Dr. Peter Martone | Sleep Position & Spinal Alignment | Tom Rowland Podcast Ep. 950

Dr. Peter Martone is a chiropractor with 25 years of clinical practice who specializes in sleep optimization and neurostructural posture correction. A former rugby player at UMass Amherst who studied exercise physiology and kinesiology, he discovered that the position you sleep in can re-traumatize your structure night after night, undoing any adjustments or recovery you achieve during waking hours. In this conversation with Tom Rowland, Dr. Martone reveals how he entered the sleep industry not to help people sleep, but to fix their structure while they slept — including how he healed his own herniated disc by changing his sleep position. This episode unpacks the connection between sleeping position and daytime pain, why stomach sleeping is the worst thing you can do for your spine, and how Dr. Martone's Way Better Sleep Academy uses neurostructural assessments to determine your sleep type and recommend the exact pillow height you need.

From Rugby in Australia to Chiropractor School

Dr. Martone's path to becoming a sleep specialist started with a backpack and a rugby tournament. After high school, he flew to Australia to play rugby sevens, then decided to stay and train as a rugby team trainer. He studied exercise physiology and kinesiology, lived out of his backpack traveling up and down the Australian coast, and fished everywhere from Sydney to Melbourne to Brisbane. But it wasn't until he met a chiropractor back in the States who fixed his stomach issues with a single adjustment that he realized there was more to structure than just pain and posture. That one conversation changed his career trajectory completely. Hear how a stomach problem led to chiropractic school in the opening minutes of the episode.

The Neurostructural Protocol That Changed Everything

After 25 years in clinical practice, Dr. Martone developed a neurostructural protocol that reads posture like a blueprint. He explains that your posture is the result of your neurology's battle with gravity — your brain is constantly trying to keep you upright, and the way your body adapts reveals what's happening internally. But here's the problem: he could adjust patients perfectly in the office, and they'd come back the next day with all the work undone. Why? Because they were re-traumatizing their structure every night while they slept. That realization led him to enter the sleep industry not to help people fall asleep, but to fix their structure while they slept. The full story of why adjustments weren't holding starts around the 10-minute mark.

Why Your Sleeping Position Is a Symptom, Not a Choice

Dr. Martone makes a crucial point: the way you sleep is determined by your neurology, not by preference. If you have lower back pain, your brain wants you to sleep on your back with a pillow under your knees because it reduces tension. But that creates a posterior pelvic tilt that affects your entire spine. If you sleep on your stomach, it indicates an anterior pelvic tilt that's putting massive stress on your lower back and forcing you to turn your head to breathe, re-traumatizing your neck every night. The goal isn't just to change your sleeping position — it's to fix the underlying structure first, then transition to a more optimal position. Dr. Martone has developed a seven-step process through the Way Better Sleep Academy that assesses your sleep type and guides you through the transition. The detailed breakdown of how neurology determines sleep position starts around the 15-minute mark.

The Pillow Height Problem Nobody Talks About

For side sleepers, the pillow height is everything. Too high and your neck flexes forward, putting pressure on your cervical spine and causing neck pain, headaches, and upper back pain. Too low and your neck extends backward, creating the same problems from a different angle. The goal is to have your head aligned with your spine in a neutral position, filling the gap between your neck and shoulder perfectly. Dr. Martone has created custom pillows designed for specific sleep types based on assessments that measure your structure, movement patterns, and neurology. He also addresses back sleepers — and why you should never sleep with a pillow under your knees if your goal is spinal alignment. Tom asks about mattresses, and Dr. Martone explains why side sleepers need a medium to medium-firm mattress that supports hips and shoulders while contouring to the body. The pillow and mattress breakdown for different sleep types happens in the second half of the conversation.

Final Thoughts from Tom

I've spent years trying to improve my sleep quality because as a fishing guide, you don't get a lot of sleep duration. So if you can improve the quality, you can show up better for your clients and still have energy left for your family at the end of the day. I've read Matthew Walker's Why We Sleep, tried darker rooms, earplugs, all of it. But this conversation with Dr. Martone added something I hadn't really considered: the position itself.

What stood out to me was the idea that your sleeping position is a symptom of your structure, not just a habit. And that if you're waking up with pain, you might be re-traumatizing yourself every single night. That's a game-changer. The pillow height conversation was especially interesting — I'm a side sleeper, and I've never really thought about whether my pillow is too high or too low. Now I'm going to pay attention.

Dr. Martone is clearly passionate about this work, and it comes through in the conversation. If you're someone who deals with neck pain, back pain, or just doesn't wake up feeling rested, this episode is worth your time. I learned a lot, and I'm going to implement some of his recommendations starting tonight. Listen to the whole thing.