After months of waiting, the wait is over! We received our Inada Sogno PLUS and i2A massage chairs this morning. It took us most of the morning to assemble the Sogno chair. It was quite a task to put it together. The foot rest and the sides have to be assembled. The chair came in two large boxes, but assembles it weighed 250 pounds, 40 lbs. less than the HT-1650. The assembling instructions are pretty straight forward, but the time it took to assemble was quite a while. Fortunately for all Songo buyers, the chair comes with White Glove Service…in other words, the shippers will assemble the chair in your home and/or business.

We got the creme colored Sogno PLUS massage chair. Now, I have been calling it the Dream Weaver PLUS chair in previous blog posts, but it is actually the Dream WAVE PLUS chair. I was messed up with the name for a time, but now we have straightened ourselves out. I sat in the chair this afternoon for the first time and it was quite a ride! I actually fell asleep while Steffanie was explaining the chair functions to me.

We also set up our Inada i2A massage chair this morning and took it for a test drive too. A very nice massage. I am embarrassed to say but this was the first time I had ever sat in an Inada massage chair. Human Touch used to carry the i2A, but called it the RMS-10, years ago when I first began selling massage chairs, but I had never actually sat in one. It is a very nice massage chair…you can tell that this company’s chairs are built with quality, just with the look and feel of the chairs. I also noticed that the Sogno massage chair is made in Japan, while the i2A is made in China.

Steffanie and I both are taking notes about the chairs and will provide a more in-depth review of the chairs in future blog posts. But, for now, we are really enjoying them. Comments from the showroom visitors today share our feeling that these are very nice massage chairs. Here are a couple of pics of me on the new Sogno massage chair.

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

I got off the phone yesterday with Cliff Levin, President of the FIUS, the US Distributor for Family Inada massage chairs, after telling me that the shipment of Inada Sogno Dreamweaver PLUS massage chairs that was to have reached folks by the third week of July is completely SOLD OUT already! Fortunately we had some orders that were filled with this shipment, but I have plenty of other folks that are waiting till the last minute to place their order with us.

This is all I have to say…if you want a Sogno Dreamweaver PLUS massage chair (and I rarely get calls about the standard Sogno model, by the way) you better get ordering today, because these chairs are so “hot” that they are pre-sold before the shipment even comes in and if you don’t have your stake in one, you will have to wait…and wait…and wait…

The next shipment is coming in the first week of August and Cliff tells me that their are only a few chairs unspoken for at this point…but they will be taken very soon. So, if you are considering getting one of these revolutionary new massage chairs, don’t sit on your butt. Get on the phone and call us right now to assure that you get your chair before anyone else does.

Since ordering these chairs online is a “no-no”, you must call us to place your order. You can all us toll-free at 1-888-259-5380 or you can call our showroom’s local Utah number at 1-801-417-8240 and speak to Steffanie about placing your order for you.

We are finally getting our new Sogno Dreamweaver PLUS massage chair next week and, I’ve got to tell you, we are so excited about it. I’ll give you a full report on this blog once I get the chair tested and evaluated.

Did I also mention that the Sogno PLUS is only sold through select health care providers. I am your man (or doctor)!!

Have a super day…and don’t delay.

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

Apparently, from here on out, Sanyo is selling their zero-gravity Sanyo 7700 massage chair exclusively through Relax The Back stores. So, they have provided another model, almost identical to the 7700 called the Sanyo 6700 massage chair. What are the differences, you ask? Well, there are only 3 and here they are:

1. The Sanyo 6700 massage chair has one zero-gravity position, whereas the Sanyo 7700 has two.

2. The Sanyo 6700 has a Quick Course (a short pre-programmed auto program in addition to the regular automatic programs), which the Sanyo 7700 does not have, but the Sanyo 7700 has an “Air Only” course of massage which the 6700 does not have.

3. The Sanyo 7700 has 2 seat airbags and 2 upper bag airbags, which the Sanyo 6700 does not have. Of course, both chairs have the regular upper back rollers…the 6700 just doesn’t have the air bags in the upper back. The 7700 has two more airbags in the leg airbags than does the 6700 (20 vs. 18).

4. The Sanyo 7700 massage chair has an adjustable leg length extension. The Sanyo 6700 does not require that feature because it has the same ottoman design as the Sanyo 5000 which extends the foot rest to accommodate the longer leg of some users. The Sanyo 7700 has a ottoman similar in design to the HT-1650 which is one piece without a movable footrest. No big deal.

And that, my friends, is about it as far as differences between the two chairs. Oh yeah, and the price of the Sanyo 6700 is $500 less than the 7700! So, it’s regular retail price is $4499. So, from here on out, we will only be selling the Sanyo 6700 model on our website and in our showrooms.

Here is a link to the product brochure of the Sanyo 6700 massage chair: Sanyo 6700 massage chair brochure.

You can click on this link to take a look at a comparison chart of the 2 models: Sanyo 6700 and Sanyo 7700 comparison chart.

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

Greetings!

I just found out today that the delivery date of the Sogno Dreamweaver PLUS massage chair, of which I am so excited to finally see and experience, is being pushed back to the third week of July. It is going to be such a big deal with this chair that I totally get why it is hard to find one around. I pre-ordered mine way back at the beginning of the year, and am still awaiting it’s arrival. The moment I get it in the showroom, I will test and retest it (which means I’ll be sitting in it all day!!) and then will post on the blog so that you can get my feedback about it.

The regular Sogno massage chair is now out on the market and is available to be bought for $5999. It costs about $500 less than the Dreamweaver Plus chair ($6499), but doesn’t have the following features that only the Sogno PLUS does have:

1. heated seat
2. dreamweaver seat massage
3. 3-D massage rollers.
4. the cream color that you see on the video and images is only available on the PLUS model, NOT the Standard model.

I have far more requests for the Dreamweaver PLUS Sogno chair because of these four features. It seems to be far more popular at this point. I suppose that is why it is back ordered for so long.

Here is an interesting thing you should know about the Inada massage chairs…although I can display it on my website, Inada will not allow online retailers to sell the massage chairs using an online shopping cart. The pricing is displayed and the chair information is all on the site, but to order one, you must call us over the phone to place the order. As a matter of fact, the Sogno Dreamweaver PLUS cannot even be displayed on the website…it is only to be demonstrated by a health care provider in their showroom/clinic.

In the meantime, I had a phone interview on May 27, 2008 with the president of FIUS, which is the US distributor for Inada chairs. His name is Cliff Levin and he spent close to an hour answering my questions and telling us a lot about the Sogno chair, the workings of family Inada in Japan, and brief overviews of most of the products we will be selling in our store in July. He is a wonderful fellow and really answered my questions thoroughly and clearly. FIUS, by the way, stands for Family Inada US.

I will provide a link to the interview as soon as it is edited and I have it posted to my website.

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

Sanyo massage chairs have an interesting twist on the body scan technology. As with most of the finer massage chair manufacturers, Sanyo has a height, weight, and muscle tone assessment feature in their body scan technology, but they have added something else that is quite interesting and that patients seem to get a kick out of…the heart/pulse rate, perspiration, and temperature scan.

Sanyo has added an additional remote that sits in a caddy of the main remote control of each chair. This remote has a couple of areas on the back of it that are shiny silver in color over which the user places his/her right hand. You would hold it as though you were holding a small walkie-talkie. This is what the sensor uses to determine your heart/pulse rate, perspiration, and body temperature.

While you are being scanned, the massage chair technology will display the results of that scan, along with the typical height, weight, and muscle tension scan, on the main remote control display. There is a figure of a seated body with blue dots all over it’s back side, indicating the places of the body that are being scanned.

The scan results are displayed as red circles around the blue dots on the body drawing on the remote control. So, during the scan, red circles will show up around the blue dots representing the parts of the body just scanned. Once the scan is complete, the user can do one of two things:

1. Put the scanner back onto the cradle and just enjoy the massage, or
2. Continue to hold the scanner throughout the massage and see what happens to the red circles on the body figure on the remote. It surprises us to see that as the massage chair focuses on the areas of the body where the red circles are found, the red circles begin to disappear over the course of the massage session. In other words, as the massage chair works on the rough areas of the spine and fixes them, the body sensor can actually tell that it is better and the red circles are then removed. Now, if the rough spots are really bad, it may not get rid of the red circles during just one session. It may take a few sessions. But, the fact that the chair can tell right away where the improvement is being made is quite impressive.

The patients just love this feature. To use the vernacular of my teenage years…it’s pretty “cool”.

What is always interesting to us when we have a new client sit in the Sanyo massage chair, is that when the scanner displays the red circles on the person’s spine on the remote control display, based on the scan findings, the user always says “Yep, that’s where I hurt!”…that happens pretty much every time!

By the way, there is no fixed timer on the Sanyo massage chairs because of this scanner technology. Whereas other chairs have a fixed 10, 15, 20, or even 30 minute massage setting, the Sanyo varies between 20-25 minutes because the massage program is catered to the findings of the body sensors. It just might take a little longer on some of our spines because our spines just might be a little more messed up than others.

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…

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

I received a letter the other day from a client who bought an HT-1650 massage chair from our site. Her inquiry addressed a very valid issue for shorter folks on this particular model. I wanted to share her letter and my response to her for your information.

“I have a question about a chair that my husband ordered from you. It arrived two days ago and we have had a few days to try it out. We have found some drawbacks to it and wondered if you can help us…. maybe there is a way to make it work.

“I am 5′7″ and so am not short, but I find it impossible to sit in the chair for a massage at the same time as my legs are getting a massage because the leg massager does not raise up or down and it is too low for my legs.. Most of the pre-programmed massage programs include the legs so I assume the company meant for you to be able to have a back massage and calf/foot massage at the same time. I can get the leg part to feel like it fits better but if you adjust it even a little bit… then it won’t turn on…. it only turns on when fully extended. This causes further problems because by fully extending it, it puts it to far out from the chair and so the back of my calfs hit against the top of the calf massager. I have bruises on the back of my calves from this. Is this really the way it is supposed to work. Is there supposed to be some adjustment as to placement of the leg/calf massager? The chair is nice… I’m just really surprised that you did not make this adjustable for height and leg length. Can you send me some feedback on this.

Also. we find that if we recline the seat than we lose any lower back massage that there is supposed to be. In order to feel it on our lower back we have to be sitting completely vertical. This is not very relaxing. Any ideas? The only way to possibly get comfortable is to use the optional pillows…but then you can’t feel the massage. I’m wondering what was the design thinking here.

Any help on this would be great. I’m hoping that my chair is malfunctioning and that there is a way to raise and lower the calf/foot massager.

Thanks,

Lisa”

“Hi, Lisa!
Thank you so much for your email. You have touched on the ultimate challenge for all massage chairs…being able to cater to every body morphology in the home! In other words, a chair that fits and works perfectly for one may not work ideally for another. We see it all the time. As a matter of fact, we even know of families that have 2 massage chairs…one for the husband and one for the wife, because of this great reconciliation challenge.

Regarding the HT-1650 massage chair, the ottoman has a very unique construction. It’s very construction is what makes it the best leg and foot massager of any chair we have ever experienced in the industry. But, it also creates the issue of which you speak of in your email. Let me explain…

The foot and calf portions of virtually all other chairs are detached and, therefor, separate. In other words, there is a hinge/joint between the two components. In this way, the ottoman can be fully extended to a horizontal position for tall people. The great problem with this is that the foot never gets the intended “reflexology” massage for which it was intended, because when the ottoman is horizontal the foot massager lies parallel and not perpendicular to the calf massager. The user, who wants a calf AND foot massage, now only gets a calf and ankle massage…and it is not very comfortable, quite painful to the ankle by most folks accounts. In order for the user to get a calf AND foot massage, the ottoman has to be at about 45 degrees from horizontal (the highest position of the HT-1650, as you know). Then, when the user fully reclines, with the ottoman at this approximate 45 degree position, the same problem exists that you are talking about with your HT-1650. I will also tell you that the massage on the foot and calf, even in this position, on other chairs, can’t even touch the massage of the HT-1650.

What Human Touch has done to provide the most luxurious and wonderful foot AND calf massage, is make the ottoman one, fixed component. This way, the massage is fantastic, but the ottoman will only go to about 45 degrees. But, to offset this, when the chair is fully reclined, as you mentioned in your letter, the ottoman tends to “lock” the calf and foot in that position and it can “pull” on the low back. Now, to be honest, that is one of the features that some folks absolutely love about the ottoman and full recline….it provides a low back stretch that is very therapeutic, especially for low back pain sufferers. But, for some it is uncomfortable (refer to my opening sentence of this email, regarding the “ultimate challenge” of every massage chair).

Now, this is what we recommend for the HT-1650: For FULL recline, if you struggle with discomfort, just bring the ottoman out to the point where it is horizontal on the ground before it starts to incline to the 45 degree angle. Fully recline the chair and just rest your feet on the ottoman, without putting our whole calf and foot in the ottoman. This will afford you the opportunity to shuffle your back right up against the chair back, take out the pillows, and enjoy an absolutely luxurious massage. When you want to focus on the foot and calf, and you are not comfortable with the ottoman incline and the full recline of the chair back, just incline the chair back to a position of comfort and enjoy. You have probably found that it is only a few degrees of difference to go from discomfort to comfort.

Another thing that might assist you in the use of this chair…the ottoman rotates so that when it is out and you would rather have the back massage without the leg massage, you can just rest your legs on the back of the ottoman massager and position yourself where ever you wish on the chair. There is a little lever on the right hand side of the extended ottoman (when you are sitting on it). Just pull it and rotate the ottoman massager around and then you will have a flat surface whereupon you can lay your legs while your back is being massaged!

I hope this assists you in more optimally using your new chair. It is my personal favorite (I am 5′9″ and I totally get what you are saying about the full recline/ottoman issue). You have chosen our most popular massage chair, BY FAR. It is the finest looking and it has the greatest therapeutic benefit, particularly for the foot and calf. Once you are accustomed to using it for your body type, you will grow to love it like I do.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

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

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 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