Acupressure Mat Latest Shortcut to Relaxation

By Laura Johannes for The Wall Stree Journal

Once a popular circus stunt, a bed of nails is now being touted as a relaxation tool. A growing number of companies selling mats with nail-like plastic spikes say they can relieve stress, neck, back and other pain and even help insomnia. There is little published evidence, but some scientists say early results suggest they are worth further study.Rattlebug says its 8,820-spike Hälsa mat will 'stimulate your body's acupressure points, helping it to release natural pain relief hormones.

Unlike a classic nail bed made famous by performers, the modern-day mats, sometimes called "acupressure mats," are made with small disks of plastic spikes. There's no set daily usage recommendation, though some companies suggest starting with lying down, usually face up with the spikes in contact with the back and neck, for 5 to 10 minutes, then gradually longer.

The fewer spikes, the more challenge to the body—and the more benefit, says Team Shakti AB of Sweden, which puts 6,000 spikes on its main mat but offers a more comfortable version, its Shakti Light mat, with 8,000 spikes. For the biggest benefit, lie naked on the mat, Shakti says. The cost of the mats ranges from $30 to $50 or more. Shakti sells its mats on its website for $69, and the mats can be found on Amazon for as low as $39.95.

Shakti says its mat "increases the blood circulation and stimulates the body to release endorphins which help to bring about a deeply relaxed state." Rattlebug LLC of Warwick, N.Y., says its 8,820-spike Hälsa mat will "stimulate your body's acupressure points, helping it to release natural pain relief hormones."

Acupressure involves a therapist putting pressure on specific points to create a body response—such as relaxation or pain relief. There are more than 100 acupressure points on the human back—and using a mat with many evenly distributed points, "you'd have to hit some of them," says Steven Given, associate dean of Bastyr University's School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in Kenmore, Wash. The mat is likely to provide some benefits, he says.

Research on nail mats so far is preliminary, scientists say. A Shakti-funded study, published earlier this year in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, tested heart rate, body temperature and other physical reactions to the "nail" mat compared with a soft bed in 32 healthy volunteers during three 20-minute sessions.

Back temperature was higher on the nail mat than on the soft bed—indicating increasing circulation, says study co-author Erik Olsson, who worked on the study at a Swedish rehabilitation clinic and is now a researcher at Uppsala University in Sweden. Heart rate slowed and was more variable on the Shakti mat—signs the body's parasympathetic nervous system, responsible for relaxation, was activated, he adds. Since the participants were all healthy, the study didn't measure if there were any health benefits. Dr. Olsson says further study would be needed to determine if endorphins are produced.

A study of 36 sufferers of chronic neck and back pain, published last week in the online journal Alternative Medicine Studies, found that nail mats used 15 minutes daily for three weeks reduced the patients' peak levels of pain but failed to reduce their normal pain levels. No effects were found on depression, anxiety and sleep. The study, which used a control group of patients who received no intervention, received no funding from companies selling mats, according to lead author Anette Kjellgren, an associate professor at Karlstad University in Karlstad, Sweden.

Read about preliminary research at wsj.com