Contour Products Backmax Foam Bed Wedge System, Plus

I have such mixed reviews on this bed wedge. Some days/nights I like it more than others. Okay, the first night I slept on it, I had the worst neck cramp ever. Then, the next night, I strategically placed 2 pillows in like an upside down "V" so the tip was underneath my head and it supported my neck. I do not get neck cramps and it's been over a week. Okay, here's the other thing...I feel like my legs are too high now. I unzipped the parts and separated them because I couldn't stand my feet touching the end part of the wedge. Then, the other night I got up in the middle of the night and just took out the middle part and slept with my head propped up. I like that better, but then I have a tendency to slide down. I know, I know, I feel like nothing is pleasing. I kind of wish I had only paid for the top wedge and not the rest (and it would have been cheaper). I have to say, the cover feels fantastic, it's so soft, but I still put a sheet over it. Be prepared, because the material is hard. **It does help with any acid reflux and heartburn.

When I saw the shape of this cushion on Amazon, I recognized it immediately. As a young man, I sold very expensive chairs for a company called Contour Chairs and we only sold them in the home doing a lengthy demonstration which would prove to anybody why they want and need them. The Contour Chair was designed to cradle a person, exactly like this cushion is. They'd always smirk at us in disbelief until we would use the customer's pillows to fabricate a makeshift chair for them in this Contour shape and when they sat in it, they would get a look of bliss on their face and that was the moment they were sold. You cannot imitate this shape with a regular recliner or an adjustable bed. They just don't have the "awe" factor this cushion or the Contour Chair did. And I can try to explain it to you until I'm blue in the face, but until you experience this cushion, you will never understand how wonderful it is.I read lots of reviews and found many different pages selling this product and I settled on this one page for some very important reasons. First, the other versions of this cushion are not as full featured or as wide. This one is barely wide enough, you wouldn't want it any narrower. On the other hand, it is about two-inches wider than half the width of a queen size bed, so you wouldn't want it wider either. Use the little matching pillow that comes with it for the small of your back and use a regular quality, thin pillow, shaped for your head and neck.Don't let your arms dangle off the sides, at first you won't feel it, but eventually it will sneak up on you. Fold your hands across your midsection or rest them on your thighs.I have two ruptured disks in my back, a number of vertebrae which are damaged and severe degeneration of the spine, that gradually continues to degrade as I age. I can sit up and walk around for an hour or so, then I have to lay down for an hour. Up, down. Up, down. All day long. With this cushion, I've been able to stay up about twice as long and instead of laying down for an hour or two, I only need fifteen minutes or so to get rejuvenated. So this cushion makes an amazing difference in the quality of my life and my activity level. When I lay down on it, it feels as though all the pain and tightness in my back just fades into the cushion. I instantly feel better, and in a few minutes, I'm ready to get up and at em again.It's also great for napping in. You just feel like you're drifting off, completely detached from the physical world and its pains and concerns. Gradually you come back and you look at the clock and you've been asleep for two-hours, though you might not remember sleeping at all.The cushion is made of some dense, foam that hugs you lightly, is cool, and doesn't make you sweat. It holds up great. I've had my cushion for about a year, usually use it multiple times per day, often sleep in it, and there is no sign of indentation in the foam or wear on the cushion or fabric.There are these huge plastic zippers used to connect different segments of the cushion, so you can zip it apart and put it together in all sorts of kinky positions. The only position that I enjoy is the lounging one, which is featured here. I was very concerned that these zippers looked cheap and would fall apart, especially with me, I'm huge. I weighed 450 pounds when I bought the cushion and weight about 400 now (I'm writing a book about my diet called "The Diarrhea Diet--Drop Fifty Pounds While Vacationing in Mexico.") Anyway, these zippers are fine, they have held up perfectly. I've never once felt a zipper pushing against me or making me uncomfortable. So don't worry about them.Some reviewers say the cushion is too short. One reviewer said you just unzip the seat from the back, it extends the length of the cushion and then it is fine. I'm six-foot three and a half inches tall and I find that the cushion is too short and my feet hang over, but it's not the least bit uncomfortable, especially if I extend the cushion by putting a pillow at the top of it for my head, propped up against the headboard. So I keep the back unzipped from the seat and you'd never know they were separated. It extends the cushion just fine, just like the other reviewer suggested.The fabric is a velour-like fabric, which I find very comfortable and pleasing. It's easy to spot clean and seems to stay pretty much perfectly clean and appears to be of a virtually stain proof fiber type. It looks like you could easily unzip the the cushion covers and wash them, but the instructions say not to do that, so I haven't tried it. Instead, I keep a long beach towel over the back of it most of the time, to protect the fabric from body oils and perspiration and spots and spills. So far, no incidents, the fabric looks like new, even though the seat and foot rests are uncovered. When I take the towel off, the covered back and the uncovered seat look just the same.The company recommends that you replace the cushion every two-years, as the foam starts to wear. Again, I see no sign of it thus far, and mine gets heavy use.The cushion is light and easy to maneuver and to take on and off of the bed, even for me with my wimpy back. I can only lift about fifteen pounds without injuring my back. When we go on vacation, the cushion folds up and fits snugly into a special bag with a carry handle, which makes it easy to take with us where ever we go. I don't even stay a night in a hotel without it, unless I'm traveling by jet, which I avoid at all costs anyway. I don't know if I'd want to pay the extra fee to take it on a plane. If I had just a little better income I might pay the fee.Just as a hint, I have mounted a sixty-inch television high up on the wall near the ceiling, in my bedroom--where the cushion is, so I can lay back casually and watch T.V. while in my cushion.There is one weird thing, and I don't know if it will come into play with anyone or not. My cat immediately staked his claim on the cushion and always lays between my knees on it. He loves it and sleeps there and nowhere else. He won't be moved, and will grab on with all his claws for dear life if you try to move him. Anyway, if I pet him a few strokes, it builds up a static charge and we start zapping each other. I don't seem to have any problem with anyone or anything else, but it makes me wonder if you might have a static electricity issue when using a smart phone or other portable electronics. So be careful with portable electronic devices.There is another version of this chair that has a built in massager. People have had some issues with that. They say it might break and it's so under-powered that you can't feel it through the chair. When I sold the Contour Chairs, after we sat people in our mock pillow lounge, we had this amazing high powered massager that we would stick in the midst of all the pillows and it would massage their whole body at once. People would kill for that massager. They built them into that chair back then. So I bought this version of the cushion with no massager and I searched and searched and found a massager very similar to the one we used to use. Look up on Amazon the Oster Professional 103 Stim-U-Lax Massager. I just stick this massager on top of the bed, but under the cushion and I get an amazing massage while I relax. You can't feel any bump from it. However, this massager needs some air flow to one end of it or it gets hot, could burn out or even catch fire. I find that it's fine if I only run it for ten minutes at a time, but if you use it, you might want to go to a plumber or plumbing supply store and get a scrap, eight-inch long, 4" PVC pipe to stick to the end of it to give it air, or find some other solution, just to be safe. Or just forget about the massage. The cushion is wonderful without it.This cushion is great for everybody, once you get them to try it, they'll greatly appreciate it. Anybody who gardens or who works on their feet needs this at the end of the day. But if your back ever hurts, you'll wonder how you ever lived without it. Enjoy, and think of me when you lay in it, drinking lemonade and watching your big screen T.V., because that's what I'll be doing.

I'm disabled by numerous chronic health problems & spend a majority of my time in bed & this did relieve the pressure on my sciatic nerve with it's zero gravity design which was fantastic but there are drawbacks. It's much harder/firmer than I was expecting which made it uncomfortable for long periods of time & difficult to get a good night's sleep on. The other problem I had was that despite ordering the wider version, there was no place to rest my arms or even my elbows & I had to keep my arms tucked tight against my body or crossed over my stomach or else my arms would just dangle off to the sides, unaligned with my shoulders because of how high this sat on top of my bed, which would in turn cause my shoulders to hurt. I eventually determined that it was only practice to use this during my waking hours & since it's relatively heavy (especially for someone who's not in good condition), it wasn't easy to just move it on & off the bed, & I began using it less & less for that reason. I don't think they took arms into consideration when designing this nor do I think it was tested by the designers by laying on it for any length of time & definitely not by sleeping on it. If they'd done a little more product testing with their target consumers, I think these issues could've been avoided & it would've been a five star product. I had really high hopes for this & the idea was great but the execution leaves a lot to be desired. :(

Dang-it... bought it yesterday for $302.... on sale today for 249$..... crap...... hopefully its worth the $$$

I suffer from spinal arthritis where I would only be able to sleep for maybe 3 or 4 hours before it became horribly uncomfortable, even with my ridiculously expensive tempurpedic (scam) mattress. Now with the Backmax I can sleep a full 8 hours without any back pain. I wish I had discover this product years ago.

The pillows don't retain their shape and it was too short for me (I'm 5'8").

This is a real comfortable bed that solve my sleeping issue (back & neck). It's well built with high quality material.If you consider to buy one, the only concern is the size. I am only 5'5" and it fit me just right (my head are close to the edge). I recommend you to check the size with vendor before you make the purchase.

This saved me after I had major surgery! It keeps your head and feet up, and this one is wide enough to be plenty comfy while healing. It is cozy to use for watching TV..