Checking for Spinal Alignment

Discussions General Mattresses Questions
1

Hi Phoenix,

Quick question, how would you know or can check for yourself that your mattress is providing with right spinal alignment?

  1. I sleep good on my mattress but would you say slight pain in your calf muscles is related to improper spinal alignment due to your mattress, I’m 29, male and in perfectly good health.

Thanks,

2

Hi ashwinivin,

[quote]Quick question, how would you know or can check for yourself that your mattress is providing with right spinal alignment?

  1. I sleep good on my mattress but would you say sligh tpain in your calf muscles is related to improper spinal alignment due to your mattress, I’m 29, male and in perfectly good health.[/quote]

The ultimate test for spinal alignment is whether you sleep comfortably and “symptom free” on a mattress but there are two links in step 4 of the tutorial that can help you test for good spinal alignment (based on visible cues and on how your body and muscles “feel” on the mattress)

There is also some information in post #14 here that may also be of interest.

It’s unlikely that this would be related to spinal alignment since it’s in the lower part of your body but it’s possible that it could be “referred pain” that comes from a trigger point or compressed nerve that you are feeling some distance away from the actual cause of the pain.

There is more detailed information about the most common symptoms that people may experience when they sleep on a mattress and the most likely (although not the only) reasons for them in post #2 here.

There is also more about primary or “deep” support and secondary or “surface” support and their relationship to firmness and pressure relief and the “roles” of different layers in a mattress in post #2 here and in post #4 here that may also be helpful in clarifying the difference between “support” and “pressure relief” and “feel”.

These posts are the “tools” that can help with the analysis, detective work, or trial and error that may be necessary to help you learn your body’s language and “translate” what your body is trying to tell you when you sleep on a mattress so you can make the types of changes or additions to your mattress that have the best chance of reducing or eliminating any “symptoms” you are experiencing.

Calf pain is a fairly unusual symptom on a mattress and to the degree that it involves the mattress itself (there could be many other causes for calf pain besides your mattress including a tendency for your muscles to cramp while you are sleeping) it may take some trial and error to figure out the cause of the pain.

I’m not sure what position you tend to sleep in but it may be worth trying a pillow under your knees if you sleep on your back or a pillow in between your knees if you sleep on your stomach to see if it makes a difference.

Phoenix