| " at some point during his or her lifetime. Low-back pain most often occurs in people between the ages of 30 and 50. It can interfere with work, routine tasks, and recreational activities. Some people experience acute low-back pain, which is resolved within a few days or weeks. But others experience chronic low-back pain, which can persist for months or years. Many times, the cause of chronic low-back pain is difficult to determine. " "Although there is a widespread belief that firm mattresses are beneficial for low-back pain, there is a lack of evidence supporting this recommendation. One survey found that over three quarters of orthopaedic surgeons recommend a firm mattress to their patients who suffer from low-back pain." " compared the effects of medium-firm mattresses to firm mattresses in people who suffered from chronic low-back pain. The researchers found that, compared with people sleeping on firm mattresses, the people sleeping on medium-firm mattresses were approximately twice as likely to experience improvements in their back pain. " " This study included 313 people who had low-back pain for three months or more. In order to qualify for the study, the participants couldnā??t have back pain caused by an inflammatory disease, cancer, " " , pregnancy, major injury, or other systemic condition. Also the participants had to sleep in their own bed virtually every night of the week, and could not take 24-hour anti-inflammatory medications or pain medications that would affect their back pain upon rising out of bed. " "Half of the participants received a medium firm mattress (firmness score 5-6, on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the softest) and the other half received a firm mattress (firmness score 2-3). Neither the participants nor the researchers were aware of which mattress each participant received." "Before the study began and 90 days after the receiving the mattresses, the participants completed a questionnaire to assess the intensity of their low-back pain in bed and on rising, and the degree of pain-related disability." "The researchers compared improvements in low-back pain between participants who received the medium-firm versus firm mattresses." "Three months of sleeping on the new mattresses improved low-back pain while lying in bed and on rising in both the medium-firm and the firm mattress groups." "When the researchers adjusted for baseline pain ratings and perceived firmness of the new mattress (both of which affected the final pain ratings), they found that medium-firm mattresses were associated with significantly more improvements in pain than firm mattresses. Specifically, the medium-firm mattress group was 2.4 times as likely to have improvement of pain while lying in bed, 1.9 times as likely to have improvement of pain on rising, and 2.1 times as likely to have improvement of pain-related
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