Hartsdale inventor Vinny Houston believes he has found the solution for athletic trainers who have their hands full and for individual athletes who just need a hand, with the Accu-Stretch, a motorized stretching device.
The Accu-Stretch, U.S. patent number 7,556,594, is made up of a plastic arm with a pad attached to one end and a motor attached to the opposite end. The device can be fixed to any exercise table and is designed to stretch an isolated muscle group by allowing the user to lie completely relaxed. It was first made available for sale in March and is currently sold for $750.
Best of all, Houston said, it allows someone to stretch without the assistance of a partner, freeing up trainers to work with other athletes or clients.
“Once the user is competent in using it, it frees up the time for the athletic trainer or physical therapist to work on other patients that require more intensive care,” Houston said. “It”™s really a big time-saver for them.”
Houston, president and owner of Health Enhancement Fitness Equipment and Health Enhancement Cardiac Rehabilitation, both located at 955 Yonkers Avenue in Yonkers, said that it took “about eight to 10 years of starts and stops” before the design for the Accu-Stretch was finalized. All of its parts are manufactured in the U.S., with the plastic arm being made in Long Island, the chassis in Newburgh, the pads in Ohio and the motor parts in California.
So far Houston said that sales have been relatively slow, but he added that he hoped to draw the interest of a number of professional trainers at the National Athletic Trainers”™ Association Trade Show, which took place last week in New Orleans.
“My initial target market right now is athletic trainers, sports teams, and physical therapists and chiropractors,” Houston said, adding that he hopes to target individual consumers once the cost to manufacture the device drops down.
Currently, the Accu-Stretch is in use at the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Massachusetts, Manhattan College, and the University of Utah, in addition to being used by a number of private athletic trainers and physical therapists, Houston said.
