Memory Foam History...Astronauts, Racehorses
and Bed Sores

© 2005 Charles C Harmon Co. All Rights Reserved  

http://www.memory-foam-buyers-guide.org

With all the advertising about
memory foam these days, it's
hard to imagine that this material has only been in existence for a little over
30 years.

It's difficult to find an exact date when
memory
foam first came into being, but it was originally
formulated during the early days of manned space flight.  Most likely, it
was in the mid to late 1960's.

The National Aeronautics & Space Administration
needed a material that would cushion the astronauts from the g-forces of launch and re-entry during space missions.

In response the their request, a material was
produced, called visco-elastic memory foam.

I've seen dozens of articles explaining what
visco-elastic memory foam means and none of them has the same explanation.

The online dictionary gives no definition for
the word visco, but the word is derived from viscous, which means "gummy or
pasty."  It is a cross between a solid and a liquid.

I think we all know what elastic means, but,
again, the definition is, "being able to return to it's original shape after
being deformed."

Well...that's enough of the grammar lesson.  The
point is that this material hadn't existed before...it's unique.

The whole idea, of showing a picture with a
hand print, over the top of a memory foam mattress, is to illustrate that this material isn't forcefully pushing against
you.

That's why it takes a while for the memory foam to react and slowly return, to
it's original shape, once the hand is removed.



The other quality, of visco elastic memory foam, is that it's
temperature reactive.  When it's heated, it becomes softer and when it's
cooled, it becomes firmer.

A body, laying on the memory foam material, will heat it,
making it softer under that heated area.

Again, it's not clear whether or not this
earlier version of the memory foam material was
ever actually used in any space missions. 

Some claim that the material off-gassed,
producing an odor that couldn't be tolerated in the small quarters of a
spacecraft.

Whatever the reason, this material was too
expensive to be used in the form of a
memory
foam mattress or
memory
foam pillow
for the average consumer.

It was not, however, too expensive for use as
an aid to recovery for multi-million dollar racehorses who had been injured or
were recovering from surgery.

Horses cut off their circulation when they lay
down so when horses are recovering, they need to be in
the upright position, so that their blood circulation isn't restricted. 

This can be very difficult or impossible,
because if the injury is to a limb, the horses massive weight is too much for
the limb to support.

Laying the horse on a large, thick, slab of
memory foam solved this problem.

Because memory foam melts away from where
pressure is placed on it, the body of a horse or human can lay on it without
restricting the blood flow.

Blood flow is critical, to healing and recovery
from surgery, so it makes sense that recovery is greatly enhanced by sleeping on a
memory foam mattress.

Of course, it was only a matter of time until
someone thought to apply this factor to the human body.

Medical researchers have more money to
experiment than consumer businesses, so it was in medical research that memory
foam was found to be a great
inhibitor to bedsores.

Bedsores occur when the blood supply to the
capillaries is restricted over a period of time.  Bedsores are also called
pressure ulcers.

Since the unique character of memory foam is it's
ability to melt away from anywhere that pressure is applied, bed sores are
reduced or eliminated.

It's broad use, in the medical field, finally
led to the cost effective use of memory foam for consumer mattresses.  Now,
memory foam mattresses have come into the mainstream in the mattress industry.

Memory foam mattress pricing, for a quality product, in queen size, is
usually about $2,000 to $2,500 which is in line with most of the high quality
innerspring products.