Orthopedic mattress materials

Orthopedic mattresses are made of similar materials to standard mattresses. In fact the only real difference is in the material quality and the build or construction quality.

As an example, you will find many orthopedic quality mattresses that are made from springs, however they will use the superior pocket spring system rather than the cheap “economy bed” open coil spring system. The latter is found on many budget priced bed and, although adequate, it does not provide the same level of support as the pocket spring bed.

Materials found in mattress construction

As new and often property enhancing materials and construction methods find their way into bed manufacture, so the better of these developments find a niche in the high quality and orthopedic mattress sector. For this reason new and ever changing materials keep emerging in beds. The good ones stay and the less effective ones disappear.

Spring based mattress

Even now a high proportion of orthopedic style bed and mattress models still use a spring or coil based system. Pocket springs, where each spring is housed in its own fabric pocket and flexes independently, remain very popular with manufacturers and buyers. By using springs the firmness and springiness of the sleeping surface can be varied depending upon the spring count (i.e. the number of springs in a double bed) and the size (diameter) of the springs.

As a general guide, the higher the spring count the better the bed. This is mainly because with pocket springs flexing independently, the more springs that the mattress contains, the more individual points of unique support you will have under the resting body.

Memory foam

Memory foam, often called visco elastic memory foam, is a slow recovery foam that has a high density. This foam not only shapes itself around the body of the person resting upon it, but it also shapes, compresses and deflects as a result of body heat.

For these reasons memory foam offers a very different support to a spring based mattress and it will also feel very different when comparisons are made. The big promotional selling point of memory foams is their ability to accurately mould themselves around every curve and bump of the human body. The result of this is a mattress that should always keep the back and spine in good alignment and this in turn should help to keep the body healthy.

In the same way that spring beds have different degrees of spring count (e.g. high and low etc), memory foam comes in different densities from soft to firm.

There is of course no reason why a high spring count (soft to medium) pocket spring mattress should not be able to offer the same type of supportive properties as memory foam.

Latex

Latex has not quite taken off as a bedding material in the orthopedic mattress world. There is no obvious explanation as to why and certainly the claims made for memory foam can be echoed by latex.

As a material, latex offers very similar moulding characteristics to memory foam, however the big difference is in the springiness and the instant (rather than slow) recovery of the material once any pressure placed upon it has been relieved.

Latex has a cooler feel than memory foams and it tends to be better ventilated and much more "bouncy" to the touch.

Interestingly, both memory foams and latex foams are often used as a top layer above pocket springs in mattresses with composite material constructions.

Water

Historically, the water bed supersedes material like memory foam and latex foam and ultimately it still provides a degree of body contouring and shaping that no other material (that is less viscous or flexible) can match.

Because of its high viscosity, water can immediately shape itself around anything and, with modern technology, only a comparatively small volume of water is required in a modern water bed. Internal compartmentalising systems also mean that there is little if any ripple effect in modern water beds and this means that water remains a superior material for those who can afford it.

Gel

Gel is probably the newest of the orthopedic mattress materials and its long term future has yet to be established.

As a material, gel is used for a top layer in a composite bed rather than as a complete mattress filler and this means that it is competing with the likes of memory foam and latex in these multi material mattress constructions.

Gel is compressible and it also has a cool feel. Interestingly, the gels used in bed manufacture are not liquid viscous gels, but rather rubber like gels that look like a flexible squashy matting that sits above springs or even memory foam.