Over the previous few years, acupressure mats (also called spike mats, nail mats or Swedish mats) have come to be an increasingly common device to self-treat a complete series of conditions, ranging from back pain to poor blood circulation.



What is Acupressure?



Acupressure (not to be confused with acupuncture) is an ancient, non-invasive, healing approach based on the application of physical pressure on particular points along the body. The acupressure mat (initial invented within the former Soviet Union inside the late 1970s) allows its users to harness the helpful properties of acupressure within a low cost and helpful manner. Lying on it for just 25-30 minutes, in fact, boosts peripheral blood circulation and encourages the body to release endorphins and oxytocin, which in turn aids relieve pain, muscle tension, pressure and fatigue.



It can be because of this that acupressure mats have turn out to be more and more preferred over the past decade. Such reputation, even so, has led to a massive proliferation of brands and models, which can engender confusion inside the potential buyer. One only has to perform a standard search on the web to become deluged with a multitude of products (some great, some not so good) that can all look precisely the same for the untrained eye.



How do you then choose an acupressure mat? How do you separate the wheat from the chaff and make sure you only choose the very best one? Nicely, inside a nutshell, the key will be to look closer and to look inside.



Look Closer



The plastic discs covering the mat (known as flowers or florets) should not contain fewer than 30 or greater than 40 guidelines. In the former case, acupressure may possibly outcome too uncomfortable whereas inside the latter, it might be also "bland" and, consequently, ineffective. The excellent number of guidelines in every single disc should range involving 32 and 36. Also, such tips shouldn't conjure up esoteric symbols or pictures, but needs to be pyramidal.



Look Inside



Avoid at all expenses any padding produced of affordable foam rubber, which harms both your back along with the environment. Opt, rather, for any padding produced of vegetable fibres (coir, spelt chaff, and so on.). Unlike foam rubber, actually, vegetable fibres are breathable, do not enable sweat and dust to accumulate, do not attract mites, do not drop their shape over time and, much more importantly, ensure perfectly uniform acupressure, improving its effectiveness. Additionally, vegetable fibres are absolutely organic and totally recyclable, resulting in minimal environmental effect.