I had a lower back seizure about 20 years ago, diagnosed as a disc prolapse, which isn't the same as a slipped disc. Ever since I've had dull back pain. Not enough to ever stop me doing anything (I was a competition squash player - played in tournaments around the Country and even a few National ones ) but never goes away. 10 years ago we bought a Harrison orthopaedic mattress. Cost about 2K. It was ok but didn't do much for the back pain. The main problem was in the morning; I'd wake up every single morning with back pain, without fail.
About 14 months ago I was on hols in Havana and the hotel mattress was brilliant. After a few days I noticed no back pain in the mornings. I checked out the mattress, it was a memory foam type. When I got back I did some research and narrowed it down to a couple of brands. I chose the Emma for one simple reason; it was top purchase of the Which mattress report and the report said (two simple reasons!) that it did not suffer from the 'jelly mould' thing. For some of the memory foam types the researchers said you sank into the mattress, a bit like a jelly mould. Apparently this stopped you moving around easily at night. didn't like the sound of that so I opted for the Emma on a 100 day trial.
It was comfortable and quite nice to sleep on but the best bit was no back pain in the morning. 14 months later - no back pain in the morning. My back is now better than it's been for years.