1. My mattress experiences before marriage
When I entered university, I used a bed and mattress provided by the dormitory for the first time. In the military, I slept with a single mattress spread out on the bare floor of my quarters and covered with a blanket. I also used a bed with mattress when I was in the Armed Forces Daejeon Hospital, Daejeon, South Korea, for about a month due to pneumonia. Even after leaving the military and entering graduate school, I used a bed with one provided in the dormitory. And when I lived in a small studio after joining a company, the floor was bare. But when I went on business trips, there was always a bed so I used a mattress. Until that time, I didn’t recognize that a mattress caused shoulder pain.
2. Family’s experiences using the mattress
1) King size mattress
I’ve got married in 2018 and lived in a small studio. 2 years later, we moved into an apartment and my wife bought a bed. Of course, the bed reflected fully on her preferences. However, we could not use the bed properly due to the smell of paint. Then, after the baby was born and while raising him, she purchased a mattress to use on the floor. At first, she purchased a king-size mattress, but it was not suitable for many reasons, so she sold it as a used mattress.
2) Family size mattress caused should pain
– Sudden shoulder pain
In December 2021, my wife purchased a family size mattress. Since it was family size, we assumed that there would be no inconvenience for our family of three to sleep in it. She took off the outer cover of the mattress and washed it alone, and placed memory foam in a small room on the east side for a while to do off-gassing. It smelled horrible, according to her, but I couldn’t detect it. I often went back and forth to the small space with memory foam that is releasing chemicals, and for about three days. But I felt a little pain in my right shoulder. It was hypothesized that it was caused by chemicals released from the mattress, the outer cover, and the foam, rather than a potential side effect of the COVID-19 immunization.
– Severe shoulder pain
Because the smell seemed to have reduced considerably, we planned to spend the weekend on a family-sized mattress when sleeping. The outer cover was filled with foam. The family size mattress was a particular choice because it was big. For one night, we slept on the mattress, and my wife seemed content. We had lunch the following day while our 10-month-old child was also consuming his food.
The little pain in my right shoulder suddenly intensified as I was using my right arm to feed infant food to my child, leaving me unable to move the arm at all. Moreover, the pain in my right shoulder traveled down my back to my left shoulder. I was unable properly sit down since the agony was so severe. My wife placed a pain relief patch to it, but it had no impact. The reason for this is that where heat should have felt, at the hurting spot, I instead felt coldness.
– My guess of shoulder pain
I intermittently did push-ups to alleviate the pain. I spent about three days in terrible agony. Other times, the pain’s intensity had lessened, leaving no discernible discomfort with daily life. This particular shoulder pain seems to be brought by breathing certain chemicals or dust. In my experience, this was because shoulder pain appeared when inhaling PVC odor, specific dust, or other field chemical substances. So, in my opinion, it’s critical to refrain from breathing air that contains chemicals and specific dust while we’re living.
– Shoulder pain by a mattress after 5 months
After using the mattress for 5 months, I evaluated the shoulder’s condition. It’s been so hot outside that I’ve spent a lot of time sleeping on the floor next to the mattress, and the shoulder pain that had subsided for a while seemed to be returning. Like five months ago, the shoulder pain that had first appeared on the right side then shifted to the left. Fortunately, the pain was manageable and did not interfere with daily activities. I looked at the mattress’s specifications to figure out what kind of material was being used, as it was the source of my discomfort.
– Causes of shoulder pain
Certificate of product says that the product passed hazardous substances test. The material of cover was 100% polyester and the one of foam material was 100% polyurethane. I was certain that both the cover material and the foam material, which also released chemicals, were to blame for my shoulder pain. Fortunately, my wife and infant usually sleep on a mattress with a rug on it, so I believe they are less affected by the material.
– Future expectation of shoulder pain
My immune system may be delicate, but when I slept on the bare floor next to the mattress without a rug, I felt pain. I think when I slept next to the mattress, unidentified chemicals were released into the air. I will always sleep on the bare floor because I prefer it to the mattress, barring unforeseen circumstances. If so, I believe shoulder pain might happenr periodically. There won’t be a problem, of course, if the mattress releases fewer chemicals into the air over time.
3. Strategy to prevent shoulder pain
Push-ups, in my opinion, are the best treatment for shoulder pain. Of course, I believe someone will need to add a pain relief patch for those who are unable to do them. In order to prevent shoulder pain from getting worse, I believe the first thing to do is to effectively manage a daily living environment. Although this article uses a mattress as an example, in my experience, shoulder pain can also result from wearing clothing made of petrochemical materials. In addition, managing a daily living environment is crucial because there are numerous paths that lead to severe shoulder pain.