As I mentioned a week or so ago, we are moving our showroom to another suite, where we can dedicate the whole space to massage chairs and not share with the chiropractic clinic. Another Doctor is managing the clinic now, leaving me to look after the massage chair business full time. I absolutely love the massage chair business, especially the internet end of it.

We had the walls textured and painted at the end of last week. We also had some tile put in the front entrance and had the carpet laid today. It looks beautiful…like a living room. You will feel so comfortable when you come visit us; just like you are in your own home. Tomorrow we will move the massage chairs over to the showroom and my wife still has some decorating to do. We are also going to go with as much incandescent lighting as possible and stay away from the fluorescent which are built into this building where the showroom now is. We figure that the natural lighting will feel better and warmer than the fluorescent bulbs which are so commonplace in commercial businesses.

We should be getting the new Inada massage chairs this month, along with the HT-103 and the Perfect Chair by Human Touch. We are excited to expand our brick and mortar selection for the good people of Utah. Some day we will have such a massage chair showroom in your city!

Our new address will be 2248 W. 5400 S. , Taylorsville, Utah. Our local phone number will remain the same at 801-417-8240 and our toll free number is also still the same…1-888-259-5380. You can get a hold of us either way. Come visit this unique massage chair showroom. You will love it!

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

I was just having a chit-chat with our Licensed Massage Therapist, Steff, and I was telling her about all of our international sales of massage chairs. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, we do sell a lot of massage chairs overseas.

Well, in the course of our discussion I mentioned a story about a massage we shipped to a client in Iraq. She thought the story was so cool that she thought I should share it with my readers. So, here is the story.

I get an email from an eastern European oil worker living in Kirkuk Iraq. I can’t mention her name because she asked me to never post her identity on the website because she was afraid her mother, back in Europe, would find out her daughter was working in war-torn Iraq! Wouldn’t that be a surprise to a parent?!?

She wanted to purchase a Human Touch Get-A-Way massage chair, which the company has since discontinued, and have us ship it to Iraq for her. I had never shipped to the Mid-East before (even though since then we have sold chairs to Azerbaijan and Jordan) so I was a little leery about a shipment to Iraq. Well, we got her a shipping quote and, upon her approval and payment, we trusted the massage chair to the shipping powers that be.

A couple of weeks later I got a letter from our client with notice that she had received her chair and that she was absolutely loving it. She also sent photos of the convoy vehicle that carried her massage chair from Bagdad to Kirkuk (the chair was flown to Bagdad and then couriered to Kirkuk by SUV). The truck was completely riddled with bullet holes along the side that was showing on the photo! I couldn’t believe it! She said that although the convoy was attacked by terrorists, the chair made it in one piece and they were absolutely loving it.

Quite a massage chair story, eh? Well, here are her words after sitting in the massage chair upon receiving it:

“Hi Alan, look at my new chair!!!! It’s awesome! It makes me so happy! Do You see those smiles on the faces? Me and my Best Friend..

One of my colleague already cornered me and said he would like to order one, too, but he would have it shipped to his home address in the US, not to here..I let him check it out and I give him Your e-mail address..

I don’t even know how to thank You, Alan.

I’d like to thank You for all of Your help, Your honesty, Your full support, Your responsiveness, Your kindness,…Your friendship,…everything!

I am very grateful to You.

This chair will make my life so much nicer here in Kirkuk. I hope I can enjoy it for a long time..

Take care and keep in touch.”

A. V. .

Have a great day, wherever in the world you may be right now. And remember, no matter where you live, we can ship a massage chair to you.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

I thought you’d be interested in this article we wrote for the HT-7450 anti-gravity massage chair. I put it on hub pages so that it can get a little more distribution and readership. If you read the article and like it, feel free to leave a comment on Hubpages.

http://hubpages.com/hub/Human–Touch-HT-7450-The-Worlds-First-Anti-Gravity-Massage-Chair

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this blog.

Dr. Alan  Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

Well, it looks like we have outgrown our Massage Chair Relief Retail Outlet. We have been carrying 7 models in our current showroom, which is within the walls of our chiropractic clinic, but now, with the coming of the Inada models this month, we are out of room and are relocating our massage chair store to a different store front.

The good news is that we are relocating to a storefront within the same shopping center where the clinic and previous showroom are located. We will be dedicating about 500 square feet to a massage chair showroom. My good wife, Mona, is in charge of the interior decorating of the new showroom and I can tell you that she has the touch! She will be making the showroom feel like a living room so that visitors can get a feel for how their new massage chair would look and feel in their own living or family room.

We will also be carrying the Perfect Chair model P6 anti-gravity reclining chair by Human Touch, in addition to the 7 current models. This chair is not a massage chair, but is the motivation behind the new HT-7450 anti-gravity massage chair. I mentioned that we will be carrying the Inada massage chairs, but in the showroom we will begin with only the new Sogno massage chair and the model i2a chair.

This will give us 10 chair models available to the public. We will add more models as we go along, giving us, no doubt, the largest massage chair showroom in Utah, if not the rest of the western US (I will find out if there are any other showrooms in the country with as many models to choose from and try out as we have).

We are excited about the new showroom. It is going to be great to have a showroom solely dedicated to massage chairs and not have the chiropractic clinic as part of the display. Now, we can decorate as we see fit for the massage chair alone. We are excited to get this going. The construction, texturing, painting, baseboards, tile work, and carpet laying should be done this week. I will let you know when it is done, with some accompanying photos of the new showroom. I think you are going to love it!

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

Dr. Weidner here again. I am just so excited about the new model from Family Inada called the Sogno massage chair. I have seen images of this chair and the first thing that struck me is how amazing and contemporary it looks. It will be released to the US public at the end of April or the first part of May. We have already pre-ordered one for our own showroom. Some of the things I like about it include neck traction, along with regular neck traction, a hip air massage on either side of your seat that undulates in a figure 8 to work the side of your hips, and arm massage air bags hidden within the frame of the chair. It is really quite unique. The US distributor says that this massage chair will blow away all other chairs. I can’t wait to see it!!

Family Inada has been making high quality massage chairs since at least the early 1970’s and has progressively developed new chairs that are industry leaders in design and function. They are created in Japan, whereas most other chairs are manufactured in China, and are usually priced at a higher point than most other chairs. The Sogno will have two models, one for $5999 and one for $6499. The higher priced massage chair will be sold through health care providers and has some additional features over the lower priced model. Once we get all the data on the chair, I will post it on this blog. In the meantime, here is a video that describes more of the features of this unique and amazing chair…

Jimmie R. bought an Omega Montage massage chair from us a couple of weeks ago. I just had to share his experience with you because it teaches some really good and bad lessons about massage chair usage.

We set up the chair, left some instructions with Jimmie on how to use the remote control and some of the other features, and then left him to his own “therapeutic designs”.

A week later, I visited with Jimmie and asked him how the new massage chair was working for him. He told me the following…

He had sat on the massage chair for 3 HOURS! Yes, you heard me right…3 straight, solid hours of massage chair therapy, on the first day! He then told me that he was sick for a week. I asked him if he had nausea, a cold, flu, headaches, or what. He said “Yes” to all of those symptoms. So, after sitting on a massage chair for 3 straight hours, he developed all kinds of “flu-like” symptoms that persisted for a week.

I asked him how he was doing now and he said fantastic. He said that his neck and arm pain that he had had for years was all gone. He said he never felt better! Isn’t that something?

So, I figure what happened was that he sat on the massage chair way too long, which unleashed lots of toxins from the muscles into his body (most bodies are not accustomed to massage when they receive it). These toxins have a nasty way of expressing themselves, as in the above list of symptoms suffered by our dear friend Jimmie. Then he felt great because the long and short of it is that massage from massage chairs actually is VERY THERAPEUTIC. Jimmie reaped the benefits of massage, but just in a far more difficult way than he actually had to experience them.

Here are the lessons learned:

1. Do not sit on a massage chair for 3 hours if you are not accustomed to the massage chair therapy. 10 - 20″ is just fine to start.
2. Drink plenty of non-carbonated beverages, i.e. water, after a massage chair session to minimize the toxin pain.
3. Expect to feel better, because your body really appreciates being massaged.
4. If you are sore after your first few massage chair sessions, don’t be discouraged. It is commonplace and you WILL feel better…I promise.

Thanks for the lessons Jimmie and I am sure glad you are loving your new massage chair.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

Have you been having bad headaches, pain and numbness in your arms or down your legs? Have you been experiencing sharp pain in your ribs or back when taking in a breath or just changing positions? You could have trigger points in your muscles sitting on nerve pathways causing this pain. Now while trigger points are not always the cause for these symptoms, before looking into surgery and/or taking heavy medication it may be worth it to schedule a massage session with a licensed massage therapist who specializes in deep tissue and trigger point therapy. Once you find out that you, in fact, have trigger points, then regular sessions on your massage chair will serve you greatly. You do not need to go too terribly frequently to a massage therapist if you have a massage chair in your home or business. Regular use of your massage chair has been shown to reduce muscle spasm and trigger points.

What is a trigger point you ask? The simple version is this; they are deposits left behind in a muscle that has sent a message to the brain that it has been injured, whether through repetitive strain or a traumatic injury. Once the brain receives the signal it sends out a distress call and several chemical mediators show up to the site. In the process of repair sometimes little “buildups” are left behind. These are what patients commonly call their “knots.” When a trigger point is sitting on a nerve it can cause localized or referred pain. That is why your headaches may be coming from your neck or shoulder pain could be from one in your back. They can form in any muscle, big or small. Not all trigger points are active there are some that are latent…these are masses that you can feel but they do not cause pain.

The good news is that although they can cause chronic conditions if not rubbed out and a lot of pain, once they are found and “worked” on by a skilled LMT or by your massage chair recliner, the painful symptoms should subside as well. So if you can endure the discomfort of a deep tissue/trigger point session, or if you can stand resting on your massage chair a couple of times a day for a while, you should feel better within a few days. Always remember to drink a lot of water after one of these sessions to flush out what the therapist or massage chiar has broken up and don’t be surprised if you feel a little bit worse before you feel better, but it’s worth it!

Steffanie Wistos, LMT
Commercial Sales Manager
www.massage-chair-relief.com

It doesn’t happen very often, but once in a great while we have a massage chair returned to us. Some folks who have never tried out the massage chair prior to ordering it find that it doesn’t fit them properly or that it is too aggressive or not aggressve enough. Some folks just have buyer’s remorse.

Whatever the reason, we know that it happens and we want to make sure that each and every customer is happy with their investment. In the event that a massage chair is returned to us, here are our return policies:

1. we will refund the total purchase amount, less the cost of shipping the massage chair back to us. I once was asked if the person returning the massage chair is responsible for paying for the free shipping to the buyers home or business. The answer is “no”…we refund everything. The buyer is just responsible for the cost of shipping the massage chair back to us. Now, we can arrange the shipping and have it picked up for you, but that shipping cost will be deducted from  your refund amount.

2. we offer a 90-day money back guarantee on all of our massage chairs. We recommend holding onto the shipping materials until you are at least sure that you are going to keep your massage chair. If you decide to return it you will have the packing material available. If you throw it away and you decide to return the chair, you will be responsible for providing packing material for it before shipping.

3. We refund the full amount of the original purchase price, including sales tax if the massage chair was purchased in Utah, by check and not by putting the money back into your credit card account. Since the credit card companies charge us a percent amount of the purchase price for each transaction, we prefer to send a check and save the percentage points.

4. Refunds are issued once the massage chair has been received and checked to make sure it is functioning normally.

5. If you just want to exchange your massage chair for another, decide which chair you want, ship your first chair back to us and we will ship the new massage chair choice to you. We will then either bill or credit you the difference. Free shipping also applies to the new chair, by the way.6. There are no refunds offered for international orders.

I hope this makes our policies clear. Let us know if there is anything else we can answer for you that I have not covered in this blog entry.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com

I get a lot, and I mean a lot, of inquiries about our massage chairs from around the world. If you visit our International  Orders page you will see that we have shipped chairs to Germany, Greece, England, New Zealand, Iraq, Jordan, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Canada (refer to our previous blog post about the Canada stuff), and Chile, among other places.

We just love our international clients; they are kind and gracious and, oh, so grateful for the care we give them when we ship  a massage chair to their country. However, there are some things our international clients get to know when considering buying a massage chair from us or any other US retailer. I have made a list of 7 things that are very important to know before ordering:

1. Warranties are usually null and void as soon as the chair leaves US soil. Now, Panasonic and Sanyo are huge international companies and may have warranty caveats around the world. I have heard of some of our clients getting serviced overseas by local service techs of Panasonic and Sanyo electronics. It is interesting to note that most of our international sales are Panasonic and Sanyo. Human Touch and Omega warranties are not in effect outside of the US, when shipped from a US retailer. Of course, you may never have a problem with the massage chairs and a warranty issue may never come up. If a problem does come up, you can do a couple of things: a.) call the manufacturer and pay for the part that needs replacing, or b.) find a technician in your country that can fix the problem and just pay him/her for the service rendered.

2. Many countries do not accommodate the 110 volt electronic devices, but use the 220 v system. No problem! Just get a transformer/converter that will convert your power from 110v to 220v. We use a transformer, called a step-up transformer, that we buy from a supplier in California, which retails for about $149. We have sold and shipped many of these around the world and they are heavy duty and extremely reliable. They can handle the size of appliance that is a massage chair. You can also check with your local stores in your country to see if they have something that will work. It will save you the shipping, at least. DO NOT plug a 110v massage chair into a 220 v outlet, unless of course you enjoy spending a lot of hard earned money and then seeing your possession burn up immediately!

3. We prefer wiring of funds for international orders. We do accept some credit card orders, but there is a larger chance of fraud with credit cards, so we are cautious when dealing with an international client that wants to use a credit card. Many times, you will have to call your banking institution that issued your credit card to get permission to purchase a high dollar item like a massage chair over the internet.

4. We typically offer free shipping and bonus gifts for all our domestic US massage chair sales, but for international orders those bonuses do not apply. Shipping is just so expensive for both that we cannot do that and consider ourselves to be fiscally responsible. We will get a shipping quote for all of our visitors that request one, but the free shipping is not a possibility.  I will tell you, though, that most of our buyers find that the cost of a massage chair in their country is so expensive that it is cheaper to buy the massage chair  AND shippping from us. We ship most of our massage chairs by air, but once in a while, we get a request for shipment by sea…it is usually a little less expensive, but it takes quite a bit longer to get your new massage chair if you go by sea.

5. No refunds on massage chairs shipped internationally. Make sure it is what you want, because once it leaves US soil, it is yours for the keeping or selling!

6. Every international buyer should check with their local customs office to find out what duty, customs, or sales tax you may have to pay before you can pick up your massage chair. Every country is different, so it behooves you to look into it before making your buying decision so that you are not shocked by some huge tax levied against your beautiful new massage chair.

7. Our toll free phone number, 1-888-259-5380, does not work for international callers. You will have to email or text or online chat with us to get a hold of us to discuss a purchase. I would be happy to give you my personal cell number if you are serious about getting a massage chair shipped internationally. Email me if you ‘d like to talk over the phone and I will send you my number.

I think that is about it regarding international orders. If you have any further questions, feel free to get a hold of us and we will answer to the best of our knowledge and ability.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com 

The Sanyo 5000 massage chair and Sanyo 7700 massage chair has an interesting feature on it that we have learned more about recently.

Most of the upper-crust massage chairs have some sort of scanning device to scan the back and it’s musculature to figure out what kind of massage your back deserves. They all seem to have some sort of technology that figures out where your tight spots are and then the massage chair personalizes the massage to your spine! Pretty cool, eh?

Well, the Sanyo 5000 does that, but it also has another feature that we think is quite fascinating. It has a sensor that measures body perspiration, temperature, and heart rate. Isn’t that neat? It only works on the Whole Body Sensor automatic programs. Well, while the chair is scanning your back for muscle tightness and body height and weight, this sensor will integrate the body perspiration, temperature, and heart rate into the total body scan. It is called the Stiffness Detection Sensor.

You hold the sensor in your hand while the massage chair goes through the preliminary scan. What’s interesting is that as the body is scanned, the remote control display will show where the problematic areas are on the spine by putting red circles around the blue dots that represent every area of the back. If you hold onto the sensor during the entire massage session, you will actually see the red circles disappear as the back tightness and spasm is reduced. Our experience is that the red circles that the chair senses as your problem areas usually correlate to where you are feeling pain or tightness already. A very intuitive chair!

It reminds me of a diagnostic tool a lot of chiropractors use, called a Surface EMG, which highlights the spastic areas of the spinal musculature and then is used after treatments to see what changes occurred as a result of the treatment.

A very neat tool that just adds to the whole massage chair experience.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com