As a chiropractor I am often asked what mattress I believe is best.  I often hear people discuss how it needs to be a firm mattress.  I actually don’t exactly agree with the statement that the mattress should be firm.  I will explain why.  

 

The reason people say a firm mattress is best, is that if it is firm, you would assume the mattress wouldn’t sag.  A sagging mattress is bad because it causes the spine to bend instead of supporting the spine’s natural neutral curves.  A sagging mattress will result in kinked spinal segments.  I do agree with all these concerns about a sagging mattress.  Where I disagree is the assumption that a soft mattress can’t support your curves and that the answer is a firm mattress.

 

Consider this: if firmness was really what defined a good mattress, wouldn’t a concrete slab be great?  We need some amount of softness to absorb the convexities of our body, like our shoulders and hips when we are laying on our sides. If you lay on your side on a very firm mattress your shoulder will get shoved in and over time it could result in waking with a very sore shoulder.  Also your lateral hip will dig into the hard mattress and it may cause trochanteric bursitis.  If you lay face up on a very firm mattress, the forward curve in your low back and your neck will sag and not be supported.  This often results in kinks in the lumbar and cervical spine.  

 

The answer to this problem is a mattress made by the company “the purple”.  It has a gel grid that supports the concavities of your body like the forward curve of your low back, but allows the convexities like your shoulder and hip to sink in when laying on your side.  My experience is that the purple beds do not sag.  

My favorite of the purple mattresses is their higher end mattresses that have the most softness and absorb the shoulder the best.  These mattresses cost many thousands of dollars.  If you are not used to spending this amount of money on a mattress, this can seem like a very high price, and it is.  However, if you can afford to buy cars over $15,000 and only $1000 on your mattress I would argue that a $10,000 car and a $6,000 mattress might serve you much better.  You spend 8 hours every day in your bed and it is pivotal to you spinal health.  You may only spend 30 minutes or less in your car.  

 

I have owned an “intelligel” mattress, this is the precursor to the purple.  I have slept on this mattress for somewhere around 15 or more years and it has been great and still hasn’t broken down and does not sag at all.  I wake feeling that my spinal curves were supported and my shoulders and hips were not shoved upward.

 

I’m sure there are other good beds, but I can personally vouch for the purple.