Mobility Wall Review
What Does the #MobilityWall Do?
The Mobility Wall is designed to be an alternative to a traditional floor used foam roller for myofascial release therapy as well as function like a trigger point device. This device is intended to be placed in most door openings (see product specs for more information) at any hight to foam roll areas of the body without having to bend down and get on and off the floor. This design in theory could be very useful for those with limited mobility.
Are There Any Other Products Like It?
As of the writing of the product review there is no other products currently on the market with the same features.
Who Was This Product Intended to Help?
This product is intended to be used as a standard foam roller is used on fascial tissues. This product has the intended use of being used in an upright position for the person using it. This product has uses for those with mobility issues and well as those who would enjoy foam rolling with substantially less pressure and to go along with that pain. I also see applications in the fitness and rehabilitation area (*Those areas would be outside my scope of practice and therefore it would be unprofessional to discuss here).
Overview of the Product
I have been waiting for product like this for a long time. This product allows people who would not normally consider using a foam roller a real opportunity to try one out without many of the functional issues that for a lot of people stop them from using one. Those fictional issues include pain from too much pressure because in many exercises requires you to use your own bodyweight which makes it hard to regulate pressure along with flexibility issues from preexisting conditions that prevent people from having the straight and flexibility to work on the floor. With the right training and guidance I believe this could be a once in a decade product breakthrough for people. In a marketplace of many unproven and recklessly marketed “health products” this one I believe will not and should not be considered a fad product.
Working with the Company
Before ordering I did talk to the company first online through email and then through a conversation with the founder of the company. Before ordering I did have questions about what was included in the box and some other small questions that their videos and ads did not make fully clear. I wanted to know the why behind those items before making any purchases (because of the kind of product this is I tend to see things differently than your avenge consumer. To be clear I did purchase this item from the company directly and did not ask for a demo product or in tern for any discounts promise to do any reviews for this device. If I was a standard customer I think most people would be happy with the customer service.
My Thoughts on the Product
Construction 3 out of 5
Very well built using steal, ultra dense materials with simple but well thought out adjustment options. I believe that the company wanted to make a product everyone could use but I believe that the construction of the product is made for long term use by fitness enthusiast and athletes.
Shipping 4 out of 5
As of the time of this review the company is based out of California so if you are expecting fast shipping you're going to be disappointed. Purchase of the product body without any other accessories is about 11 pounds so it will take a little bit longer to get. I had it shipped to Minneapolis and it took 7 full days for delivery. So if you are on the East coast good luck getting your items within 10 days. Everything that I purchased came in above what I would call, “standard shipping packaging”.
Marketing 3 out of 5
Some of you might be thinking why the marketing of this product would even be a part of the product review process and I'd like to go into that for just a moment. There has been a trend in therapeutic devices similar to that of what we have seen in the pharmaceutical industry where companies are marketing directly to the general public when in the past they would be marketing to professionals who would have background knowledge of the use and benefit of the product. I also like to let people know what I think of their marketing practices and how the product is actually explained to the public because I think it speaks volumes about how the company is choosing to operate in other words, Are they in it for money purely or do they have a genuine interest in people using their product correctly and safely?
Now with specific attention being paid to this product I think that the company has done a very good job far above average when it comes to explaining to the public how to correctly use their product and doing so well they are still marketing the product to someone. The company provides high-quality professional level video on how to correctly use the product after purchase right out of the box through the use of a QR code. This is a relatively new trend but I think one that benefits the general public significantly and it should be applauded. I think that their marketing strategy on platforms like Facebook and Twitter are above average but I do not like some of the terminology used in the marketing and some of the way they choose to phase the benefit of their product. If I'm going to provide criticism or praise I think there needs to be reasonable examples so in this case during a criticism about some of their terminology I think it's only fair to provide you the reader with an example. In one of their Facebook ads they enter me that you can give yourself a massage therapy at home with this device. This is simply not correct as a soft tissue specialist I can tell you that no device like it will provide you with a massage the device is not a massage device it is a foam rolling device which affects facial tissue. Foam rolling is not massage now there are devices out there that mimic massage in those devices can be correctly called massage devices this item is definitely not that and this is a good opportunity to scold the marketing department and the creator for allowing that terminology to be used. There's also been marketing of this device being able to release trigger points now this is the correct terminology and yes it does have features which can release trigger points that is the correct use of the terminology and through experience I have learned that it is good at releasing those points if used correctly as seen in the video explanations that are provided to you after purchase.
Customer Service 5 out of 5
As far as customer service is concerned I did start out with customer service before I bought the product. I did this for a couple of reasons. I think it's important to experience customer service even when you don't necessarily have a problem right away because it gives you an idea of one of the companies trying to just sell something to you or they just want the problem to go away. I thought their customer service response time was reasonable I even found that they were very receptive even on a Sunday which many companies that produce these types of products are not responsive on weekends so I'll give them points for that. When my questions and concerns about the product to go to a level that was above standard customer service the founder and owner of the company stepped in rather quickly. My main concern with the product that I think got me elevated to the point of talking to the owner of the company what is that the way the standard and pro models worked and how they were being sold. My main contention was with the fact that the rollers were not interchangeable between the grooved model and the flat version of the rollers. My belief would be that at least in a therapeutic setting under guidance it would make sense to be able to purchase one and then separately purchase the other if the person using it needed to elevate to a different system of roller to meet their needs.
What I really wanted was someone to explain to me why you could not replace the rollers that came with the rest of the system in a box. My suspicions were either it was an engineering issue or it was simply the company didn't recognize the need and I wanted to make sure I understood that before buying. The answer to that question would be a real point of customer service for me and understanding how the company operated in other words why are they in business is it to make money or to better understand and help peoples physical fitness needs. The owner of the company was willing to set up a telephone conference call in a few days which I thought was a good sign because it could really give me that inside view depending on how much the owner was willing to discuss the topic. We did have about a 30 minute phone conversation and similar to most experiences I've had with people working on the east or west coast there's a attitude of “flyover country”. For those of you that are not from the Midwest let me break this one thing down for you: people from the coasts tend to think that the people in the Midwest don't have the intellectual capacity to fully think through a problem or an issue with a more generalized global perspective and this comes out in conversation as a patronizing superiority. In other words, well there's no way you must've thought through all these possibilities before our conversation. And yes I did experience that during our conversation as much as it is a real annoyance it just makes conversations longer and more frustrating but it does not necessarily hinder getting questions answered and understanding the motivations of a company and how they deal with their customers.
At the end of our conversation I didn't make the decision to buy the product even though the company does not necessarily make models that have interchangeable roller textures and the company was nice enough to offer me a small discount which basically covered shipping.
Setup and Use 5 out of 5
Once you open the box they have a QR code and if you choose to click on that it will give you all of the instructions and all of the different safe methods of using the product through a product website tutorial system this includes short videos and some minor text. For those of you that like to read lengthy instructions and have them ready at your fingertips this is not the product for you however if you don't like having a ton of manuals around but resources at your fingertips this would be a great product in terms of getting set up an immediate support. In terms of set up there is one thing I'd like to bring up and that is how much lateral pressure you're putting on your door frames when securing it into position. I tested this product on metal and wooden door frames of different shapes and I found it provides more than adequate adaptability. However make sure that you don't over secure the item and when I mean by that is when you start to see a door frame start to shift or bend you've probably over tightened it unnecessarily. And every single test that I did of the product over the last several weeks it has never fallen off the door frame.
Long Term Use
This is a tougher section to complete everyone can be lustful for a new product but it's a long-term use in durability that I think will set many products apart from each other in the marketplace especially in the health and fitness realm because there are just so many products out there. I believe two weeks is a good starting point for long-term durability and extrapolation of possible long-term concerns. In terms of its overall construction and durability I believe that it would be able to work for at least 5 to 7 years without any significant problems with repeated use as weekly even several times a week. My major concern with the device itself long-term is the adaptability to the flat and textured version not being interchangeable. This was the primary concern before purchasing the item that I talked about with the owner of the company and it was explained to me that in terms of product liability and overall engineering it was not cost-effective or suggested that the product is that interchangeable. For a small company I could see that just starting out. However in the long term I think they're going to have to make this adaptive change to allow you to be able to exchange out rollers overtime because if they don't I think it will turn off enough people that they will not purchase the product or they will find an alternative in the marketplace which Will appear sooner rather than later would be my guess.
I do have one other minor concern which may actually not be a factor or might be a long-term factor and that is the door frame you intend to use the item in and whether repeated incorrect tensioning by the customer could damage the door frame or bend it. No matter if it's at home use or used in a commercial building I think that there could be some long-term damage done to the door frame some selves because many are not made it terribly sturdy and the actual amount of pressure that the bar before molars constructed with is so sturdy and can be wine to a range of size door frames I think there could be a problem there.
Overall Thoughts and a Final Ratings
So my phone rating for this product overall is a 20 out of 25 with the biggest concern regarding marketing followed by construction. I would consider this a very high rating when I think of all the products that I have purchased over the years or had clients bring to me and ask me questions about that were similar in nature or that were gimmick type products sold to the general public that did have some theoretical therapeutic value. I think many of the major concerns I would have about products like this based on their quality and durability their overall concern that the products we use correctly gives this product a much higher overall rating than many others.
I believe that after speaking to some of the staff and interacting with general customer service and seen the time and effort they have taken as a company to create a safe and reliable therapeutic product I think it's clear to me that this company has a genuine interest in creating a high-quality therapeutic product well still trying to make a healthy profit which I think is the exact mix you need. This company could create a one hit wonder or they could start to produce line of products but only time will be able to tell you're the way the fact that this particular product is on the market is a very good sign.
I want to circle back to the 3/5 rating for the construction and for marketing. The perspective of an actual therapy professional on a product should be used in a case like this to help educate the public about things they might not be thinking about or consider. In terms of construction I still have a very strong belief that if the company cannot provide a solution to changing between a textured and a soft roller the product will eventually be left behind because I see very few people who would use this item long-term be willing to buy a second device at such a high price point. As a sidenote I plan on using this device with clients under supervision in my practice and the type of clients I see what eventually transition and want to transition from one type of textured roller into another. Some of you might be thinking I would become an authorized retailer or a reseller of this device and as of right now because of this one factor I will most likely not consider that I consider it a severe limitation. I also tend to think about the texture of foam rollers differently than most of my colleagues and in what circumstance they should be used so for most people they might find this argument mute but after a decade plus of experience I can tell you I think eventually it will become a major problem.
Finally circling back to the marketing of this product I'm specifically giving it a lower rating because of some of the digital marketing terminology they insist on using and the fact that it could be miss read by the public in terms of its benefits and uses. You cannot market a product and say that it can mimic a massage I think that's a huge mistake because the product is not intended to do that it's not designed to do that but the general public might perceive it as a massage. Feeding into that perception as a benefit in my opinion is not a sound practice especially in the healthcare industry. And I would hold the same criticism of a chiropractor using a percussion gun on people and saying that it has a chiropractic benefit.
Chiropractor does not know anything about how muscular tissue works they are not a doctor of medicine they have a doctorate in chiropractic know if that chiropractor employed a massage therapist or physical therapist who did have the training using the item then I would say something different. In the companies favor I believe they created a device and then wanted to make a very sincere effort to make sure that it was used correctly so by offering customers free access to instructional materials I think is far above what I would typically see in a product sale like this so they do deserve high marks for that and I believe that all companies should operate in that fashion and don’t. But again I think when you offer a therapeutic device you must be completely honest and transparent as to the intentional use of the product and I think labeling it anything beyond that within the scope of what the device is intended for is very misleading and is a plague on the consuming public. If I had it my way therapeutic device companies should be marketing this device directly to providers of care rather than to the general public because then we can help clients understand the proper use of the product and if it's right for them and their needs. There is less money in that I know but only the best products would get into the people hands.
My final thoughts on the product overall are very good I think it's one of the best products to come out in the last 10 years in terms of its usefulness safety and quality. As with any product I always recommend that clients seek out a qualified professional before buying a device like this to make sure that it's right for them and their needs. I will be looking forward to see what else this company can come up with and if they make some changes to your device and product offerings. If there was one thing I could say to the company today it would be to really think about making the product more versatile by exchanging out the roller heads. And I would make a very strong push into getting these devices in the hands of professionals so that they can be seen at gyms, physical therapy offices and other professional settings.