leg sections the filling element 34 has a length as measured from the farthest extended portion of the proximal end 46 to the farthest extended portion of the distal end 48 in the range of about 1 5 to 7 inches preferably the length of the filling element does not exceed 5 inches it has also been found that the length should be at least 2 inches for many applications to avoid many of the clumping and nesting problems attributed to shredded foam of the prior art in the particularly preferred embodiment the center left leg and right leg sections are of substantially equal length a particularly preferred section length is between about 1 to 2 inches most particularly 1 25 inches fig4 and 5 relate to an alternate embodiment of the invention fig4 shows a long strand of resilient material 50 having a series of alternating upwardly curved sections and downwardly curved sections the strand 50 is cut at cut line 52 to form filling element 54 shown in fig5 the s shaped filling element 54 has a center section 56 disposed between a left leg section 58 and right leg section 60 the place at which the center section 56 meets the left leg section 58 forms a downwardly bent angle 62 the place at which the center section 56 meets the right leg section 60 forms an upwardly bent angle 64 the left leg section 58 terminates at proximal end 66 having a planar face and the right leg section terminates at a distal end 68 having a planar face the planar faces at the proximal and distal ends 66 68 have a generally circular or oval.