Inada Sogno and Inada Yume – Massage Chair Innovation!

Inada introduced a new massage chair model earlier this year and it is called the Yume (pronounced “You Me”). I’ll talk a bit about this

Inada Sogno Massage Chair

chair later. You may or may not know this, but Inada is the oldest massage chair company in the world. Mr. Inada actually invented the first massage chair in 1962. The rest, as they say, is history.

Inada has been the innovator in this industry for years. Many of the features we enjoy on every massage chair model today, from every manufacturer, was pioneered and innovated by Inada.

Inada  Sogno Massage Chair:

The Inada Sogno Dreamwave massage chair, which has been a blockbuster seller since it was first introduced to theUSmarket at the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) inLas Vegasin February 2008, showed us just how creative the engineers at Inada truly are.

The Inada Sogno bursts onto the scene with a cervical traction device, that has airbag massage in the neck and on top of the trapezia muscles of the shoulders, as well as the patented Dreamwave technology, which introduces passive motion to the hips and low back by using airbags to gently move the pelvis/seat from side to side and up and down. Now, being a chiropractor and looking at this chair through the eyes of a therapist, these features are revolutionary.

Being able to passively move the pelvis, especially for acute low back pain sufferers, is phenomenal. Have you ever had terrible low back pain and been unable to move even an inch because of the pain caused by your spastic muscles? The Dreamwave technology actually addresses that issue.

Finally having a way to massage the top of the shoulders is so innovative that now people who sit at a desk all day and are constantly grabbing their opposite shoulder to massage themselves, will have an “at-home” therapist to do that each and every day for those aching trapezia muscles.

Of course, the Inada Sogno innovates with full arm massage, thigh airbags to address the tight iliotibial bands that virtually all people exhibit (whether they know it or not), very contemporary design, heating mechanism in the seat, and the lowest vertical roll of any chair I’ve ever seen (it actually rolls down into the buttocks).

Inada Yume Massage Chair:

Well, along comes the Inada Yume massage chair with some innovations of its own. I will mention the two things that it features that we

Inada Yume Massage Chair

have never before seen in the massage chair industry:

1. Rotary Rocking. Yes, the first massage chair to actually rock it’s users. When we got this chair into our showroom, the first comment we had from many users was how calm the rocking made them feel. One fellow even mentioned that the rocking motion reminded him of his grandmother rocking him as a child. Pretty cool stuff!
2. Thera-Elliptical-Kneading (TEK) of the calves. Every other massage chair has airbags in the calves, which the Inada Yume also has, but all of them merely have airbags that compress the calves (and feet in most chairs). The Inada Yume is the first chair of its kind to actually knead the calf muscles with an elliptical motion of each side of each calf while, at the same time, compressing the calf muscles with it’s airbags. Fascinating! And it feels phenomenal…it actually feels like a therapist is massaging your calves with the kneading motion.

The Inada Yume also comes with LED lighting in the ottoman, airbags in the seat, and neck traction/stretching airbags.

Inada continues to innovate. Each chair they introduce into the market has something different and new. They don’t just rehash an old model with an extra feature that we see on every other manufacturer’s models…they actually come out with something we’ve never seen before.

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

Inada Sogno and Inada Yume Going Up In Price!

The latest news from Inada is that their chair prices will increase on February 1, 2012. The price increase doesn’t surprise me, as they have increased their prices each year since the Inada Sogno was introduced to the market (and it still continues to outsell everything else!).

What surprises me is the amount of the increase this time around. Regarding the Inada  Sogno Dreamwave massage chair, it has always been around a $200 jump in price each year. This year the price will jump from $6999 to $7799!  Yeah, I know…kinda shocking. But, apparently the US dollar is still very weak against the Japanese Yen and weakening so relative manufacturing costs continue to climb.

The leather Sogno price will increase to $8999 from $7999.

The new Inada Yume, which just came out in May of this year, will jump from $5499 up to $5999.

All I can say is that I hope their prices go down when the US dollar gets stronger! It is interesting to me that the Panasonic and Sanyo chairs that are manufactured in Japan have held their pricing for the last 3-5 years. I wonder if they will ever go up in price, like the Inada chairs have. If they do, you can be sure I’ll be the first to break the news to you.

So, bottom line is if you are thinking of getting a new Inada massage chair, order soon so that you get in on the current pricing schedule. If you snooze, you will definitely lose ($800 on the Inada Sogno and $500 on the Inada Yume).

It is the holiday season, so go get your massage chairs now.

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

Inada Sogno vs. Inada Yume

Inada has introduced two very innovative and technologically advanced massage chairs over the last 3 years. The Inada Sogno was introduced in 2008 and the Inada Yume came to market in 2011.

Inada has always been the pioneer of massage chair features and function. These two models are no exception. Both chairs boast functionality I have never seen before in the massage chair industry.

So, what are the differences between these two hugely successful massage chair models from Inada? Take a look:

Inada Sogno Massage Chair

Inada Sogno Massage Chair

1. Price (as of the writing of this article): $6999.
2. Full arm airbag compression massage (arms, forearms, wrists, and hands).
3. Thigh airbag compression massage for the Ilio-Tibial Bands (ITB).
4. Dreamwave technology in the seat (airbags that move the pelvis from side to side, up and down). Great feature for passively soothing acute low back pain. This feature is significant enough to Inada that they gave the chair the full name of the Inada Sogno Dreamwave.
5. Cervical Traction Device (headpiece that offers airbag massage to the neck muscles and to the trapezia muscles on top of the shoulders).
6. Vertical track that extends the rollers journey all the way down into the buttocks region.
7. Design award winner (very contemporary design).
8. Very large chair – ships in two boxes with a combined weight of 324 lbs.
9. Airbags in the lower back that alternately inflate to induce rotation into the low back.
10. Foot and calf airbag massage.
11. Heating mechanism in the seat of the chair.
12. Standard 3-year full comprehensive on-site warranty.
13. Typically includes white glove delivery, setup, and debris removal.
14. Colors include: black, dark brown, chocolate, red, crème, and black leather.

 Inada Yume Massage Chair

Inada Yume Massage Chair

1. Price (as of the writing of this article): $5499.
2. Rotary Rocking motion of the chair (mimics a rocking chair) – about 5-7 rocks per minute.
3. Thera-Elliptical-Kneading of the calf muscles (either side of each calf well actually moves up and down in a kneading motion in concert with airbag compression to introduce a very intense and therapeutic calf massage).
4. LED lighting on the outside of each calf well. Although you can’t see this when you are sitting in your chair in a lighted room, when you turn off all the lights and the room you are in is dark, you will see the reflection of the changing LED light colors subtly illuminate your room.
5. Much smaller size than the Inada Sogno – ships in one box and weighs 271 lbs.
6. Neck airbags that are designed to stretch the neck by alternately inflating under one side of the skull and on the shoulder of the same side, simultaneously. Not as sophisticated as the Sogno but very effective, nonetheless.
7. No arm, foot, or thigh airbags like in the Inada Sogno.
8. Alternately-inflating airbag massage in the seat, inducing rotation motion into the low back (the Inada Sogno inflates low back airbags, whereas the Inada Yume inflates seat airbags…both to get the same desired effect, which is rotation of the low back).
9. No foot massage.
10. No heating mechanism.
11. Typically includes regular door-to-door delivery.
12. Standard Inada 3-year full comprehensive on-site delivery.
13. Colors include: red, crème, dark brown, and black colors.

 In a nutshell, the primary differences between the Inada Sogno and Inada Yume are:

1. Many more airbags in the Inada Sogno.
2. Price ($1500 difference).
3. The Inada Yume is quite a bit smaller than the Inada Sogno.
4. A few more color options in the Inada Sogno.
5. Inada Sogno has a cervical traction device (headpiece), Dreamwave technology in the seat, full arm airbags, thigh airbags, foot and calf airbag massage.
6. Inada Yume has a neck stretching airbag massage, airbag massage in the seat, NO arm airbag massage, ONLY calf massage (no foot), rotary rocking motion, thera-elliptical-kneading in the calves.
7. The Inada Sogno has a very subtle heating mechanism located at the back of the seat. The Inada Yume does not have a heating mechanism.

I hope this comparison assists you in making your massage chair buying decision.

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