There is nothing more devastating than back pain, especially when compounded with lack of sleep, and it is estimated that around 50% of people suffer from various degrees of back pain sometime in their life. Most of the sufferers of acute back pain can benefit enormously by sleeping on the right mattress. Until now there is no perfect set solution, but with the advent of memory foam mattresses, most of the sufferers of back pain are finally getting their first good night's sleep.

Memory foam sleep mattresses are made from a visco-elastic material that was originally developed by NASA. The first company to mind the benefits that this new compound offered the sleeper was a small Danish company called Tempur-Pedic. The company experimented and finally developed this new compound and soon the Tempur Pedic sleep mattress was made. Tempur-Pedicsleep mattress carried out various clinical trials and soon found that memory foam mattresses - as they were soon called offered support that was vastly superior to conventional mattresses.

Basically, a memory foam sleep mattress designed for back pain is totally different from conventional mattresses. A memory foam sleep mattress, as manufactured by Tempur-Pedic, consists of a solid block of visco-elastic material; there is no ticking, coils or frame. A memory foam sleep mattress responds to body pressure and heat to mould itself to the exact shape of the sleeper's body; which means that body weight is distributed evenly and the correct amount of support is given to each part of the body. A memory foam sleep mattress delivers orthopedically correct alignment of the neck and spine.

Independent research on the mattress, carried out by the Institution for Clinical and Physiological Research at the Lillhagen Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, found that the vast majority of around 23,000 patients studied suffered less pain when sleeping on a Tempur-Pedic mattress and experienced greatly enhanced and deeper sleep and to date, over 30,000 medical doctors, physiotherapists, chiropractors and osteopaths world-wide recommend the TEMPUR Mattress and Neck Pillow for those who suffer from back pain. Other mattress for back pain manufacturers soon woke up to the amazing benefits of memory foam mattresses. Needless to say these companies now offer their own version.

The True Form Posturepedic mattress apecially designed for back pain by Sealy uses memory foam, and is designed to ensure the easing of pressure points to alleviate back pain. The Sealy TrueForm is a proprietary combined arrangement of multilayered memory foam. The International Touch is another memory foam mattress made by Serta. This sleep mattress uses Serta's patented KoolComfort technology to ensure that the foam mattress remains cool when in use. It also incorporates a fibrous layer to wick away moisture that helps to regulate body temperature. This fibrous layer is non-allergenic. Again Serta claim that their memory foam sleep mattress is up to 30% than their rivals.

Another of the renowned companies, Jamison, also makes a memory foam sleep mattress. The Jamison Omalon and Visco Foam mattress claim that their manufacturing process of their version of a memory foam mattress densifies the cells contained with the structure of the visco-elastic material, thereby giving more support and optimum durability.