Back Pain Sleep is a small, independent site about one thing that most health publishers treat as a footnote: how to actually live, and sleep, with nerve pain, neck pain and back pain. It is written from lived experience first, and backed by reputable medical sources second.
The guides here are written under the pen name Jamie Hartley. Behind that name is a real person who has lived with occipital neuralgia and chronic neck pain for more than twenty years. Not a clinic, not a content farm, and not a team of anonymous writers paid by the word.
Why this site exists
Occipital neuralgia is a strange, isolating condition. It is not common enough to be well understood by the people around you, and the information online tends to come from one of two places: medical pages that explain the anatomy but never tell you how to get through a bad night, or product sites that just want to sell you a pillow. After two decades of trial and error, a lot of it at three in the morning, it became clear that the practical, day to day knowledge was missing. That gap is what this site tries to fill.
The aim is simple. Take the things that genuinely helped, check them honestly against what the medical evidence says, and write them up clearly so the next person does not have to learn everything the hard way.
Why I write under a pen name
Writing about a personal health condition in public is not something everyone wants attached to their real name and face, and that is a reasonable choice. Using a consistent pen name lets the writing stay honest and personal without turning private medical history into something permanently searchable. The experience is real. The name is a layer of privacy, nothing more. Everything written here is either first hand experience or clearly sourced from recognized medical bodies, and where the two differ, the medical guidance wins.
What we cover
The site is organized into a few closely related areas: occipital neuralgia and nerve pain, cervicalgia and everyday neck pain, tension headaches and how they differ from migraine, and sciatica and lower back pain. Running alongside those is practical, hands on guidance about the products that affect sleep most, especially pillows. If you are new here, a good place to start is what is occipital neuralgia, the complete guide to tension headaches, or the complete guide to sciatica and sleep.
What we have experienced, and what we have not
Being clear about this matters. The lived experience here is of the conditions themselves: the symptoms, the triggers, the sleep problems, and the slow process of finding what helps. That is genuine and it runs deep.
What we do not claim is laboratory product testing. We are not a testing lab and we do not pretend to be. Product recommendations are made by researching specifications, design features, the relevant comfort and support principles, and verified buyer feedback, then filtering all of it through real experience of what neck and nerve pain actually need at night. Where we have used something ourselves we say so. Where we have not, we say that too. You can read exactly how this works on our review methodology page.
What you can expect from us
Honesty over hype. We would rather tell you that a cheaper option is fine, or that a product is not worth it, than push a sale. We use affiliate links to keep the site running, explained in full in our affiliate disclosure, but those links never change which products we recommend or what we say about them. Our wider standards for research, sourcing and corrections are set out in our editorial policy.
This is not medical advice
Everything here is general information drawn from personal experience and reputable sources. It is not a diagnosis and it is not a substitute for advice from a qualified healthcare professional. Pain that is severe, sudden, or getting worse always deserves proper medical attention. Please read our medical disclaimer, and if something is not right, speak to a doctor.
Get in touch
Questions, corrections and suggestions are genuinely welcome, and reader feedback often shapes what gets written next. You can reach us through the contact page.
Why sleep is the thread that ties it together
Almost every condition covered here gets worse at night, and poor sleep then makes the pain worse the next day. It is a loop that anyone with chronic pain knows well. Daytime advice is everywhere, but the night is where these conditions are quietly at their hardest: the wrong pillow height, a turn onto the wrong side, an hour of lying awake while a flare builds. Because sleep is where so much of the struggle actually happens, it sits at the center of everything we write, from positions and pillow support to wind down routines and managing a flare at two in the morning.
How a typical guide is researched
Each guide starts from a real question, usually one we have had to answer for ourselves. We set out what has helped in practice, then check every general health claim against recognized medical sources such as the NHS, Cleveland Clinic and the relevant specialist bodies, and link to them so you can read further. We separate clearly what is personal experience from what is established medical information, add a plain when to seek medical help section where it matters, and keep the language free of jargon. If we cannot support a claim properly, we either reword it as personal experience or we leave it out.
Who this site is for
It is for the person newly diagnosed and overwhelmed, the person who has been managing pain for years and is looking for one more thing that might help, and the person trying to understand what a partner or parent is going through. It is not a replacement for your doctor, and it is not trying to be. It is the practical companion that sits alongside proper medical care.
Independent and reader supported
Back Pain Sleep is independent. No brand pays for a favorable mention, and no manufacturer has any say over what we publish. The site is funded through affiliate links and run by one person who actually lives with these conditions, which is exactly why the recommendations stay grounded in what helps rather than what sells. If that ever stops being true, the site will not be worth running.