A patient of ours dropped by yesterday with a clipping from a magazine stating that Human Touch massage chairs had won a court decision against King Kong massage chairs (the ones you see at Costco) and Premier Health Products massage chairs (PHP massage chairs) for a lawsuit filed by Human Touch.

I gave my people at Human Touch a call to find out what the issue was about.  Apparently, Human Touch has many patents and trademarks regarding their massage chairs, at least one of which deals with their calf massage. Well, it seems that King Kong chairs and PHP chairs have copied the Human Touch technology and used them in their chairs. This infringes the patent…according to the U.S. District Court of central California.

The lawsuit specifically addresses the PHP 2024, 2026w, and 2027 models as well as the King Kong Caesar and semi-parallel Legacy Deluxe massage chair models.

So, what does this mean? Well, for one, it means that Human Touch is truly a pioneer of the new generation of massage chairs. Secondly, it means that if you want the “real thing” in calf and foot massagers, it is best to get a Human Touch chair and not a copycat.

As you all know, we carry many of the Human Touch lines of massage chairs. I have had HT models in my clinic for years and they were actually the first line of chairs we carried on our website.

Here is a link to the press release that deals with this case:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS231182+04-Jan-2008+BW20080104

Have a great day!

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

I am seeing an increasing number of our patrons ordering the White Glove Service (WGS) with their new massage chair, not only on our website but also from our retail outlet. Most folks are not completely familiar with what the WGS is, so I figured I’d take a moment and explain exactly what WGS is.

When you order the WGS, you are essentially ordering a completely hassle-free service where your chair is not only delivered to your home or business, but the packaging is removed too. Now, you may not think that removing the packaging materials is a big deal, but you’d be amazed at how much cardboard, plastic, and styrofoam it takes to package a massage chair! It is quite a bit. As a matter of fact, the packaging from two new massage chairs completely fills our delivery cargo van (by the way, our massage chair delivery van has been come to be known amongst the staff as the “massage chair mobile”).

For some folks, it would be very difficult to put the packaging away in their garbage cans as it would take more than at least two of the large garbage bins to dispose of it all! The WGS takes all that packaging material and disposes of it.

Tip: some folks like to keep their massage chair packaging in their garage or basements in case they return the massage chair or resell it and want to have the same packaging available to them for shipment.

So, this is what you can expect when you order WGS with your new massage chair:
1. delivery of your new massage chair to your home,
2. assembly of your new massage chair in your home,
3. placement of your new massage chair where ever in your home you want it situated, and
4. removal of all packaging material from your home (unless you want to keep it and store in at your home for future use…my kids like to build “forts” from the huge cardboard boxes!).

When you order new massage chair and WGS from us locally, here in the Salt Lake Valley, we also walk you through how to use your new massage chair and remote control when we deliver it to you. We have that added service available, as part of the WGS, so that you can begin using your chair immediately upon receiving it without having to sift through the owner’s manual.

The cost for the WGS is $199.99. We feel it is money well spent. Not just for the chair assembly which, by the way, is really quite easy to do on your own, but for the moving of the chair around your home to where you want it placed and for the packaging material removal. Most, if not all, of our massage chairs are heavy enough that it could take two of you to move it around the house or business, especially when trying to lift it our of the box. Some of the massage chairs, like the Omega and Sanyo chairs, to name a few, have wheels on the back of the chair which allow for easy maneuverability of your new massage chair once it is unpacked.

To order WGS with your massage chair is very simple…you don’t have to do anything!! It is, by default, included in your shopping cart whenever you add a massage chair to the cart. If you DON’T want WGS, then you just have to remove it from the shopping cart, but clicking on the “x” next to the service and it will be removed from your cart. It’s that easy!

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

P.S. the WGS is included in the free shipping of the HT-1650 massage chair and, now, the HT-7450 massage chair.

I hear this a lot. Many folks say that they hurt after their first session on a massage chair. You know, the long and short of it is your body is not used to the therapy…it is not used to having something good like a massage chair massage done to it. I see this all the time in our clinic: a patient comes in for treatment for low back pain and, after a spinal manipulation and a brief spot massage from our massage therapist, they are sore for the next day or so.

Remember how you felt after the shoveling snow after the first snowfall? Or how you felt after working in the yard for the first time in the spring? Or how you felt after going back to playing basketball or golf or bowling, when you hadn’t done it in quite some time? That is the same idea.

You are getting muscles involved by the massage chair that you aren’t used to having worked over. They have been asleep for a while. Nobody likes to get woken up from a comfortable sleep! Your muscles and joints are no different. They are used to same old postural position day after day and now you want to break up the party by massaging and mobilizing them. They are rebelling!! Plain and simple.

So, don’t worry if you have some soreness after a massage chair session. It may even hurt for the first 2-4 sessions, bu eventually your spine is going to get it and snap into shape. You will begin to feel better very soon. You may even notice some great benefits in the rest of your body, even though your muscles might be sore at first. For example, you might feel taller, more limber, or that you can breathe deeper, or that you are sleeping better.

As  my kids say, “It’s all good, Dad.” Hey, “it’s all good” for your spine, too. Just don’t give up on your chair…it will be easier with each passing day. You are going to love your new massage chair. I guarantee it! If you have some other symptoms, besides just some sore muscles, you can always go to your doctor and get a check-up to make sure everything is up to snuff in the rest of your body. You will most likely know the difference between sore muscles and other “stuff”…you know your body.

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

We attended the Salt Lake Remodeling and Redecorating Show this last weekend and had a wonderful time meeting so many of our Salt Lake neighbors. So many folks went tried out our chairs and I would have to say that the unanimous winner of the most popular chair was the HT-1650 massage chair by Human Touch. The foot and calf massage won over the hearts (and legs) of the many shoppers and vendors. They absolutely loved it.

I took a picture with my phone of some of our testers and it was really quite amusing watching folks lie there with their eyes closed and big smiles on their faces. We jokingly told them that they looked like a bunch of happy corpses (if there is such a thing!). We had an absolute blast with everyone. Even my wife came and got into the act…she escorted folks to various chairs and she didn’t even know much about the chairs; she just had fun interacting with everyone and enjoying the positive energy of everyone in attendance. A lot of very tired and sore shoppers and vendors came by for a reprieve from the activities of the show. We were quite glad to hook people up to a massage chair and give them some comfort. Thanks to everyone that visited with us and tried out our massage chairs.

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

I rarely get asked this question, but some folks like to know which chairs, if any, have an arm massage feature on them. Well, here is what we have and what else is out there.  

The Omega Montage massage chair comes with an additional feature if you want to order it…an arm massage device feature. They are large clamp-like gadgets that come off the arm rest into which you place your arms. They kinda look like large, metal blood pressure cuffs that fit on your forearm! It costs $200 extra for the feature, but some folks want that.

The other chairs that we carry that have this feature are the Panasonic 3222 and 30003. But it is also an additional feature for both these chairs. For example, if you want to get the arm massage feature on the Panasonic 30003 massage chair, you get to order the Panasonic 30004 massage chair. If you want the arm massage feature on the Panasonic 3222, then you order the Panasonic 3513. Brookstone used to carry the Panasonic 3513 but has since abandoned that model for their own OSIM chairs. Although we don’t have the Panasonic 3513 or 30004 models on our website, because they are not terribly popular chairs, we can get them for you. Just call us or email me and we can arrange it for you if you are interested in either one.

The HT-1650 massage chair has an arm vibration feature, but it is not a full massage like these other chairs. I wouldn’t consider it arm massage, but it at least is something for the neglected arms (neglected because all our massage chairs cater to eveything except arms!).

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

I was playing around with the Omega Montage massage chair today and had a blast with the MP3 feature. You see, this massage chair comes with a flash drive that already has some MP3 formatted songs downloaded. You just plug the drive into the back of the chair and then put on the headphones that come with the chair and you are listening to your music whilst enjoying your soothing massage. These are full sized headphones, too, not those little light weight ear plug-headphones.

The fun part comes when you push a button on the remote that synchronizes your massage with the music you have playing!! Isn’t that crazy? Yes, it is true that this may not have any therapeutic effect, but it was pretty cool in my estimation. You can adjust the volume and track number of your music from the main remote.

By the way, the main massage chair remote has what I like to call a “mini-me” remote attached to it. It runs on it’s own battery and you can take the mini-remote off the main remote and hold it in your hands while you are in the fully reclined position. You see, you can adjust the massage chair function without having to get upright to press the main remote. The small “mini-me” remote can run everything from your reclined position.  Very clever and practical. Oh, and it has a wrist strap on it so you don’t lose it while getting massaged in the reclined position.

We have the brown Montage in our office and it is a very beautiful color. I strongly recommend it. I also like the calf and foot massage on the Montage, second only to the king of calf and foot massagers…that of the HT-1650.

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