Our story
Born from pain. Built for recovery.
The Shoulder Sleeper Pillow™ started the night a professional pitcher couldn't sleep — and ended up in the recovery protocols of surgeons around the world.
Thirty minutes of sleep at a time
Sam Jacobsak was pitching in the Phillies' minor league system when his shoulder gave out. Rotator cuff repair and clean-up; surgery in 2021. The rehab was brutal — but the nights were worse. He couldn't lie on his back. He couldn't roll onto his side. Every time he drifted off he'd shift, the pain would hit, and he'd be awake again. Thirty minutes was a good night. After a full week of it he rang Mike Scaduto, his physiotherapist since school, back home in Boston, and said he couldn't do it any more.
“I was going on week two with no real sleep. I told Mike — there has to be something out there. He looked. Nothing existed.”
A four-piece prototype, hot glue, and a Friday night
Sam went home to Boston that winter to rehab with Mike. When nothing on the market could help, they decided to build it themselves. Sam put together a rough four-piece prototype on a Friday — foam, hand-cut, held together with hot glue — and brought it into Mike's clinic to test. That Monday, Mike walked in with something new: a refined version with real structure, real positioning, real support. The first true Shoulder Sleeper.
From one clinic to surgeons worldwide
They spent two years perfecting it — testing foam densities, refining the cover, quietly putting prototypes in front of surgeons. Mike used his physiotherapy network; Sam worked his rehab contacts in the Phillies organisation. Every patient who had surgery became a chance to test, learn and improve. By launch, the pillow had already been through hundreds of post-op patients: surgeons were asking how to recommend it, and patients were asking where to buy it.
“We weren't designing for a market. We were designing for me — and then for every patient Mike saw after me. That's why it works.”
The people who built it
A small group working on behalf of every patient trying to get through the night.
Sam Jacobsak
Co-founder · former pro pitcher
The patient who became the inventor. Phillies' minor leagues, post-op insomnia, and the question that built the company: would this have worked for me?
Mike Scaduto PT, DPT
Co-founder · physiotherapist
Shoulder and elbow specialist in Massachusetts. He believed his patients deserved better than a wedge pillow and a long night — so he helped build something better.
Backed by leading surgeons
The brand's medical advisory board — the clinicians who pressure-test every design decision.
Dr Ken Yamaguchi, MD, MBA
Shoulder & elbow surgeon
Northwestern Feinberg professor. Designs next-generation shoulder replacement systems and has published more than 175 peer-reviewed papers.
Dr Raffy Mirzayan, MD
Orthopaedic sports medicine
Partner at DOCS Health and co-founder of Shoulder360, with more than 24 years in sports medicine and cartilage repair.
Dr Matthew Pifer, MD
Orthopaedic shoulder surgeon
Shoulder, sports medicine and biologic therapies specialist, Kaiser-trained with a fellowship in sports medicine and arthroscopy.
Where things stand today
- patients helped
- 30,000+patients helped
- surgeons & physiotherapists recommending it
- 300+surgeons & physiotherapists recommending it
- pillow for shoulder recovery, named by Forbes
- #1pillow for shoulder recovery, named by Forbes
The official UK & EU store
shouldersleeper.co.uk is operated by Pace Nordic AB, the brand's official partner for the UK and Europe. Same original product, designed and made in the USA — with delivery to your door, prices in pounds including VAT, a UK returns process and support in European hours. We're the reason you no longer have to import one and hope it arrives before your operation.
What we stand behind
Patient-first
Every feature starts from what patients actually need at 3am — not what's easy to manufacture.
Clinically informed
Designed with surgeons and physiotherapists, and refined through hundreds of real post-op recoveries.
Honest claims
A sleep-support product, described as one. We don't overstate what a pillow can do for your shoulder.
The mission hasn't changed
Every feature, every update and every new product still starts with the question Sam asked Mike in that first week: what would actually have helped me sleep?
We're still building for the patient who can't get through the night. We always will be.
Start your own recovery
Physiotherapist-designed, surgeon-recommended, and made for the part of recovery nobody prepares you for.
Shop the Pillow