Relaxing on a Bed of Nails: An Exploratory Study of the Effects on the Autonomic, Cardiovascular, and Respiratory Systems, and Saliva Cortisol

Abstract

Healthy participants habituated to the induced pain on the BN and were able to subjectively relax. When on a BN, signs of both sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity were observed. The pain may hypothetically have triggered a parasympathetic response.

The Benefit of a Mechanical Needle Stimulation Pad in Patients with Chronic Neck and Lower Back Pain: Two Randomized Controlled Pilot Studies

“…A recent study investigating the effect of a NSP in healthy young volunteers showed substantial effects on cardiac autonomic responses and reactions of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system, such as self-rated relaxation, blood pressure, heart rate, heart rate variability, and back temperature [25]. In contrast to the data presented here, the pad was bigger in size and covered a larger area of the back.…”

“…The NSP—with more than 1000 sharp, but nonpenetrating plastic needles, is usually placed on soft ground and the patient lies for a limited time period on top of the mat with the uncovered, painful part of the body. It is very popular in some countries (Scandinavia) and is distributed under numerous names [23–25]. Those devices all have in common that they contain a flexible material, mostly cloth or soft plastic.…”

“…There is a resemblance to the well-known bed of nails of indian sadhus or wise men. In the 1980s, a modern version was reinvented in Russia to serve as a kind of self-acupuncture device [23, 25]. Since then, multiple pads are widely used either as a tool for well-being or as a medical device.…”

“…Since then, multiple pads are widely used either as a tool for well-being or as a medical device. Indications include pain disorders, especially pain of the lower back, neck and headache, but also sleeping disorders, diseases of the gastrointestinal tract or just for relaxation [23, 25]. Mostly the pad is applied directly at the painful area, but some pads are bigger in size and are used underneath the lying whole body.…”

Heart rate variability and experimentally induced pain in healthy adults: A systematic review

“…These studies addressed the impact of different sleep stages (Chouchou et al., ), different stages of the menstrual cycle (Tousignant‐Laflamme and Marchand, ), the degree of muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA; Fazalbhoy et al., ) or baseline HRV (Appelhans and Luecken, ) on interindividual variability in pain sensitivity. Additionally, a group of studies investigated interventions to alter the pain experience such as placebo capsules (Aslaksen et al., ), breathing manipulations (Chalaye et al., ; Martin et al., ) or listening to a CD with relaxation instructions (Olsson and von Schéele, ), and used HRV to monitor the outcome or differential effects of the interventions.…”