Chronic lower muscular back pain has been a part of me since I took a knee-buckling zap in my back raking leaves in the backyard almost 20 years ago. Since then, I think I’ve managed the pain pretty well despite quite a few intense flare-ups every year that, for a few days at least, require me to throw clothing for my lower body on the floor first to have them snagged with my feet and then maneuvered where they belong by rolling gingerly on my back and using a combination of gravity and some ridiculous looking anti-gymnastics. If you’ve had or have back pain, you know the deal.

Two days ago, after many months of steadily ramped up “regular” pain and a good dose of “get a new bed” personal advice, I woke up with a painful lower back stab and knew I had to make a change –  now!

First thing I did – after a tortured session of less intense stretching than I normally do – was to go online to research “best beds for bad backs”. The first article I read from WebMD described my situation dead-on perfectly.

“If you wake up in the morning and have some low back pain and can stretch and get rid of it in 15 or 30 minutes, that means you’re on an inappropriate mattress for you,” says Dr. Michael Breus, PhD. Dr. Breus. is a WebMD sleep expert and has written Beauty Sleep: Look Younger, Lose Weight, and Feel Great Through Better Sleep. (Click this link for the full, direct, and very informative WebMD article.)

I read about the different materials available: spring coils, memory foam, latex, air and more. I read some more articles, including an excellent one about beds and back support from an appropriately named site called “Sleep Like the Dead” that provided good information about back pain and mattress support. (Click this a link for the complete article.)  I then spoke with people I interacted with during the day. Every one of them had heartfelt enthusiastic advice and most had just bought new beds very recently. Incredible!

Then, yesterday afternoon I stopped into Jordan’s Furniture on the way home from Boston and checked out their Sleep Lab. I picked Jordan’s because I’ve dealt with them entirely positively before and saw online that their customer satisfaction ratings were highest in the area. The woman who helped me, Angela, first put me on a test bed to find my pressure points. She then had me check out about six different beds, every one of them giving my back terrific relief just in the few minutes I was on them.

I ended up buying a combination standard foam and latex bed that, although it’s called “plush”, allows my body to lay out flat without any pressure points. Here’s what the bed looks like – you can click the picture below for a direct link.

I also got new pillows, made of a combination of standard foam and memory foam, which both support my head without sagging to the mattress but also cradle my head comfortably.

I’ll follow up with a review of the bed, pillows, and my back in about a month – that’s about how long Angela said the bed would take to break-in. But right now, though I’m not a fan of wishing time away, I’m sure looking forward to tomorrow when the bed arrives – and the old one gets taken away – AND I get to start waking up a lot more pain-free than I have for the past many years!