LONG-TERM EFFECT OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE MATTRESS ON
BACK PAIN AND THE RELATION WITH THE PRESSURE SUPPORTED
Title.
Long-term evaluation of the effect of the
mattress firmness on non-specific low back pain and the relationship
with the pressure supported on the rest surface. A controlled,
randomized, triple-blind clinical trial.
Background.
An earlier study has shown that, in comparison
to an extremely firm mattress, the use of a medium firm mattress
for 3 months improves the evolution of low back pain (see
page 47). However, the comparative effect that the use of
both types of mattress generates during longer periods is
not known.
On the one hand, it was observed in that study that some
patients evolved in an opposite direction from the majority.
Thus, against the tendency of the rest, certain patients using
a medium firm mattress got worse and others using a very firm
mattress got better. It is possible that the different characteristics
of each subject's back shape, as well as other variables pertaining
to each individual (such as his/her weight), may mean that
different patients lying down on the same mattress suffer
different pressures and that might influence the evolution
of their low back pain.
Objective.
-
To evaluate the effect that two different kinds of mattress
(one very firm, the other medium firm) have over a long
term (more than 2 years) on those who already suffer back
pain (and specifically, non-specific low back pain).
-
To determine the influence that the body's pressure on
the rest surface has on these results in each case.
Design.
Controlled, randomized, triple-blind clinical trial.
Methodology.
In this study, the evolution of two groups
of patients with non-specific low back pain who were given
a new mattress of a different firmness (very firm in one group
and medium firm in the other) in the study described on page
47 was evaluated over a long term (between 2 and a half and
4 years after they were recruited).
Additionally, in each one of the subjects who participated
in the study, the pressure their body supported on the mattress
assigned in the previous study and in different postures (supine,
prone, fetal posture, etc.) was evaluated. To this end, a
measuring method was used that allowed the pressure in areas
of less than 0.5 square centimeters to be determined on the
entire body's leaning surface on the mattress surface.
Finally, the correlation between the average pressure on
the back and low back area in different postures (including
that which the patient used most often) on the mattress that
was assigned him/her during the earlier clinical trial and
the clinical evolution of the patients was studied.
Participants, along with the Foundation's
Science Department.
A multidisciplinary team of eleven experts
in mechanical pathologies of the spine that included general
practitioners, anatomists, rehabilitation specialists, rheumatologists,
traumatologists and neurosurgeons, as well as epidemiologists
and statistical analysts.
The study was funded by the Kovacs Foundation.
Status.
The study's protocol has been set and now
only waits for the method of measuring the pressure to be
available to get started.
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