“What bed should I sleep in” is a question I am often asked by people with back and leg pain. I don’t know why this question is never discussed in our textbooks, is it not important? It is only in recent years that I have started to pay attention to this issue from my personal feelings. The old saying “patients with lumbar disc herniation should sleep on a hard bed” is said by both doctors and patients, and I don’t know where it comes from. In the past, when I didn’t have any experience, I just followed it and said “sleep on a flat bed”. The more I think about it, the more I think it’s not right. “A person with normal lumbar spine sleeping on a hard bed is difficult, let those patients with back pain can not move in a hard bed how to survive? Our spine has a physiological curvature, in line with the physiological curvature, the joints of the spine and the muscles next to the vertebrae will be in a relaxed and energy-saving state. When we sleep on a hard board, due to the lack of lumbar support, on the one hand, the muscles of the lumbar region must continue to work to maintain the curvature of the lumbar spine, over time, fatigue will inevitably occur; on the other hand, the lumbar spine will certainly be due to the lack of support and changes in the physiological curvature, over time the small joints of the lumbar spine will produce fatigue and lead to lumbago. When we were young, we could sleep on a hard bed because the joints and ligaments in our lumbar region were very soft at that time, and the ability to adjust was very strong, so it was not uncomfortable. But when our lumbar spine degenerates and ages, the ligaments and joints become stiff, the adjustment ability is greatly reduced, and the discomfort becomes more and more obvious. Patients with lumbar pain this adjustment ability is even worse. A bad mattress can even aggravate the patient’s symptoms. “What kind of bed is suitable for you?” Different people may have different answers. But we still have a suggestion for this. Do not sleep on a hard bed. The mattress that has been in use for more than 10 years and makes the lumbar spine arch like a shrimp when you sleep in a hammock is also better to change. We need a medium-firm mattress, sleep down when the mattress should give the lumbar support, so that the lumbar spine does not hang and maintain its physiological curvature. If you are used to sleeping flat, you can put a large pillow under both knees, so that the knee joint is flexed, which can further relax the lumbar muscle, thus reducing the pressure between the lumbar discs, and at the same time can reduce the tension of the nerve roots and relieve lumbar leg pain. If you are used to sleep on your side, you should pay attention to the height of the pillow is enough to keep the neck and the rest of the spine at the same level, while moderately flexing the knees and hips so that the lumbar vertebrae gently bowed, and a pillow between the legs to make the hip balance is also more comfortable. We do not recommend prone sleep, which will increase the stress between the small joints of the lumbar spine and aggravate lumbar pain, and the cervical spine will always be twisted and problems. Mattress problem is like the problem of shoes, is really a very personalized problem, you may want to put more effort in the choice of mattress, try more. What is a good mattress? A mattress that allows you to sleep the whole night and not feel back pain in the morning is a good mattress!