Customer Conversations

Customer Conversations

Below is a full transcript of my conversation with my wife regarding her neck pain but the main questions I focused on dealt with the frequency and severity of the pain, methods she currently uses to alleviate the pain, the effectiveness of her current solutions and how valuable a solution would be to her. I added questions as the conversation went along and a main goal of mine was to try to understand if the neck pain was just a symptom of a root problem – namely spinal damage that would require surgery – or if it was a problem in and of itself.

I came to find that it was a bit of both. While her neck pain does stem from an underlying issue with her facet joints, there is no adequate solution short of major reconstructive surgery. Understanding that the root problem can’t be solved, the daily neck pain, exacerbated by certain movements, becomes a problem that she frequently tries to solve.

I learned during my conversation that on average she feels neck pain on a bi-weekly basis, on bad weeks the pain occurs on a daily basis. The frequency depends on her activities. Carrying heavy objects, stress or driving aggravates the pain. She described the pain as making her feel “anxious, uncomfortable and uneasy”.

Her current methods of alleviating the problem include stretching, heating pads and icy-hot patches. She currently spends around $25/week on these methods. While she says they are very successful at alleviating the pain, they only do so on a short-term basis. She said she would pay up to $200/month if she was able to get long-lasting, more permanent pain relief. She’s spent many thousands of dollars in the past ten years trying to alleviate the pain.

Considering the frequency and severity of the pain, the steps she currently takes to alleviate the pain and her willingness to pay for a solution, I believe that her neck pain is a real problem in her life.

I learned that she’s actually happy with the short-term pain relief she gets from stretching and heating methods. But considering the high amount she’s willing to pay per month for long-lasting pain relief, it seems long-lasting relief is therefore the most valuable solution to her. The stretching feature I built into the chair may not be necessary therefore because she currently stretches in the shower under hot water, which she finds helpful.

She responded favorably when I showed her my prototype. She thought it was cool but had questions and seemed apprehensive regarding whether the chair would actually decompress her spine. She didn’t think the arm stretching devices were necessary, she said it would be nice if it had a temperature feature to warm up the chair and asked if it was meant as an exercise device or something that could be used throughout the day. She mentioned that if it actually worked for long-term pain relief she would pay at least $1,000 for such a device. But, she said, space was a big consideration. Making sure it can fit in small spaces is important. That’s something I’ll have to consider as I continue refining the product.

My initial problem statement was as follows: Young to middle-aged female who works from home needs an accessible way to decrease compression on her spine while doing exercises and resting because she has a debilitating neck injury which causes her daily pain and frustration.

Based on my conversation with my wife, I would change that to also be focused on long-term pain relief. Something I learned is that what frustrates her the most isn’t only the daily pain, it’s also the inability to do certain things in her life – including carrying heavy objects, driving, flying, and even jumping, without a great deal of pain. I feel that the chair therefore needs to be utilized in a way to help her strengthen her spine to be able to not feel as much pain when she performs these activities.

Step 1

How frequently do you feel neck pain? Every week, a couple of times a week on my good weeks.

And on your bad weeks? Maybe like 4 days or 5 a week. When I have bad pain I have it every day for the whole week and then after about 1 week it goes away and returns to a couple times a week.

What adjectives would you use to describe your neck pain? When it’s really bad it travels to my arm and it’s like it feels like an electric shock and after the very intense pain goes away it’s more like a dull pain and it makes my neck stiff, I can’t really move it that well and when I’m like that I feel very tired.

How frequently do you get that really bad pain? It really depends on my activities, if I’m carrying heavy stuff or if I am very stressed out or if I’m driving, those aggravate the pain. Maybe once a month or once every two months depending on my activities during that time.

Describe an average “episode”. Average is just like, the muscles get very tight and I cannot move my neck. It restrains my mobility. How do you feel in those moments? I feel anxious, very uncomfortable and uneasy. That stress makes the muscles spasm and makes the pain even worse, it aggravates the nerves more.

What time of the day do you normally get the pain? Sometimes when I get up I have the pain from just being in bed too long or sleeping in the wrong position but usually it’s in the afternoon or at night after a whole day of doing stuff.

What activities cause the pain the most? Lifting heavy things, driving, sitting down for too many hours in the same position, flying makes it feel bad too. When I’m in a position that I’m restrained in, where I can’t stretch or move. 

One a scale of 1 to 10, how painful is an average episode? Like a 5.

How painful is a very bad episode? 10.

How painful is a not so bad episode? 2.

What methods do you currently use to alleviate neck pain? Changing positions frequently, doing stretching exercises, applying heat, Tai Chi, breathing exercises, neck stretches in the shower. Icy hot patches too. I really try not to take Tylenol or pills.

How successful are those methods? They are good because they alleviate the pain but they don’t solve the root problem. I have an injury from a car accident and it would require surgery but even then it wouldn’t be completely fixed. 

How often do you think about your neck pain? I learned to live with it and something I have in mind and I know if I move a certain way or lift something or turn my head I will get the pain, it’s something I’m conscious and aware of all the time. 

If the methods you described are successful, why do you still get neck pain twice a week? Because my daily activities are sitting a lot, I sit for too many hours and sometimes I do lift things in the wrong way.

How long does the relief last using your current methods of pain relief? It all depends on my activities. I feel better but the following day if I do something wrong I feel the pain again. Otherwise the pain doesn’t come back – it’s very related to the activities.

Are there any activities you miss/wish you could do without pain? I used to do a lot more aerobic and cardio exercises but now I have to be very careful with those. I just miss being pain free, since the accident 11 years ago I’ve never been pain free. I went through so many different treatments. I did acupuncture, physical therapy, water therapy, traction therapy, 

What’s Traction therapy? They pull your neck with a machine to stretch it. They gave me cortisone shots in my neck, I took Lyrica, which is nerve pain for years, I took that for maybe 2-3 years.

What’s the best method you’ve ever used to alleviate the pain? Aqua therapy and acupuncture.

How do those compare to your current methods of alleviating the pain? Well aqua therapy, I still do some exercises that I learned in Aqua Therapy, some of the stretching exercises. The current methods are great for a short period of time, the other ones were recovery methods and what I do now is like alleviating the pain.

How important to you is the difference between alleviating the pain and recovery? It’s very important but I know that I have reached a recovery plateau. So I’m able to function 60-70% better than when I first had the accident.

So would the best methods you used still be helpful? Yeah probably. But they’re expensive.

How much would you spend to keep doing acupuncture or water therapy? Uh maybe $150/month.

How much money have you spent in your life trying to alleviate the pain? More than $40,000.

How much money do you currently spend on alleviating the pain? I bought a heating pad, I buy icy-hot patches when I need them. $25/month maybe.

Has neck pain limited you from doing certain things in your life? Yes. Like exercising, playing sports, carrying heavy things like backpacks.

You currently spend $25/month to alleviate the pain. And this does a very good of short-term pain reduction. How much would you spend a month for more long-term pain relief? $200/month for long-term pain relief. It depends. I know it’s not fixable. If there’s something that could make it feel next to normal I would spend more, I kind of have low expectations at this point but yes I’d be willing to spend more.

If the pain was more effectively or permanently eliminated, what effect would this have on your life? I would be able to perform other activities, drive longer distances, jump. I would feel less stressed out because as I am very conscious of my injury I’m constantly thinking about it so it would make me more relaxed that I won’t get an episode.

Would you define neck pain as a problem in your life? Yeah it’s a problem for sure.

How important is it to you to alleviate your neck pain? It’s very important.

Why? Because it will improve my life quality.

Who in your life knows about this problem – family, friends, just family? Work? Family and friends. My inner circle.

Why just your inner circle? Well I feel like, as the accident was so long ago people who have come into my life lately don’t know about what happened and at the same time I feel like only people that go through stuff like this know how it can impact your life in 10-15 years and most others don’t understand.

 

Step 2

Show the product – Observe reactions.

Wow. And what are the arm things for? Cool. That arm position hurts, I can do it for a little bit but I would like my arms to float freely. Does ant-gravity work like this? What happened is my facet joints collapsed, so if I’m with my arms extended out for a period of time it starts to hurt. By my side and not up. How much is it? Not sure, how much would you pay? I would pay for sure $1000 at least if you tell me that it does help a ton. Smiles.

 

Step 3 

Would you help refine this solution, are you interested in this actually existing?  Yes. It needs some neck support for sure. The space situation is an issue. Does the water heat up? Does it get warm?