Scoliosis and Sleep Number beds

Hi Gail,
I'm not familiar with Sleep Number beds, so I had to look up their website to discover more. I see that it is a bed where you can adjust the firmness of the mattress. Sounds ideal. I found 2 articles that you might like to read.
- From PainCare.org: Best Mattress For Scoliosis – Buyer’s Guide & Reviews http://www.paincare.org/best-mattress-for-scoliosis/
- The Lancet: Effect of firmness of mattress on chronic non-specific low-back pain: randomised, double-blind, controlled, multicentre trial http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(03)14792-7/fulltext

It appears that poor mattress can worsen scoliosis. Perhaps you haven't found the right firmness level that is best for you. Have you talked to your physical therapist about your mattress?

@kdubois or @sandytoes14, might you have any insights into this?

Hello @gailfaith!
I agree with Colleen.
I have had my bed for 18 years. As I get older and as aches and pains come and go regularly, I have to adjust my pressure. This is one of the benefits to having the bed. It changes with your needs. If the higher pressure worked better, I would certainly try to go back to the more firm settings. My back does much better at the higher settings but my husband uses the lower and gets better relief.

Praying you get comfort soon!
Dawn

@gailfaith ,
I think @colleenyoung has a good idea in speaking to your physical therapist. He can guide you if there is the best way to alleviate pressure on your spine, perhaps by using a pillow in addition to adjusting the firmness of your bed. I like the Temperpedic memory foam mattress. It cradles my body gently, which is no easy task with fibromyalgia and chronic neck pain!
I hope you get relief.
Jen

Hi Dawn and Jen, thanks for your reply. Dawn I assume you also have a Sleep Number bed from what you wrote.. As I've written to Colleen privately, I don't trust the settings on this bed. Say if I set it to 35, and after it says it is at 35 I decide I want it to go back up to 40. sometimes the pump never comes on, but now it says it is at 40! So where was it when it said 35? And if it does go from 35 to 40 , sometimes the pump is on for only a few seconds and other times for a much longer period of time. Hence I don't really trust the settings. Have you noticed these problems? And my PT is as confused about the whole thing along with me. I think next I will address my queries to an orthopedic surgeon. The company has told me how to "calibrate" the bed, by unplugging it for a while, but nothing changes. I'd go back to sleeping on the floor if I thought I could reverse the scoliosis, but that is not possible at this point.

@sandlytoes14. Up until three days ago my therapist has no suggestions relative to my Sleep Number bed and indeed still does not. I now have the bed set at 50-60, but that doesn't seem to do anything for me except maybe keeping the scoliosis from getting worse if indeed it is the bed that affects my back to start with. But this week he added Pelvic Tilts and Isometric Gluteals to my home Rx exercise routine that focuses on maintaining my strength due to my Myotonic Dystrophy as walking has become more difficult and though my back is not painful, it tires readily with all the walking I do. (I have reached 106 miles of walking since last August, 2016). So two days ago in the morning before I got out of bed I did them followed by my usual exercises. Weekly he writes out for me how far he wants me to walk each day since I have some 90+ routes measured. So that day I went out for a 0. 3816 mile walk. Several months ago I noted on several routes where the 1000 ft distance occurs from the start and noted the time it takes me to reach that distance as well as the overall time for the whole route.Since I started noting the time to the 1000 ft mark, it initially took me 12 minutes and lately that time is up to 14 minutes. That morning it took me only 11 minutes and the total time for the whole route was 5 minutes quicker than previously for THAT route and my back never felt tired. I asked him how many times a day can I do those two new exercises and he said twice. So today I only did them once before I went out for a 0.4000 mile walk. It took me only 10 minutes to reach the 1000 ft mark, and I was 12 minutes faster than previously walking that route!!!!!!!! And I an NOT trying to walk faster, it is my "normal " gait though that is far from everyone else's "normal" and neither my back nor my legs felt tired at the end. Tomorrow is to be a walk in the 0.45 range and the next day a 0.5 one. It turns out I usually walk from 2.5 to 3.0 miles per week. Though he Rx my daily distance, he expects me to use some common sense to vary it as needed, The only day I do no home exercises is the day I have PT, The two new exercises are both done and held for 10 seconds and repeated 5 times. My longest measured walk is 0.8 miles, but he seldom asks for anything over 0.6 up to 0.7 miles. The upcoming days should be interesting! A couple of weeks ago I wondered it he notices the distances I choose in the suggest range he wants. So on a piece of paper I wrote the exact distances for about 10 routes in the 0,4 to 0.4999 range. I asked him if he asked for something in the 0.4 range, which route did he think I would pick? Without looking at my paper he said,"I KNOW you.....you'd pick 0.4999999999999!" We have fun together, but I do work hard to see his smile.

I given up with the Sleep Number Bed. It goes tomorrow. I have a Craftmatic bed coming tomorrow. I used to have a C bed, but it was only a twin and when I moved I gave it to my friend and now I use a full size bed. But one thing that I assume is new with Craftmatic, is that each side of the mattress is a different density/firmness. I am not sure which side to start out with. But leaning in my thinking to the firmer side. Any suggestions.? Also the SN bed mattress is bolted to the frame and therefore making the bed was essentially impossible for me to make the bed and I needed help ( I live alone.) When I talked with the person from Craftmatic, he reminded me that a C bed is easier to make because when you raise both ends, you don't have to bend to put on the sheets and when you lower it, it straightens out and "makes" the bed. gailfaith

Good question as I'm in the market at the moment for a new mattress. I sleep on a 4" mattress topper over a tempur pedic mattress. This seems necessary because I have so many aches and pains from osteoarthritis. However, I've wondered is the softness of this arrangement has caused or contributed to my scoliosis. Are there any professionals out there who can weigh in...particularly with a good mattress recommendation.

Yes, I have been using a sleep number bed for a few years now and over the past 6 months I have been having to increase my sleep number because if loss of air. 2 weeks ago I was diagnosed with levoscoliosis. I now live in pain!

I have recently been diagnosed with levoscoliosis in my lumbar spine. I now live in pain.

Yes I now have levoscoliosis.