♪ Bob and Brad ♪
♪ The two most famous physical therapists ♪
♪ On the internet ♪
- Hey folks, I'm Bob Schrupp, physical therapist.
- Brad Heineck, physical therapist.
- And we are the most famous physical therapists
on the internet.
- In our opinion, of course, Bob.
- We're gonna try to give you some guidelines today
on how to choose a mattress for back pain or sciatica.
Some of this is based on research,
and some of it is just based upon clinical experiences.
This video is a part of a series of videos
on back pain and sciatica.
If you want to see the entire series, free by the way,
go to BobAndBrad.com and go to the program section.
- And it includes print-out PDF paperwork.
- Yeah, it includes a hand-out that you can print out.
- Hand-out, there you go.
- That will help guide you along
so you don't have to keep watching the video.
Number one, when choosing a mattress,
the first thing what we're looking for is
that it's firm enough to support the spine
so that your spine is not sagging.
- Right, right.
- Ideally, you want a mattress so firm
that the back is completely straight.
So we got a little bit of a curve in, curve out, curve in.
But you can see the spine is straight.
You don't want it sagging in.
- The extreme is one of those mattresses that are old
and there's like a bowl shape in the middle
and you're sagging in there, that's extreme.
- That's extreme or bad. - Right.
- If I were to take a spine,
and I have it in a rounded out position here,
and I push down into it, I'm sagging in like that.
That's not what you want. - Right.
- But for comfort's sake, you can't sleep
on the floor or sleep on a board like this.
- Right, that's not gonna be good.
- The upper part of the mattress has to have
a point where it spreads out the forces
so that you don't get this point pressure.
You see where you're getting pressure there.
You're getting pressure there.
You're getting pressure right on the sacrum.
You're getting a lot of pressure on the knee.
You're getting a lot of pressure on the heel.
Your heel would break down after a while
if you were to sleep in this position.
- And that does happen, especially with the elderly,
where the skin literally breaks down
from mattresses that are too hard.
- The upper part, you want the firmness
on one part of the mattress,
but the upper part, you want enough softness
that it spreads out the forces.
- It's forgiving here and supports on the bottom.
- We'll show you this particular mattress
that we like a little bit better,
that we like better later
after we get done with the demonstration here.
They also had some research.
They compared firm mattresses
versus medium firm versus soft.
- Sure.
- And I saw two studies on it.
One was they did it in a hotel
and they would survey the people afterwards.
And without a doubt, the people
that had medium firm mattresses,
or medium mattresses, or medium firm mattresses,
were more comfortable than the people who had firm.
For years, the doctor would say to you,
"get a firm mattress." - Right.
- But, they found out, people,
it was better for back pain than firm.
- Right, and the technology now for mattresses has changed
in the last 50 years tremendously.
So that may have some factor in it.
- The other thing that we have found is
kind of a rule of thumb.
If you're a smaller person with less curves,
like Brad and I really don't have big curves at all.
- Well, I got broad shoulders, Bob.
- Yeah, yeah.
If you have less curves, you can generally tolerate
a little more of a firm mattress.
- Sure, right.
- If you have larger curves, and I'm gonna show you
why this is, if you have larger curves.
- Let's take a person here.
Let's say he's laying down like this
and he has kind of an ample buttock here.
Because the butt's up like this,
he's going to have kind of a gap here
and that's gonna actually sag down like this.
So that's why you want to have a little more
of a softer, upper layer in someone who's large
so it kind of provides some support in there.
- Why don't you step off, 'cause you're sitting there.
- Sure, oh yeah.
- I know with me in particular, with my back issue,
I can feel my sacrum sink in
and then I feel the support in my lumbar spine,
which is very, very comfortable.
It's very nice to have that support there.
- Let's move this over, Brad, the whole board this way.
And actually, I'm gonna use that spine that you just used.
- Okay, okay.
- This mattress is the mattress that we advocate.
We're not saying you need to go get one.
There's plenty of mattresses out there
that would work for you, too,
but this is the one that we like.
I'm gonna show you, this is a small sample of the mattress.
I didn't want to take it apart.
- This is what's inside of here.
- This is what we like because it spreads the forces out.
If we put the smaller spine on there, Brad.
So this is what Brad was talking about.
He likes this mattress because when he sinks,
the spine stays straight but he sinks in
and so there's support all the way along the spine.
- [Brad] Yup, and those curves.
So here's that top layer, the two inches of the foam
that's soft and squishy and there's 700 of them there.
And then the spring layer on the bottom
which also allows airflow so it's not so warm.
- Yeah, the airflow is nice here along this.
But you also show, if you're laying on your side,
look at the point of the hip here,
which is usually quite uncomfortable.
That sinks in and it spreads the forces out.
So that's why we like this particular mattress.
Again, nothing that you need to get yourself.
But I'll show one more demonstration, Brad.
- All right, Bob.
- We'll take this off.
So, just to show you that it kind of fits two guidelines,
Brad, if you could hand me the weight.
When I lay down flat on the mattress,
you can see my back is completely straight.
- [Brad] Yes.
- Though I've sunk in enough that I'm completely straight.
But yet, let's say I weighed a little more.
Let's say I weighed, what is this again, Brad?
- 30, that's a 30 pound kettlebell.
- Let's say I weighed 30 more pounds right in my gut.
(Brad grunts)
All right, I put that in place, and look at what happens.
Nothing, it still keeps my spine completely straight.
- [Brad] Sure, yes, sir.
- So this shows you that a heavier person
can lay on this mattress and it'll keep you in a line.
- [Brad] Maintain that posture.
- So these are the things you want to keep in mind
when shopping for a mattress,
is that medium firm is probably better for back pain.
If you are a smaller person with less curves,
you probably can get by with
a little more of a firmer mattress.
- Sure.
- A larger person may be a little bit less firm,
especially on the top. - Right.
- So, anything else you wanted to add, Brad?
- The only thing I don't like about this mattress is
I don't feel like getting out of bed in the morning
because it's so comfortable.
It just feels good.
- Brad has spondylolisthesis.
- Spondylolisthesis, I pronounce it, but whatever.
- And this has been the mattress for you.
And it's interesting, we both got one.
You know, they hold up well too,
they're guaranteed for 10 years.
But I have a different one in my cabin.
And so when I go there on the weekends and I come back,
I'm like, I remember how good this one is.
You know, you don't really notice the difference
until you come back to you it.
You're like, "oh, I feel so good."
All right, thanks for watching.
(plucky chord)