Hi Sam, I think you have summed up the entire bed buying dilemma in one paragraph!

Ideally to make any recommendations we would need your height and weight but let me try and shed some light on where to start when choosing your mattress.

You have already discounted the firm mattress and orthopaedic ranges so I would avoid anything of a firm tension or any mattresses with thin comfort layers.

You've raised the issue of your back so ideally you need some form of comfort/pressure relieving layer to reduce this.

You will want a mattress that is supportive but flexible enough to let your spine rest in a comfortable position, rather than simply resting on top of a firm supportive layer.

The difference between a traditional pocket sprung and a contemporary 'Foam' style mattress is the sensation of the mattress.

Latex and foams offer a progressive comfort or sink factor that is a very different sensation to say a pocket sprung mattress.

Traditional mattresses however can benefit from features such as containing more natural materials, being less heat retentive and also are more complex in the comfort/support they can offer ie: dual tension springs/ edge support.

In a nutshell the difference is in the comfort and the sensation that a foam has over a traditional mattress.

We always ask customers to at least try both foam and traditional in stores to experience this for themselves.

To see which you prefer.

The one thing that say Latex is excellent at is at relieving pressure, this is because its incredibly malleable and responsive.

It moulds to the areas that exert pressure and returns to its original shape almost immediately once the pressure is removed.

The draw back with some contemporary mattresses is that they are one sided which means you can't turn them.

This is where traditional mattresses come up trumps.

We do however have a range of solid core latex mattresses which are two sided.

We also have a hybrid pocket sprung and hybrid foam/latex mattress which blends the two!

You can see how confusing things can become.

You are in effect weighing up your preferred comfort sensation against price against features.

John Ryan has an excellent range of medium tension mattresses which you can explore on this site, if you want to explore the contemporary foam range please click here.

Once you've had a look and worked out what type of bed you prefer please get in touch and we will assist you with some recommendations.

Hope that helps!

Lee (John Ryan Contemporary)