It is hard to believe that a mattress can be the cause of lower back pain, more specifically what many call morning back pain. The type of pain that is most acute in the morning when we first get out of bed. This is not normal. Sleeping is supposed to be a healing experience. If lower back pain is caused by the march of time and the effects of gravity over our lifetime then it should be most severe at the end of the day not the beginning.

Before I discovered the real cause of my back problems I considered many treatments such as disc decompression, inversion therapy, traction and even surgery. Disc decompression seemed like a reasonable choice. I had seen the ads on TV and they looked like a good solution. I learned that spinal disc compression treatment could cost up to $1,000 a month and that it was not covered by medical insurance. Year after year my pain increased and then there came a time when I could barely get out of bed one morning.

There was no choice left, I had to do something. I had seen the ads on TV about inversion tables being used as a type of decompression therapy so I went out and bought the cheapest one I could find for about $100. I have to tell you, hanging upside down is not comfortable. Your blood rushes to your head and the weight on the back you your ankles can be painful. But in time you do get accustomed to hanging upside down.

Finally after about two weeks of using the table I did get some relief from my pain. It seemed to diminish little by little day by day. I would even take my relief for granted and stop using the table only to find the back pain would return. One thing kept bugging me. Why was the pain most acute in the morning? It just did not make any sense, I was finally beginning to believe my mattress was the culprit.

Finally I ripped off all the blankets and sheets on my bed and gave my mattress a very careful inspection. I noticed the mattress did have a slightly concave shape to it, like a very shallow bowl. I imagined this bowl shape was even more pronounced when my weight was on it. Could this be the problem? Seemed unlikely to me. When I was young I could sleep on anything without any trouble. But, I was not young anymore. Time to try a new mattress.

I did quite a bit of research and decided I would try a memory foam mattress. When I went shopping I could not believe the prices, thousands of dollars. I could not afford to spend so much money on something I wasn't sure would even work for me. With a little more research I found I could make my own memory foam mattress and platform frame for a fraction of the cost. I have to tell you now that in my case this "morning back pain" was caused by a bad mattress and a memory foam bed was the solution - no more morning back pain.