Did you check out all 16
days of Olympic glory? Well, maybe just the downhill skiing, figure skating, and
the hockey games? If that was the case, then you might be interested in knowing
that Olympic
skiers, skaters, and hockey players have all been using the ingenious Kinesio®
Tex Tape to help relieve pain and promote the healing of injured muscles.
Olympic Gold Medalist Lindsey Vonn
used the athletic tape to help recover from a shin injury that almost prevented
her from racing in the Olympics.* The athletic tape is the invention of Dr.
Kenzo Kase, a chiropractor who was looking for a better sports taping method to
assist in the healing of traumatized tissue. Kase found that standard taping
techniques, such as athletic taping and strapping, provided muscle and joint
support, but also reduced range of motion and in many cases inhibited the
actual healing process of traumatized tissue. The new and improved athletic
tape that Kase developed is able to aid the lymphatic and muscle systems, while
simultaneously supporting muscles and joints.**
At AbsolutelyNew, we’ve also seen firsthand
how sports can be a source of inspiration to our inventor partners. For
example, we licensed an innovative volleyball training device, which
automatically sets volleyballs, to Wilson Sporting Goods Co. The inventor
watched his sixth-grade daughter excel in volleyball when she practiced with
the high-school team, yet also watched how difficult it was to set the balls
properly. So, he decided to invent a machine that would set the balls
perfectly, automatically. He tinkered with several iterations before he finally
produced a working version. After almost 10 years, he received his patent, and
he started hand-making the machines with the help of his family members. But
the effort of attending tradeshows, trying to sell machines one at a time, and making
each one by hand began to wear them out. After realizing he needed some help,
he decided to utilize AbsolutelyNew’s services. And we got him the deal he
wanted. The Business Manager for Wilson Sporting Goods Co. summed it up nicely:
“…we’re glad to help this inventor realize his dream.”
We also secured a licensing deal for the
inventor of the Long Woody™ skateboard. For longboarders—who prefer “cruising”
and “carving” streets rather than jumping obstacles like their friends on
regular skateboards—the Long Woody offers big improvements in convenience,
safety and board control. It enables tool-free wheel adjustment via an
ingenious control knob, whereas longboarders until now had to use tools to make
on-the-road adjustments to their “trucks” depending on the terrain and desired
ride. The inventor grew tired of carrying a tool in his pocket on each
ride—they were at best uncomfortable, and at worst painful when he fell and
landed on the tool. So he called upon high-tech engineering contacts to help
him to reinvent the longboard truck design. He initially named his creation the
Nuclear Pickle, and patented it in 2001.
The inventor reached out to us and we
aggressively marketed his longboard to top manufacturers before ultimately
facilitating a licensing agreement with Alliance Board Sports, which had been
looking to introduce a “best of the best” longboard and felt his design
perfectly fit its product line needs.
So, as you can see, sports innovation is
everywhere, not just at the Olympics every four years, but around us in our
everyday lives—on the volleyball court, on the skateboard, and more. The next
time you’re out exercising, at the gym, or just watching a game, keep your
eyes and mind open—that new invention could be right in front of you.
*Layden,
Tim. “Gold brings Vonn fulfillment at last.” SI Mobile. 17 Feb. 2010. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
**
“A Brief History of Kinesio Tex Taping®.” Kinesio
UK. n.d. Web. 9 Mar. 2010.
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