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Heavy Lifting

Maybe you can help me figure this out. I need to flip my Queen-size mattress, and every time I consider doing this alone, I’m certain it will hurt my back. If only the dog could lend a paw. Any suggestions for a 100-lb weakling?

Fork by Jean Jullien

 

Discussion

18 comments for “Heavy Lifting”

  1. Claire says:

    Slide and use the wall, do it in stages. The best thing I’ve done for myself this year was seeking out a PT who specializes in my particular back issue and is trained in method common in Europe but not here. I used to routinely wake up in pain or be afraid of hurting my back. I feel so much better since my round of PT and the exercises I now do 3x a week.

  2. I’m not great with the maths but I think what I did was geometry when I needed to paint my bedroom (walls and ceiling). So I did what the previous poster suggested; I tipped the mattress on its end and then again and again, using the wall for leaning, until it was where I wanted it. Then I did it in the reverse, taking the opportunity to flip it. I don’t have back problems and my mattress is fairly new but they are still heavy and unwieldy. I tried to be conscious of the “lift with your legs” thing everyone talks about. It wasn’t the easiest but I didn’t hurt myself and managed to do it solo.

  3. Petra says:

    When I do it, I curse. A lot. Seems to help!

  4. Lauren says:

    Just ask for help. Seriously. I have a few friends who have gotten used to me saying “this is an odd question, but…” for things like mattress flipping and putting up curtain rods over a huge window and all the other home things that really do require more than one set of hands.

  5. Ann says:

    For your next mattress, buy one of the ‘mattresses-in-a-box’, of which there are a number of good ones. Most of them you don’t flip. I just bought a Casper or Leesa (forget which), and it was constructed so that flipping was unnecessary.

    Sixteen years is a long time for a mattress no matter how many times it gets flipped – and no- I’m not a member of the ‘Mattress Manufacturers of America (or China) Association’!

  6. Ehm says:

    Don’t do it alone! Seriously, flipping a mattress isn’t worth an injury. Plus…the asking-for-help muscle is a good one to exercise.

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