If you are one of those shoppers who takes the time and effort to find the perfect gift for everyone on your list, for every occasion, you must stay abreast of what’s new and hot.
So, what’s the newest, most versatile new product that makes a fun and thoughtful gift for youngsters, oldsters and tweens? The WondaWedge!
The WondaWedge is an inflatable, triangular pillow with attached mat that offers three different sitting/reclining positions. Its hip ergonomic design provides luxurious comfort and back support in a variety of settings.
Youngsters love the WondaWedge for watching TV or gaming on the floor.
Tweens love it for lounging in the bedroom, or for slumber parties.
College kids find comfort while studying in bed, lounging in the common room, or sunning on the Quad.
30-somethings have found that the WondaWedge is the best take-along outdoor concert seat – it’s lightweight and easier to carry than a folding chair.
Families love the WondaWedge for afternoons at the beach – they’re waterproof and sand brushes right off.
Seniors love the comfort provided by a WondaWedge for relaxation, recuperation, or as a sleep aid for GERD, snoring or sleep apnea.
Soccer moms use the WondaWedge as a handy sideline seat that’s better than folding chairs or bleachers.
Military troops love the comfort and compactness of the WondaWedge – it’s an affordable luxury waiting in your bunk after a hard day.
Fishermen love the WondaWedge for the back support on the shore or on the pier.
Campers enjoy using WondaWedges in their tents, for hiking or stargazing.
RVers like the WondaWedge because it stows away in a small space when not in use.
Boaters find the WondaWedge is a great way to relax on a pontoon or sailboat.
Pregnant women love the WondaWedge for relaxing tired backs, or for post-delivery recuperation.
Readers find that the support provided by a WondaWedge relieves back and neck strain. It’s the reader’s best buddy!
Thought ya’ll might want to check out the Spring 2009 issue of Pop Up Times. The wondawedge is featured in the new product release section. A great magazine, especially this time of the year.
The developer of the WondaWedge, a physiotherapist, speaks about back pain
“Back-it up” is the first thing that comes to mind when it concerns protecting your valuable files, folders, pictures and information. Should it not be equally important to do that when it concerns the most valuable asset you have - your health?
Damage to the spine, and in particular the lower part of the back, is one of the most common injuries people experience. To quote the University of Washington’s Orthopaedics and Sport Medicine Department: “It is estimated that 50 to 80 percent of adults have had back pain at some time and that 10 percent of all Americans have back pain in a given year.1
That translates to roughly 300,000 Americans suffering from back pain per year - a staggering number of people, with a wide range of consequences. Back pain may mean missing work or school, reducing your sport or exercise capacity, loss of income, lack of sleep, and emotional/psychological stress, to name just a few.
One aspect of life that becomes rapidly affected by back pain is a person’s leisure time. This could be the inability to sit for extended periods of time at dinners, in movies or simply taking a road trip while on vacation! This leads to cancelling or avoiding some of these ‘pleasant’ or ‘stress relieving’ activities, which normally functions as a proper counter-balance for the stresses of life. Physical therapists see daily evidence of this.
As physical therapists, we offer patients not only ‘hands-on’ physical treatment to relieve some mechanical deficits, but also enable them to understand what it is that makes them worse (and better). With this knowledge of what can be done to improve their condition, they can maintain the healing progress and avoid re-occurrence of the same problem.
A common lower back problem is the ‘wear and tear’ placed on the sponge-like discs between the spinal bones. Similar to a balloon filled with water, the discs have a certain amount of ‘give’ and can absorb a lot of shock and pressure. As the body ages or the cartilage structure of the disc gets damaged, the discs may move around more than normal and even rupture, oozing liquid into the spaces outside the spine, creating pain, pressure and irritation to structures such as nerves, leading to buttock or leg pain, or numbness.
Many physical therapists use a protocol of mechanical diagnoses and corrective techniques and exercises, called the McKenzie method (www.mckenziemdt.org), as founded and taught by a New Zealand trained physiotherapist, Robin McKenzie. The McKenzie approach is very extensive and not just limited to extending the spine to relieve the backward pressure of a disc on a nerve. For the sake of this article, I will focus on the benefits of a product that can enhance the effects of principals used in the McKenzie approach to back problems (particularly disc related problems).
Most discs that ‘go out’ have the tendency to move backwards, that is, towards the backrest of a chair when sitting for prolonged times, due to the prolonged fluid pressure on a ‘weak area’ on the disc. The most immediately helpful advice we give patients is to lay relaxed on the stomach and, if possible, to squash a pillow under the chest to slightly elevate the upper body in relationship to the lower back. As a patient’s conditions improve and their symptoms reduce, they will be instructed in a variety of other techniques and exercises and how to progress them back to normal function.
The use of an inflatable wedge, such as the WondaWedge, to maintain the extended position is very helpful for the following reasons:
- It allows a patient to free up his or her hands for e.g reading a book or
- To get relief of pressure feeling in the back due to prolonged upright sitting
- To promote correction on the discs in the lower back, which may be defective
We own a camper – one of those cute little A-frame popups – and we’ve enjoyed camping in State parks all over Texas. We love the outdoors. Both my husband and I also enjoy reading at the end of the day before we turn the lights out.
That was problematic, as this nifty little camper had a shelf at the head of the bed that prevented us from propping ourselves up with pillows for a nice satisfying read before bedtime. If you’re a camper, you know that reading with a light in the outdoors attracts all manner of flying things to your personal space, and you spend more time shooing away critters than turning pages!! So, we preferred reading in the king-sized bed, but quickly discovered the only way to do that was to sit crosswise from each other with our backs against the sides of the camper – not the best solution.
I volunteered to shop online for a couple of those bed chair “thingys” – you know, with the back and arms? I knew I’d seen these as inflatable products, but my search turned up nothing. I did, however, come across a product called the WondaWedge – this neat triangular pillow with a lumbar roll. It looked like the perfect solution to our problem so I ordered a couple. When they arrived, we quickly inflated them and discovered that the WondaWedge is amazingly comfortable! Now we keep a couple in the camper. They stow in a small space under one of the seats and they’re quickly inflatable whenever we’re ready. (We use an electric air pump – the same pump we use for river-rafting tubes and air mattresses.)
So far, the kids have used them for tent camping (really saves the back when you’re sitting in your tent with nothing to lean back against!), and at the beach. I was amazed at the number of strangers who approached us at the beach and asked where we got our WondaWedges!!
My husband also uses a WondaWedge in bed, as he suffers from bone spurs on his spine, and he finds that using the WondaWedge in bed offers him comfort during his nightly reading sessions.
So, long story short(er), I am now the distributor for WondaWedge. I have an extensive marketing background, and realized right away the many and varied uses for this product! It’s been thrilling talking to people from all over the world who love this product and are finding new and inventive uses! I hope you will share with us your WondaWedge stories.
Recently introduced in the U.S., WondaWedge is a new outdoor product enjoying worldwide success. An inflatable lounge pillow with attached mat, it’s perfect for the beach, picnics, outdoor concerts, or reading in bed. Designed by two physiotherapists, the WondaWedge has great ergonomics and back-support function - better for the posture than many alternatives! The WondaWedge pillow offers three different positions. It is lightweight and inflatable, thus, space-saving, easy to carry, and easy to use. The sueded vinyl material is waterproof and comfortable even in the heat.
We look forward to sharing information about our product here in our blog and hope you enjoy this blog and our product.
Use WondaWedge as a Beach Lounger
The Wondawedge Team
