Seen At 11: Nailing The Pain

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Some people suffering from headaches or backaches will try anything to get a good night's sleep.

These days there's a new age twist on an ancient technique that fans say is "nailing" their pain.

Lying down on a bed of nails is an age-old therapy said to relax or energize you, to relieve pain or stress.

The modern day version has replaced metal nails with plastic spikes. On the Halsa mat, there are nearly 9,000 of those spikes.

"Basically what we've done is used modern materials and put them together in a design to make them very comfortable to use and give you all the benefits that accupressure would," John Wiles said. Wiles is the president of Halsa.

Charlotte Borland used yoga to help manage her stress and help her feel better physically. She was intrigued when she heard about the Halsa mat.

"Why would I do this, because it looked very uncomfortable," she said.

The Halsa mat is based on 5,000 years of Hindu tradition. It claims to help with stress, fatigue, low energy, muscle tension, back pain and insomnia.

There's also a pillow, said to help relieve serious headaches.

"I duess the lure was I have arthritis in my neck, and every morning I awaken with a headache. And so I thought 'Why not give this a try,'" Borland said.

She did try, and after twenty minutes a day for two weeks, she said she's waking free of neck pain and headaches.

"I will probably continue using it," she said.

Dr. Don Whiting, a neurosurgeon, explained how the Halsa mat works.

"The concept behind that is touch can stimulate your body to create hormones, and factors that make you feel better, which then can make you relax your muscles," Whiting said.

Whiting believes that if you can get relief without medicine or surgery that it can be worth a try.

"No, I don't think there's any harm at all," Whiting said.

The mats and pillows start around $30 each.