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On the occasion of the
International Summit of Elite Sports Medicine
, where the city of Madrid becomes the world capital of elite sports medicine, we met with one of the
eminences in well-being
present at this relevant congress. Dr.
Jason Wersland
(Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, June 18, 1969) is the inventor of the famous and plagiarized
Theragun pistol
, based on percussion therapy. He comes accompanied by his three new toys, which he is just launching on the market, and which incorporate new features such as near-infrared LED light to provide heat or built-in breathing protocols without having to download an application, just by feeling the vibration. "That whole wish list that he had for many years and they were not yet possible because there was not so much technological advance," he explains nearby, stopping and showing the product, which he places on the table.
Apologize in a joking tone if any words are rude to the recorder. From that moment on, she does not stop joking throughout the interview, in which
she tells her story
in detail. The first thing this
chiropractor
explains
is that in the United States a prior career is necessary to access these studies: "What I thought would be three years of training turned into seven. And to this we add that I had my own clinic and a family to support." to attend to," he recalls of that busy streak.
THE ACCIDENT THAT CHANGED EVERYTHING
The American chiropractor receives ZEN in Madrid, who is visiting for a medical congress.Ángel Navarrete
Every day I took the same route, from the University in Los Angeles to work and home. But, in October 2007, one more day on that itinerary that he had traveled hundreds of times, located between two cars in a caravan, he was run over at a speed of 90 kilometers per hour. "I was
unprotected on my motorcycle
, so imagine the damage to my arms and neck from the strong impact." He became a patient for the first time and found the experience very strange: "Because of my background as a chiropractor,
I knew exactly what I needed
but I had to go to another doctor to receive the treatment," he protests.
And from his frustration as a patient focused on pain, which prevented him from continuing his life normally, the idea arose. "I had a table in my office that vibrated and many patients would sit there to
relax before doing therapy
. I started using it for only half a minute and that helped me a lot. But of course, I couldn't take it with me everywhere to shower, eat, be with mine..." In those daily habits he continued to deal with discomfort. And he worked with his hands. "I needed to feel the patients in order to be good," he says. That is why necessity became the
mother of invention
.
THIS IS HOW HE CREATED THE GUN
The American, kissing his invention, which has been copied endlessly. He confesses that he did not believe he was the first.Á. Navarrete
"My life changed the day I used
percussion therapy
, so I took a small, cylindrical and round tool that I had in the closet, the size of a bottle, and I started researching how I could create such a mechanism that was portable" . He took her everywhere, but it worked sometimes.
"I wanted to improve it to
distract me from the pain,
nothing to do with sports performance to run faster or muscle recovery." It was about calming the brain. "
Most of the pain we feel is musculoskeletal
. People wait until it is very intense to visit the doctor and receive medication, but if they could have a self-care tool to mitigate it, that would improve their quality of life." This is how her gun arrived, in January 2008.
PROTOTYPES AND IMPROVEMENTS
Close-up of Dr. Jason, friend of great athletes like Cristiano Ronaldo and Pau Gasol, who have invested in Therabody.Á. Navarrete
After a few months, without a choice, he returned to work. She continued using percussive therapy on a daily basis and rehabilitating in the gym. The improvement was extraordinary. "From having no feeling in my fingers and
being of absolutely no use
as a chiropractor to recovery. So I put my tool aside thinking that someone would have already invented something similar, that I couldn't be the first."
But, in the following months, he began to investigate, questioning more doctors and they had no idea and had not seen anything like it, he remembers. "Until
a patient came to me with an identical history to mine
, and I decided to lend him that accessory that had helped me so much."
The next day, he was there to have an x-ray, accompanied by his wife. And before him, a Theragun embryo enclosed in a plastic supermarket bag. "It sounded strange, but I explained that I had just been through the same thing." It didn't take him long to tell her: "It feels good." And it was he himself who encouraged him to market it. "Dr., you saved my life, you have to
help more people
."
A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY
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In 2009 he got to work. "My
brother lent me the money
to order all the material to make the tools and I began to distribute them on the condition that I be given complete
feedback
on the product to continue improving it."
I wanted to know how the pressure worked, if it was too noisy and the sensations. And he asked them: "How much would you pay for it if everything you told me was correct?" And everyone responded: "About a thousand euros at the currency exchange rate." He spent eight years developing five different prototypes. And in 2015 he met the
partner who gave him the definitive push
with his investment. In 2016, Theragun introduced the G1, its first product. Just one year later, they introduced the G2PRO and became the industry leader in percussive therapy. "We grew a lot." The search for constant innovation led them to launch the G3PRO in January 2019. "The basis of all massage guns was the same: that a person could
treat themselves
without leaving the site or turning to anyone."
SCIENCE AND PATENTS
Theragun Sense, among the latest launches from the Therabody firm, to relax both the mind and the body.EM
Dr. Jason differentiates health, a state, from wellness, a practice. "The doctor monitors your history with an analysis, measuring your blood pressure and different parameters. But what really changes how you feel is a daily habit." For it to be a habit, it has to be easy, he acknowledges.
"My device is used by everyone from my mother to Cristiano Ronaldo
. And that is not because I am a very nice guy, who also [laughs out loud], but because it is very simple and has a science behind it that people trust."
It is present in 250 sports teams around the world and countless physiotherapists, trainers, chiropractors, famous like
the Spanish Pau Gasol
, who is even an investor like the former tennis player María Sharapova, other athletes and ordinary people in more than 70 countries. "We don't reach some because, being a certified product, they have numerous tariffs that make it difficult for us to enter," he points out.
BENEFITS OF PERCUSIVE THERAPY
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What are the benefits of percussive therapy? "There are many, to make it easy to understand, there are basically three:
reduction of muscle pain and tension and increase in blood flow
. To them we can add faster recovery, decrease in lactic acid, tissue hydration and improvement of "stretchability by reducing swelling and stiffness, relieving fatigue."
The most important thing, he answers, is that "when a joint hurts, the information travels to your brain at 90 km/h, while when something touches your skin, for example, if you grab a hot container, the speed at which it travels to your brain that stimulus is 400 km/h". That's why she compares his tool to
getting into a Formula 1 car
when you normally get on a bus. "And you can do that when you have back pain from wearing a heavy backpack or have spent many hours sitting on a plane trip," she continues.
And what do you think of all the copies that are proliferating like mushrooms? A simple search on Amazon is enough to find dozens of replicas writing 'muscle massage gun' from 29 euros, while the most basic Theragun is around 200 euros. "
Competition is always good
and helps us reinforce our message. I have always thought that someone who wants to create something ends up researching my product because it works and is the best."
But if. "Copies bother me
because they confuse people
, who see a massage gun for 69 euros and another for 600 and think they are the same. That's why they go for the cheapest one. And that's why I have to give this interview and continue explaining the science behind it to validate it. We constantly fight to prohibit these companies from taking advantage of consumers," he complains.
It shows the different interchangeable heads, all of them differentiated and with a patent. The handle,
in the shape of a triangle
to make it more ergonomic and adapts to the hand, is also registered. "Some have received a letter when trying to plagiarize it."
CONTRAINDICATIONS
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He states that one of his most important functions is to weave a network of
relationships with the University
, doctors, physiotherapists and elite athletes. And give training on how to use it. "I'm obsessed with scientific endorsement, I'm like a geek," she jokes.
When asked about the turnover figure, he denies having any idea of the numbers. "We are a private health company and we are still going to invest
10 million dollars in research
in the next five years. My goal is that everyone knows what Theragun is, that any ordinary citizen can use it, from a woman who a young boy who plays soccer goes to yoga.
When performing the massage there are three variables. "The
amplitude of the movement
of the head, that is, the depth to which these blows reach [about 16 millimeters]. The
striking frequency
, which is the number of impacts per minute that the gun can reach. For example, 2,400 percussions per minute in models for big guys like me. And the force or touch, the
pressure
it can reach. We are talking about more than 20 kilos in the most powerful modes.
There are contraindications as it is a therapeutic therapy and it entails
certain risks if it is not applied well
, he points out: "We give the instruction that it is not used from the neck up. Nor on scars or wounds after an operation. Obviously, neither on the eyes nor on genitals. And never directly into the bones or spine."
It indicates that another misuse is overuse. "You should not massage the same area for too long, but rather move the device with slow movements over the area for about a minute." He recommends it
before bed to relax
. "We have an
app
that connects with the gun and tells you different programs so you don't have to worry about time. Since we can't go house to house, they all have a QR code on the box that explains everything."
A VITAL MISSION
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Helping people is their mission, in the face of specific muscle pain caused by
poor posture or sports efforts
. "I'm successful in CrossFit, I'm friends with Mat Fraser, one of the top athletes
,
" he says. He has a breathing trainer, runs and goes to the gym. "I am one of those who believe that
strong winds create strong trees
."
The hardest thing is to always be available and traveling through countries with changed schedules. "The most fun thing is that I am creating something that transcends me and I share it with the world. Normal people.
No one should live with pain
."