Soft mattress best for bad back, say researchers

Researchers have debunked the popular belief that the ideal remedy for a bad back is to lie on a plank, or a mattress that feels like one.

The 313 patients in the study, all with lower back pain, had their own mattresses replaced with either a firm mattress or a slightly softer one.

Those with the softer mattresses were twice as likely to say their pain had improved. They also took fewer painkillers, the researchers from the Kovacs Foundation report in the British Medical Journal.