New York, NY -- Imagine lying down on a device that mimics a bed of nails! Mats with thousands of nail-like plastic spikes are being touted as a relaxation technique that may relieve stress, back pain, and even cure insomnia.
Data shows 80% of Americans will experience lower back pain in some point in their life time. Experts estimate that at any given time, more than 30 million Americans experience back pain.
From patches to pills, back pain suffers will try almost anything to get relief.
Now, some are trying the Halsa Mat. It's a modern version of a bed of nails. The Halsa Mat replaces the nails with more than 8-thousand pointy plastic spikes. And it's supposed to help relax you and relieve pain.
The mat is based on the theory of acupressure, that the body is lined with "pressure points" which when stimulated release the body's natural pain-relieving hormones.
Research on the nail mats are preliminary. Recent studies have shown that nail mats used 15 minutes a day for 3 weeks reduced patients peak levels of pain. They found that back temperature was higher on the nail mats as compared to a traditional mattress, as a result of increased circulation. Also heart rate was lowered indicating greater relaxation.
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