Stefan Arezina is a Physiotherapist operating out of Price Chiropractic in Waterloo, Ontario. A few years ago, he created a specialty version of the popular foam roller you’ve seen in gyms, sports stores, and online stores. The product called the Rehab Roller has seen quite a success in a short span. We sat down with Stefan to ask about his business and how the pandemic has affected it.
What is the Rehab Roller?
The Rehab Roller is a 6 in one self-massage tool; it’s a foam roller with specific design features that give it the capabilities of 65 different products that already exist. The point can be used for myofascial release to emulate your therapist’s hands. It’s got a slant board that helps you better stretch your claves. The divot emulates the divot on the double lacrosse ball and makes it more comfortable to roll around boney areas. Then you also have a large space for regular foam rolling purposes.
Finally, you have this portion here with 3 finger holes to have extra leverage on stretching your forearm and wrist. I designed it to help people treat themselves at home and have their treatment that their therapist would give them not to lose progress when they don’t come in, especially during the lockdowns.
Where did the idea come from?
It came from me hurting my foot, and I looked at my foam roller, and I was like man, this is useless for me, and I started cutting it. I cut the top off and found that it was an excellent calf stretcher. I looked at the point and realized that I could use it to dig into tight muscles, and it felt like I was getting treatment. So later, I experimented more by cutting it and made a prototype.
From there, I just left it in my house and had no intention of making it a product, and I just wanted to keep it as a personal use item. People would come over and see it through and ask about it. I would explain it, and they would say I should make it. One thing led to another, and now I have a product.
Has the Pandemic forced you to pivot the business model?
Most of our business was already digital, but online sales grew exponentially since the pandemic. Most of our issues were around the shipping times in the beginning. It took 2 to 3 weeks to get the product across the border. We opened a fulfillment center in Kansas City, and now American orders are fulfilled by that facility which cut our shipment time there in half. It used to take 4 to 6 weeks to ship the product from Mississauga to California. Now, it takes two weeks. We have also increased our spending on digital marketing initiatives.
Could you tell us about any partnership deals?
After 2 and half years of operating alone, I’ve partnered up with Melissa Vong, she’s an Amazon FBA guru and has a few of her successful brands. We’ve also been sponsoring pro athletes. We sponsored Bryce Mitchell, a UFC fighter; apart from that, a few NBA players also use our products. There are athletes in pretty much every professional league who are using our product. Some pro teams and clinics bulk orders our product for their teams like 10, 20, and even 50 product orders.
What are the hopes for the future?
We hope our product becomes a kind of like a toothbrush. We want everyone to use it every day to freshen up their muscles and joints and get moving. Just have another visual stimulus in their house to remind them that they need to be active and move their body. I hope to help over 1 million people with their pain to maintain their health.
Stefan is currently looking at closing some deals with big box stores. The fitness industry had a massive boom during the start of the pandemic last year. Health Products sold out, and prices skyrocketed. Recently there has been a price correction to such products as people have limited dollars to spend on non-essential products, including foam rollers.
For more information kindly visit:
Website: https://www.rehabroller.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rehabroller/
Author: Matt Filart, Toronto, Canada. If you have stories to share kindly email: – filartmatt@gmail.com
