I am 35, but for as long as I can remember I have had back pain. Partly blamed on minor scoliosis and a mythical stair tumble at age 3, I’ve visited countless osteopaths and physios since my early teens for various treatments, though it always comes back to exercising and stretching. No amount of cracking of your joints can truly fix anything, folks.

As I hit my mid-thirties, I also rather tardily realised my cheap Ikea mattress probably wasn’t helping my plight, even if it wasn’t actively making it worse. A check of my old digital receipts shows I paid a grand total of £179 for it a few years ago. Was this cheap mattress partly why I was waking up in lower back pain hell every day?

I have attempted to find out by replacing that £179 king size 18cm high spring mattress with a king size memory foam one that usually retails for an astronomical £2,599, though is currently on sale for £2,339. Is back pain a problem you can simply throw money at?

I won’t bury the lede: no, it is not. While the (deep breath) Tempur Pro Air SmartCool Plus Medium Firm 25cm Mattress is a marked upgrade for me, and has made my nightly slumber less painful, it is not a silver bullet for immediate comfort. At the time of writing, I’ve spent 17 nights on it.

British bed retailer Dreams offered me the chance to try the Tempur mattress out. The mammoth 47kg unit arrived unfurled and needed two of us to get it up the stairs. Dreams offers a 100-night comfort guarantee, which lets you exchange for a different model, not return it for a full refund. If your exchange is cheaper, you get the difference in Dreams credit, not cash. Notably, popular hybrid mattress brand Simba offers a 200-night trial with free collection and a full refund if you’re not happy. Many of its mattresses are hundreds of pounds cheaper than the one I tested.

Perhaps I need another 83 nights on the Tempur to really get a feel for it. I opted for medium firm, but it also comes in soft, medium and firm. Medium firm is proving quite firm, with enough give to let my shoulders and hips sink into the material but still keep my spine straight, as I am a side sleeper. It immediately is incredibly supportive, but it’s not a luxurious, sink-in feel.

Considering the price, I was hoping it’d feel like I was falling into a supportive cloud. That’s not the case. Instead, the Tempur Pro Air SmartCool Plus is so-named as it boasts temperature regulation via “advanced cooling technology” that claims to transfer excess heat away from your body to keep you cool.

I’ve also been testing the Tempur Cooling Tencel Mattress Protector (king, £105) Home by Tempur Luxe Fibre Cooling Duvet (king, £399) and Tempur Cloud Air SmartCool Medium Pillow (medium, £149). These accessories would normally cost £653, but you’ll get them at no extra cost in a deal running until February 3 when you buy any Tempur Pro Air SmartCool mattress. It’ll save you up to £860 if you’re buying the largest super king sizes.

The duvet is the unsung hero of this set, keeping me perfectly warm during the January cold snap. I never once overheated, so the duvet and mattress have done their temperature regulation job.

However, my six-month pregnant wife has overheated on several occasions, so there are limits to this technology. The mattress has significantly reduced her nightly soreness of hips and back, though.

The mattress is also currently on sale, down from £2,599 to £2,339, with other models also reduced. The Pro Air SmartCool Plus range sits in a range of three different options, above the regular Pro Air SmartCool, but beneath the Pro Air SmartCool Luxe. The regular is 21cm, the Plus is 25cm, and the Luxe is 30cm.

They are all classed as orthopaedic mattresses designed to offer pressure relief and support, being entirely memory foam rather than hybrid, which offers a combination or memory foam on top of pocket springs.

Memory foam was not as difficult to get used to as I had imagined. A lifetime of sleeping on unsupportive, bouncy springs means it’s odd the first few times you sit on the Tempur mattress and there’s no bounce. But the support is evident, even though it takes a few days to get used to the feel and for the memory foam to soften up. That said, this medium firm model has barely any give. I would have preferred something softer, on reflection.

To avoid my plight, Dreams offers in-store service Sleepmatch, which gets you lying on a mattress and uses 3D fit technology to analyse your body and assess what mattress is best for you. I really recommend doing this before forking out for something as expensive as what I have tested.

After the first week, my lower back pain had transferred to my mid back. Some daily stretches and a few runs soon sorted out my aches and pains, but I am not waking up pain free. For me, this new mattress is telling me what my wise osteopath tells me. I’ll help you, but you need to put the work in to strengthen your back with daily exercises. I can’t fix you on my own.

That’s why recommending a certain mattress is so difficult, as what mattress we all find best is very personal. I’ve enjoyed the more supportive memory foam, and the fact my wife and I can move in the night and not have the other person bounce around and wake up, a happy result of the absence of springs.

But if I had paid over £2,000 for this mattress, I would be living with buyer’s remorse after a couple of weeks. Perhaps I need longer to get used to it after years of insufficient nightly support, but also perhaps a slightly different model in the line up would be my perfect mattress. Buying online, it’s impossible to know.

I don’t think the bundled memory foam pillows are right for me, though.

Dreams has a great deal on these Tempur mattresses running until February 3, with its discount and free bedding bundle, but I urge you to go to your nearest Dreams store and try the mattresses before buying. You might find one is right for you – just don’t guess which one it might be, particularly when they cost so much and can’t be returned for a refund.