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Volume 5 • Number 4 • WINTER 2006

Subjective rating of perceived back pain, stiffness and sleep quality following introduction of medium-firm bedding systems
Bert H. Jacobson, EdDa, Tia Wallace, MSa, Hugh Gemmell, DC, EdDb
School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University. bAnglo-European College of Chiropractic, Bournemouth, England. Submit requests for reprintsto: Dr. Bert H. Jacobson, School of Applied Health and Educational Psychology, Oklahoma State University. Paper submitted July 24, 2006; in revised form September 25, 2006. Sources of support: Support was received from the International Sleep Products Association, the European Bedding Industries Association, and the Better Sleep Council Canada (all non-profit trade associations).
aINTRODUCTION In the year 2000, over 60% of surveyed Americans reported at least 1 sleep problem symptom per week and in 2005, 75% reported sleep problems.1 Millions of people are affected by sleep problems in various degrees of severity. For instance, while over half of all adults report occasional sleeping difficulty approximately 12 in 100 adults report regular sleep difficulty.2 According to the NationalSleep foundation, 26% of Americans reported a good night’s sleep only a few times per month or less.1 Lack of sleep has been targeted as a frequent problem in today’s society and it is suggested that a high proportion of individuals in the workplace are sleep deprived (www.sleepnet.com). Physiologically and psychologically, sleep acts in a restorative manner3 to aid in healing and repair. Adeficiency of sleep interferes with daytime activity, social interactions, and mood4 which can also be associated to loss of work production and injury. Both physiological and psychological circumstances or pathology may affect sleep quality; however, most individuals with minor sleep disturbance associate work or family related stress or physical discomfort with poor sleep. It also has been reportedthat sleep problems were related to an uncomfortable mattress or sleep surface5 resulting in complaints of low back discomfort, pain, or stiffness and shoulder pain.6,7 Researchers have concluded that firmness and/or construction of the bedding system may be associated with sleep quality. In a comparison of foam and innerspring mattresses, one study found no differences in sleep stages, number ofwakes, or total sleep time.8 Another study found that subjects who slept regularly on cotton mattresses developed back pain after one night’s sleep on 10 cm thick foam mattresses, but were relieved of pain when returning to their softer cotton mattresses.9 Garfin and Pye,10 using subjects with chronic back pain, compared “hard”, “softer”, water, and water/foam beds
0899-3467/06/1002-049$3.00/0JOURNAL OF CHIROPRACTIC MEDICINE Copyright © 2006 by National University of Health Sciences

ABSTRACT Purpose: To compare personal and new bedding systems between subjects with reported high and low base line sleep quality. Methods: A convenience sample of healthy subjects (women = 30; men = 29) with no clinical history of disturbed sleep participated in the study. Subjects recorded perceived backdiscomfort and stiffness, sleep quality and comfort, and sleep efficiency upon waking for 28 consecutive days in their own beds (baseline) and for 28 consecutive days (post) on a new bedding system. Repeated measures analysis of variance was used to treat sleep data. Results: Analysis revealed significant differences between pre- and post means in all areas for both high and low sleep qualitygroups. Analysis of sleep efficiency also yielded significant differences between, but not among preand post means. Improvement of sleep comfort and quality became more prominent with time (from wk 1 to 4 post observation). Conclusions: Similar significant benefits of new, mediumfirm bedding systems can occur for those reporting both good and poor current sleep quality and variables such as age,...