured in a nest or honeycomb with large air voids between the small sections. The benefits of gel bed is that it is multi fold and offer same characteristic as memory and latex foam.
An air mattress is an inflatable mattress that is typically made of plastic, textile reinforced plastic or rubber. The support is achieved by means of filling the mattress with compressed air. Therefore, it can be easily stored and transported, so suitable for camping of travelling.
As mention earlier, the orthopedic mattresses are solely to provide support to the spine especially in elderly and those who work hard in the day and need good sleep at night. As more and more people suffering from back pain, so this mattress is recommended for all.
It is the lifeline to heath of spine and back as it is benefit body as a whole by providing supportive and restful sleep so that we recover from busy activities day to day. It helps to avoid stiffness, aches, muscular discomfort and back pain by allowing the back to retain its natural position without the build of unnecessary tension or pressures.
However, there is also an advantage of this mattress that it is rigid attachment of big diameter springs , therefore it reduce the orthopedic properties of the mattress.

ORTHOPEDIC CHAIR
As with the mattress, the orthopedic chairs are also design as such to support the body and the back thus promote a good and comfortable sitting posture. They have different designs to suit the activities done using it. Such as, one chair is suitable for rest and the other suitable for office job.
Usually the orthopedic or also known as ‘ergonomic’ chairs are design to suit 2 conditions – home and office.
At home of course is the place to run away from a hectic life outside. Sitting on the orthopedic chair can provide relaxation by providing massage and or vibratory motion or even heat from controllable embedded heat pads.
In an office environment, orthopedic chair function primarily to attain good posture while using the office equipment, such as computers. It takes account for users who need to use have free and unrestricted hand movement, at the same time with good back support.
There are three main categories of orthopedic chair – support chair, lift chair or ‘rise and recline’ and massage chair. All three of them have their particular function but still share same characteristic to make the user comfortable. And it is possible to combine all the three function in one chair.
The support chair is designed to make sure that your spine is in the possible best condition when you are sitting down. As mention before, spine is double S profile, in the same boat with the orthopedic mattress to provide comfortable to the back and to prevent back ache. This chair also minimize the chances of your position to slip away.
The lift chair helps to user to make transition from a seated position to a standing posture easy in some less-able members in the community. This involves an automated system built into the chair itself, as it lift and tilts to help them get up or even help them to get into the chair. Elderly man, injured or those with back issues can make use out of this characters.
While massage chair, as the name depict, it gives pleasure by providing vibratory, mechanical air or water muscle stimulation. Originally, it was used as medical aid, but nowadays it is more to luxury item.
In office environment, especially if the job need you to focus to the equipment for entire day, so it is easy to get weary. Maybe quite some time needed to restore the energy back, so kind of time wasting going on in the office. It looks simple, but productivity tends to slide if people are distressed or if they got sore due to bad posture, I recommended that employers should purchase this chair so the employees remain healthy.
These chair usually don’t have many accessories attached to them, the important thing is the worker’s hand are free while their back are taken care of. Due to different atmosphere between home and office, the office chair tend to have more Spartan design philosophy and more focus on support than decorating and the most common options are height and tilt adjustment, so it can be considered part of a comfortable and productive working environment.
Of course, none of this chair works if people don’t know how to sit properly. The bottom part of your back should be in contact with the chair’s back, that is the proper technique of sitting. For those who could not afford the expensive orthopedic chair, a lumbar pillow or spine support can be put on the chair, but the result is not as good as the chair itself.