Between a knot and a hard place: the new amazing Acupressure Pillow that provides instant relief to back, neck and shoulder pain

By creammagazine, April 28, 2026

There’s back pain. General back pain. Pain from sleeping somewhat askew on the sofa overnight, having fallen asleep halfway through that really bad rom-com. Or back pain from lifting that big box of dinnerware in the storage room a little too quickly than your vertebrae had anticipated. And then there’s major back pain. Major.

My back pain is the result of a nightclub ceiling landing on it back in 2002. The false ceiling of the second floor of a dodgy dive bar in Oxford Street, Sydney, called Stonewall. The back pain that for decades I’ve tried everything to see subside, only for every other week to feel the flare ups of muscular-skeletal damage, of which no club owner took responsibility for. Hence funds for physical therapies have all come out of my own pocket – be it footing the bill of a monthly physio, medi-travel trips to places where traditional and hard massage have been combined to offer remedy, albeit to no long-lasting avail. Big bills by chiropractic practitioners who evidently did nothing but worsen the delicate situation.

Painkillers from iboprufen to hardcore paracetamol to even sneaking in the occasional oxy just didn’t cut it. And no amount of reiki, shiatsu, nor kinesiology, no yoga, tai chi or other physical therapy have managed to help me manage it. So I’d just given in and gotten used to the pain. But then…

One thing I hadn’t tried – in fact, hadn’t even heard of until an email about it arrived the other day – is this thing called an ‘acupressure pillow’. Conceived and created by NSW-based inventor Malcolm Trotter, while its name sounds semi-fluffy, the product itself actually isn’t. Not being a tradesman of hard fabrics myself, I’m not really sure what it’s made of but it feels like a hardened form of foam or plastic, although By the time I’d tested the product for four weeks and gotten around to reading up on it online, I learnt that its backyard prototype was made out of wood, now thankfully refined for the wellness consumer market.

It’s evidently not soft this particular pillow and that in itself had me concerned. How was something so solid, opaque, thick and sturdy end up doing something soothing to the areas of my back that were suffering back pain? Add to this a simple single plastic block that’s basically twice the size of a single Lego brick that has to be screwed onto the centre of the top of the pillow and I’m thinking, hmmmm, what relief do I really think I’m going to get out of this things.

Relax, it’s not as tough as it sounds. Instructions tell me to fold a towel into two, place it over the hard pillow, then put something like a soft thin cushion on top of that, before slowly navigating certain parts of my back that have been giving me trouble. While now you’re probably imagining a scene of one-man Twister being played out, actually everything was supereasy – and more importantly, super positive in results.

I simply laid down a yoga mat, propped the pillow at one end, laid the towel and cushion on top of the ‘bolt’ (or ‘knuckle’ as I like to call it) and found myself worming into hard-to-get-to areas of excruciating pain only to see these suddenly subside into spots of instant relief. The simple ‘knuckle’ does a lot to stimulate key points in the back, neck and shoulders to ease stifness, relax tight muscles, and improve circulation.

If you’ve ever had acupuncture done to your body, you’ll know that the soreness of the sudden needle prick quickly turns into something wonderfully remedial in sensation. Though there’s no sharp objects involved with using the acupressure pillow – just the nicely padded knuckle – you feel a similar sense of instant remedy/relief as you arch your back over the pillow. There. Nope, nearly there. There, ah yes, there. Just there. Several seconds in healing the pain at that spot, then move along to the next. The best thing is, of course, you put the role of therapist into your own hands, and your navigating the pillow on a regular (say bi-nightly?) basis sees you getting used to your back’s nuances.

Where plenty of wellness devices can take up space in the house or garage when not being used (which is usually the scenario), the acupressure pillow is a cinch to store away. I’d probably not recommend sleeping with your head over it for any long periods of time, but I’d certainly suggest investing in it and using it a few times a week as you discover your back pain lessening, and keeping the exercise up as often as your body tells you to.

Indeed, the nifty acupressure pillow is a simple, drug-free device designed to apply targeted pressure to specific points on any part of the body, but most people find it most apt for back, neck and shoulders.

Developed from personal experience (I also recently learnt that inventor Malcolm was once a sufferer of chronic pain in various parts of the body), this brilliant Aussie invention has gone on to also help aleviate muscle tension, improve circulation, and promote general relaxation through regular stimulation.

I found that short-term effects of using the product included immediate sensations such as tingling, warmth, and the occasional mild discomfort, but always followed by an ‘Ahhhh’-like sense of relaxation.

And in the long run (four weeks to date), I found I’ve sensed improved flexibility in my limbs, better posture at the work desk, and generally less pain in my back and beyond.

I’m looking at this product as I complete this review – it’s grey, solid, simple in its blatantly pragmatic design – just a curved bit of hardened foam and a small plastic bolt that kind of feels like an average-sized knuckle, and I’m wondering to myself, how in the hell did no poor pain-stricken person come up with this clever thing ages ago? Kudos to you, Malcolm. You’ve created a humble but most effective, magical thing here. Every little muscle in my back thanks you.

Antonino Tati

Acupressure Pillow is available for $59 from acupressurepillow.com.au.