If you’re waking up stiff, achy, or dreading the moment your feet hit the floor every morning, you are not alone. Back pain is one of the most common reasons people walk through our doors here at Jordan Mattress & Home, and after 65-plus years of making mattresses in Arkansas, we’ve heard just about every version of this story.
The good news? In most cases, we can help. Not because a mattress is a magic cure for back pain (it isn’t), but because the right mattress, properly fitted to your body and sleep style, can make a significant difference in how you feel when you wake up. The science backs this up, and so does our showroom floor.
"I Thought This Was Just Me" — But We Hear These Stories Every Week
When customers come in asking about back pain, the scenarios tend to follow a familiar pattern. See if any of these sound like you:
“My mattress felt great in the store, but now it feels like I’m sleeping in a hole.” This is probably the most common one we hear. Someone bought a name-brand mattress, it felt wonderful on the showroom floor, but within a few months there’s a noticeable body impression right where they sleep. Nine times out of ten, this is a one-sided innerspring mattress, and once a one-sided mattress develops that impression, there’s nothing you can do but live with it or replace it.
“I’ve been sleeping on my grandmother’s mattress and I don’t even know how old it is.” It happens more than you’d think. People inherit mattresses from family members, never having shopped for one themselves, and eventually the back pain gets bad enough that they finally come looking for their own. If you’ve never bought a mattress for yourself, you may not realize what proper support actually feels like.
“I bought the firmest mattress I could find because I thought it would help my back — and now everything hurts.” This is one of the most persistent myths in the mattress world, and we’ll dig into it more in a moment. A very firm mattress is not automatically better for back pain. For many people, it actually makes things worse.
“I had surgery / an injury and the mattress that used to work for me just doesn’t anymore.” Your body changes. Your needs change. A mattress that served you well before a health event may not be giving you what you need now.
What the Research Actually Says About Mattresses and Back Pain
We’re a family-owned mattress manufacturer, not a medical practice, so we always encourage people dealing with serious back pain to work with their doctor or chiropractor. In fact, we have a local chiropractor here in Hot Springs who regularly sends patients to us specifically for better mattress support. That kind of professional trust means everything to us.
But it’s also worth knowing what the medical research says, because it lines up closely with what we’ve observed for decades.
A landmark study published in The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals in the world, found that patients with chronic lower back pain experienced roughly a 48% reduction in pain within 28 days of switching to a medium-firm mattress. That’s not a small number. That’s nearly half the pain, gone, in less than a month. Simply from sleeping on the right surface.
Spine-health.com, written and peer-reviewed by licensed physical therapists, reinforces this: sleep is the only time your spinal muscles, ligaments, discs, and joints get to fully relax and recover. If the surface you’re sleeping on isn’t supporting that process, you’re starting every single day at a deficit.
The Hospital for Special Surgery, ranked the number one orthopedic hospital in the United States, puts it simply: a medium-firm mattress is generally the best choice for people with back pain. Not very hard. Not very soft. The goal is a mattress that supports spinal alignment while also giving enough at the pressure points to keep you comfortable all night.
And here’s a statistic that surprised even us when we first came across it: in a peer-reviewed study published in Applied Ergonomics, 95% of orthopedic surgeons surveyed said they believe mattress choice plays a role in back pain management. Ninety-five percent. These are surgeons who spend their careers treating the most serious spinal conditions, and the overwhelming majority of them point to the mattress as a factor.
The Firm Mattress Myth — And What to Look For Instead
Let’s talk more about that “firm is better” belief, because it causes a lot of unnecessary pain.
Here’s the reality: some back sleepers do just fine on a very firm mattress. But very few people sleep exclusively on their back all night. We all shift positions, and when you roll to your side, your hips and shoulders become your primary contact points with the mattress. On a surface that’s too firm, those pressure points don’t get any relief; they just take the impact hour after hour. That leads to inflamed pressure points, disrupted sleep, and a lot of morning soreness that has nothing to do with your spine and everything to do with your mattress being too hard.
Henry Ford Health System describes the goal well: you want a straight line from your head to your feet. When your hips or legs are torqued or twisted all night because the mattress won’t give where it needs to, morning back pain is almost guaranteed.
What we look for is a mattress that does two things at once: supports the spine and yields at the pressure points. That balance is the sweet spot.
In our showroom, we carry mattresses with individually wrapped coils that are specifically engineered to support and give in the right places. Each coil responds independently to your body rather than moving as one big unit. If you prefer foam, our Talalay Latex and Serene Foam mattresses are excellent alternatives for people who want that pressure relief without the “hammock effect,” that sinking, enveloped feeling where the mattress curves up around you and puts your spine in a compromised position.
Why Your Sleeping Position Matters As Much As Your Mattress
Your mattress is only half the equation. How you sleep on it matters too.
Side sleepers tend to have the most success managing back pain through sleep position. Research from Henry Ford Health System indicates that side sleeping allows the spine to decompress during the night. The National Spine Health Foundation notes that placing a pillow between your knees can reduce pressure on the spine by nearly half for side sleepers. That’s a simple, free adjustment that can make a meaningful difference tonight.
Back sleepers benefit from a pillow or rolled towel under the knees, which helps maintain the spine’s natural curve, according to the Sleep Foundation. When you’re trying a mattress in our showroom, I’ll often ask back sleepers to pay attention to the small of their back. If you can slide your hand easily into that arch, the mattress isn’t allowing your hips to sink enough to put your spine in proper alignment.
Stomach sleeping is the position that gives us the most concern. The Mayo Clinic, the Sleep Foundation, and the National Spine Health Foundation all identify it as the most stressful position for the spine. It flattens the spine’s natural curve and puts the neck in a twisted position for hours at a time. If you’re a stomach sleeper who wakes up with back or neck pain, the position itself may be a significant contributor.
Two-Sided Mattresses: The Difference You Can't See Until You're Living It
One of the things we hear most from customers who seek us out specifically is that they’ve been burned by one-sided innerspring mattresses. They know what happens: you buy it, it feels great, and within a year or two the spot where you sleep every night has compressed so much that you’re essentially sleeping in a divot.
We’ve been making two-sided, flippable mattresses here at Jordan Mattress & Home for over 65 years, and the reason is simple: it gives you a better mattress for a longer period of time.
Think about it the same way you think about rotating your tires or flipping the cushions on your sofa. All innerspring mattresses will experience some compression of the padding over time, and that’s normal. It doesn’t mean the mattress is bad. What you want to avoid is all of that compression happening in one spot, on one side, in the exact impression of your body. By being able to flip the mattress, side to side and top to bottom, you allow the padding to redistribute and settle more evenly. The mattress wears more like a mattress and less like a single sleeping spot.
With a one-sided mattress, all you can do when it starts to develop an impression is rotate it head to foot, and if two people are sleeping in different spots, even that doesn’t fully solve the problem.
Adjustable Bases: Upgraded Comfort for Everyone
The Sleep Foundation notes that adjustable bases can be especially helpful for people who struggle to find comfort lying completely flat. We couldn’t agree more.
We carry adjustable bases in our showroom, and you can try them right there. Every model we carry allows you to raise the head and feet independently. One of my favorite models includes a built-in lumbar support, which works particularly well paired with a foam or latex mattress to give the lower back a little extra lift right where it needs it.
I’ll tell you this honestly: I sleep on an adjustable base myself, paired with a Talalay Latex mattress. I’m not recommending something I haven’t used. When I found the right combination for my own sleep, it made a real difference.
For people who have been resorting to sleeping in a recliner because it’s the only position where they can get comfortable, an adjustable base is a genuine upgrade. You get the positional flexibility of a recliner with the full support of a proper mattress. Modern adjustable bases can also be fitted into existing bed frames with headboards and footboards, and many include features like massage, head tilt, USB charging ports, and smart home compatibility with voice control.
What Shopping at Jordan Mattress & Home Actually Looks Like
We’re located right here in Hot Springs, and we serve the whole region, including the many residents of Hot Springs Village and the active outdoor community that makes this area special. Whether you’re hiking the trails, out on the lake, or just trying to wake up without wincing, sleep is what makes all of that possible.
When you come into our showroom, here’s what happens: I’m going to ask you about your current mattress: what you don’t like about it, whether it feels too soft or too firm, whether it has a body impression. I’m going to ask about your sleep position. Then I’m going to point you toward a mattress I think might be a good starting place and use your reaction to that one to guide where we go next.
I’m going to ask you to lie down the way you actually sleep not just perch on the edge, not bounce on it, but actually lie down in your preferred sleeping position, with a pillow if you need one from our pillow wall. And then I’m going to ask you to stay there for five to ten minutes.
That might sound like a long time, but five to ten minutes tells you things about a mattress that thirty seconds never will. It’s enough time to feel whether the support is right, whether a pressure point is going to become a problem, and whether your body is actually relaxing or bracing.
When you’re ready to purchase, we deliver and set everything up for you. (Price for delivery depends on location.) We’ll take away your old mattress. We’ll show you how to use your adjustable base and answer every question before we leave. You don’t have to figure anything out alone.
That’s something a website can’t offer, and neither can a big box store where the salesperson doesn’t know how the mattress was made, because they didn’t make it.
A Note From Me to Anyone Who's Been Putting This Off
If you’ve been waking up in pain for months or even years, and telling yourself you’ll deal with it eventually, I want to speak directly to you.
A mattress cannot and should not be expected to solve all back pain. If you’re experiencing serious or chronic pain, please work with your doctor, chiropractor, or spine specialist. Back pain that interferes with daily activities deserves professional medical attention.
But if that’s already been addressed, or if you’ve been putting off both the doctor’s visit and the mattress, please consider this: your body spends roughly a third of your life on that mattress. If the surface you’re sleeping on isn’t supporting your spine, isn’t relieving your pressure points, and isn’t allowing your muscles and joints to actually recover during the night, you are starting every single day in a hole.
You deserve better sleep. And better sleep starts with the right mattress, fitted to your body, by people who know what they’re doing.
Take our free comfort quiz on our website to get a starting recommendation. Browse our educational content to learn more. Or just come see us at 4735 Malvern Road in Hot Springs. We’ve been doing this since 1958, and we’d love to help you figure out what’s been keeping you up at night.
Jordan Mattress & Home | 4735 Malvern Rd., Hot Springs, AR 71901 | 501-262-1581 | jordanbedding.com
Family owned. Factory direct. Handcrafted in Arkansas since 1958.
