Known as back wedges, maternity pillow, chair pillow, bolsters, body pillow, foam wedges, back supports, bed loungers, bed rests, even in some parts of the country as “husband” reading pillows, these all too familiar corduroy, short-armed prop pillows have been a fixture in American homes and beds for years.

The breakthrough -- and evolutionary leap forward in bed rests and bedroom furniture came a little over 5 years ago with the invention of The BedLounge® by Dr. Robert Swezey, a medical doctor, professor of medicine, and a pioneer in the non-surgical approach to the treatment of back pain, neck pain, foot pain and osteoporosis. Learning Resource: click here.

Dr. Swezey’s comfortable reading pillow patent included an ultra-lightweight, internal Active Frame. This engineered framework inside can support an adult’s weight while reclining back – and yet has the ability built in to bend, move, flex and customize itself to the user’s body shape and comfort needs. On top of this, the doctor added an extendable headrest reading pillow constructed to true cervical pillow specifications. He included full-length armrests (with handy sectioned sidepockets), a position-able lumbar posture pillow for proper back support.

The BedLounge® is a new class of bedding product. It is a hybrid. A recliner. A pillow. A back support and neck support. An ergonomic lounger made to the highest specifications but affordably priced for all. It is a portable, upholstered reading pillow lounger that can be used anywhere in the home.

We are buying quality bedding and accessories to go with it. We are concerned with and knowledgeable about the healthful benefits of quality sleep and seating.

But, whether you have a low-price, “cheapie” mattress, or a state-of-the-art “sleep system” costing thousands of dollars — no matter how well designed and constructed it might be — a bed is only still a bed, made for lying down.

The beds we are buying are bigger beds, more expensive, luxurious beds. And they are being built thicker with pricey accessories like mattress toppers from the nation’s mattress giants like Simmons, Sealy, Stearns & Foster, and Serta.

The European vacuum-packed mattress concept is taking hold in America. This is Italian innovation vacuum packs a mattress into a tightly rolled fraction of its regular size for easy delivery to the home. The mattress is put in place in the bedroom, opened and expands back to full size.

New technologies such as Tempur-Pedic’s memory foam (also known as tempur foam, and visco-elastic foam) introduced in the early 1990’s are meeting with overwhelming acceptance and success by the public. Select Comfort brought to the marketplace its air bed sleep systems at about the same time. Likewise, Select Comfort’s Sleep Number Bed is hugely successful in the marketplace. Both technologies owe their success to the products’ abilities to customize, or “personalize” themselves to the sleeper’s body shape, comfort and support.

The memory foam rage is quickly overtaking sleeping pillows and specialty reading pillows and cushions. All shapes and sizes of pillows are being produced in memory foam versions. Many of these are of questionable quality and comfort. Their claims of healthful benefits are often in question, as well.

The brand names Barca Lounger and Lazy Boy recliner became staples of the American living room back in the post-war 1950’s. Our quest for deep, reclining comfort has not diminished. The chairs and seating we want now to be ergonomic and adjustable.

The old easy chair is now mechanized into a massaging lounger. The Japanese re-invented and pushed the envelope of the easy chair recliner into the massaging lounger over the past 20 years. Thanks to the marketing brilliance of Sharper Image, these full sized, fully accessorized recliner loungers are a firm part of the American scene.

Lately robotics have muscled their way into recliners. Intense shiatsu massage delivered by what are billed as robotic-like “hands” have been incorporated by companies such as iJoy.

La-Z-Boy, the true inventor and originator of the modern recliner back in the 1920’s, has recently unveiled its ultimate web enabled lounger (developed in association with MicroSoft).

The Zero-Gravity Reading Pillows and Recliners have been popularized by the BackSaver company. These are high quality, full body recliners that take the La-Z-Boy concept one step further. The Zero Gravity lounger can rock or pivot to a point where your body is suspended in a stress-free, almost full reclining posture (similar to the take off seating posture of the astronauts). Knock-off versions of the BackSaver Zero Gravity products are infiltrating the marketplace.

“Entertainment Centers” in our homes requiring comfortable seating are becoming more and more common. The entertainment centers demand furniture engineered with superior comfort and support built in.

Notable among today’s popular trends is the way we as consumers now regard our homes, particularly our bedrooms and kitchens.

Kitchens are seen, and more frequently spoken of, as gathering spots, in many cases the focus of the home’s overall layout – not just a room where food is cooked and prepared.

Likewise, bedrooms are upgraded. They are not just for sleeping anymore. Increasingly the bedroom is the place in the house to get away from it all: to read, watch TV, nap, socialize, or talk on the phone. And more and more of us do some part of our work there now.

This trend is reflected in the way we are spending our dollars on home furniture and home furnishings.

With 25% of pregnancies now classified as some degree of high-risk, it is a condition that more and more women and their families are encountering. Bedrest is almost always a part of the treatment in high-risk pregnancy cases and the problems that are often associated with it.

Since the bedrest recommended is for extended periods of time, you will want to make the expectant mother’s bedding arrangement as comfortable and versatile as possible. Many of the short term fixes for getting comfortable in bed just do not work over the longer haul when the confinement to bed is for weeks or months.

When sitting propped up or lounging in bed, upper body support is key. The problem with pillows is that they compress. What you start with in the way of pillow support is not what you end up with. The soft ones sag, the firmer ones can create pressure spots over time.

For head, neck, shoulder, lower and upper back support a stack of pillows is usually what is tried. However, you do not want the bedresting mother to have to be continually building and re-building the pillow arrangement every time she moves or adjusts her position in bed. Maternity and nursing pillows such as these are designed to support the baby in that activity, not for long-term sitting, lounging, and reclining in bed.

The BedLounge® is as its name implies a lounger, reading pillow, maternity pillow and pregnancy pillow you can take to bed – or anywhere around the home. It is the invention of pioneering back doctor, Dr. Robert L. Swezey, MD.