testimonials...

"As a certified hand therapist for over 12 years, I often incorporate postural exercises into my treatment regime especially for desk workers. I have been very pleased with the Shoulder Saver as a tool to facilitate upper extremity strength while stabilizing the core musculature".

Kristen Manacke, OTR/L, CHT

Physical Therapy and Hand Center

Girard Orthopaedics

"I have been a PT for over 30 years and am usually skeptical about new rehab devices. When Michael demonstrated the “Shoulder Saver” at our clinic, I was immediately impressed with its potential for our shoulder patients. Over the past few months, the device has lived up to my expectations and more. It has become a valuable tool because it facilitates glenohumeral joint stability and promotes the correct postural response for overhead activities. It is uniquely designed for both closed and open chain activity and can be used in tri-planar motions as well. I have also been able to incorporate it into my programs for spine patients with good results. I can’t wait to get the final product. I whole-heartedly endorse this product."

Andrew Harrah, PT

Physical Therapy hand Center

Girard Orthpaedics

I have been using the Shoulder Saver in my office as an integral part of all my shoulder rehabilitation and strengthening protocols, and I can say that it has made getting strength and range of motion back much easier. My plan would be to send all of my patients home with one of these to continue their rehabilitation on their own. Finally a rehab device worth mentioning. Thanks for the ingenuity Michael ........

Dr. Saby Szajowitz DC CCSP

Del Mar Sports Medecine

I was very excited when Michael introduced the Shoulder Saver to our clinic. It is such a simple and effective rehabilitation tool to isolate and strengthen the muscles of the shoulder girdle. It has become an integral piece of equipment in our daily training protocols with our spinal cord, stroke, and TBI clients.

The one thing that stands out the most to me is how adaptive and versatile this piece of equipment is. We have seen significant results in the overall core and postural strength of our SCI clients when using the Shoulder Saver to isolate these areas. Another benefit is the low resistance settings; our SCI clients find muscle initiation easier with closed chain exercises, which facilitate a better connection throughout the full ROM of the exercise.

I look forward to using the final product of the Shoulder Saver to continue to aid in the recovery and progress of our clients. Michael Cummings has created a very innovative rehabilitation tool that will continue to be a staple in our exercise protocols here at Awakenings Health Institute. Thank you for all your generosity and support!

Zach Houston

Director of Therapeutic Recreation, ACE AHFS

Awakenings Health Institute

Wellness Rehabilitation Clinic

I have been using the Shoulder Saver now for several weeks. I generally do about an hour of yoga and then use the device at the end of the session. While yoga is great for opening up the hips it is only through inversions that you can target the shoulders. I find the shoulder saver opens up my shoulders, strengthens the shoulder muscles, upper back and chest. I have found that using it in combination with the yoga has released and also strengthen and lengthened my erectors. Great Product. Thanks

John Sarkisian

CEO, Sklz

The "Shoulder Staff" is an "outlier". It is a brilliant tool that I have utilized for both myself and clients; proving to be the key piece in the shoulder rehab process, enabling clients and myself to achieve a complete neuromuscular experience.

Thank you "Shoulder Staff"

Michael J. Kugler

C.P.T.

“When I started working with my personal friend, David Weck, the inventor of the BOSU® Balance Trainer, I was exposed to all sorts of inventors approaching David, looking for help in creating, designing, distributing and marketing their products. I first met Michael Cummings in 2009 when he invented his “Hyper Squat.” As his friendship with David and myself grew, we realized how creative he was in designing functional products that solved problems his clients were actually experiencing during their training sessions. When Michael brought “The Shoulder Stick” to me, it was about one month before I was going to have rotator cuff surgery on my left shoulder. What timing! My pain-free range-of-motion was very small, and limited movement for almost a year had made my shoulder complex extremely weak. I immediately started using The Shoulder Stick. The device allowed me to create space in the shoulder and seat the joint correctly, thus reducing my impingement and actually being able to lift my arm fully overhead. Using the Shoulder Stick helped me regain strength before the surgery, and is now an integral tool in my healing process. If you know someone with shoulder pain, I would definitely recommend the Shoulder Stick to aid in their recovery!”

Steve Froehlich

Vice President of Business Development

BOSU® Fitness, Inc.

I have been using the Shoulder Saver now for several weeks. I generally do about an hour of yoga and then use the device at the end of the session. While yoga is great for opening up the hips it is only through inversions that you can target the shoulders. I find the shoulder saver opens up my shoulders, strengthens the shoulder muscles,upper back and chest. I have found that using it in combination with the yoga has released and also strengthen and lengthened my erectors.

Great Product.

Thanks

John

My name is Mike Smith. Racing horses for over 35 years has had quite an impact on my back and shoulders - almost thirteen years ago I broke my shoulder and two vertebrae in my back. To this day I undergo rehabilitation, yet at the same time, I still have to be in peak form when participating in races. For me, the Shoulder Saver - introduced to me by Michael Cummings - is phenomenal. The device operates through a gliding motion, and you can really sense the stretch as you perform the different exercises. It seems counterintuitive, but the resistance feels almost relaxing yet strengthening. The Shoulder Saver hasn't fired up the pain that other rehabilitation devices have, and I feel in better shape than I have in years - ready to take my 5,000th win. Thanks, Michael.

Mike E. Smith

[Legendary] Jockey

I'm Chantal Sutherland, a jockey since 2001. Riding is exhilarating, but the horses are often temperamental and anxious. You can't boss them around, but you have to get them to respect you and go with the flow. Being physically fit is a must. As a rider, hitting the gym really hard has helped me be a better finisher, so small differences in exercise can make or break a race. The Shoulder Saver is one tool that I'll be incorporating into my routines from now on - it's smart and effective. The mechanism behind it seems intuitive once Michael explains them; the Saver really does feel good when you use it. I've already learned at least five ways to use it to target different muscles, and I'm impressed that such a simple-seeming device can be so powerful. I'd love to have one of my own to travel with me.

Chantal Sutherland

Jockey

I have been a physical therapist for 10 years now and there are many rehabilitation products that come to my attention on a regular basis. From a rehabilitation perspective nothing stands out like the "Shoulder Saver.” In an acute care setting the shoulder saver is a dynamic tool that physical therapist’s can use on all patients regardless of their diagnosis. Although this was designed for the shoulder, the versatility of this device lends itself to out-patients, post-op patients and more remarkably, from my point of view, individuals suffering from stroke and spinal cord injuries.

This is a piece of equipment that can work your patients on high or low level stability activities. The closed-chain tracking mechanism not only gives confidence to the patients who are using this device, but it also has an easy transfer to open-chain functionality. This is great for the patient who needs more challenging therapeutic exercise during their rehabilitation.

I want to thank the innovation and ingenuity of Michael Cummings, personal trainer for developing such an outstanding piece of equipment. I look forward to developing protocols for my individual patients in the acute care setting.

I wholeheartedly endorse this product.

Lisa Stephenson BS, MSPT, NDT

I’ve been using Mikes shoulder staff for the past couple of months. Its far and away one of the best shoulder rehab/prehab devices I’ve seen. I’ve had three surgeries in the past two years two on my right shoulder and one on my elbow. And with the help of the shoulder staff my shoulders are stronger than ever. Doctors told me my days of 300lb bench presses were over. After using the shoulder staff I’m proud to say I can now bench well over 400lbs. Mike made me one and I use it with every one of my clients, from professional football players, to Hall of Fame Jockeys I am able to warm-up and strengthen and create Range of Motion in their shoulders. It makes me a better trainer. Thanks Mike your invention is brilliant!!!

Brian Killion

Owner of Killion Fitness

15 yrs experience Ace and ISSA CFT

Hi my name is Chris Moring, i have been a hairstylist for 29 years! In the last 4 years i started having problems with my right shoulder from the constant use of holding my arm up to cut ,color and style hair! i work long hour up to 10 sometimes 11 hour days! i started having a lot of pain from the muscles tenant and ligaments going in to spasm ! i found that by using the staff that it gave me unbelievable relief in my shoulder neck and back! it helped relieve the intense pain so i am able to get through my work day! i find that it just makes your whole body feel so much better after using it ! I love it and would recommend the staff for anyone because it s a great way to start and finish your day! its awesome!!!!!! Thanks guys for inventing the staff!!!!!!! Its really helped my quality of life!

Thanks again,

Chris

Thank you "Shoulder Staff"

Michael J. Kugler

C.P.T.

june 20, 2011

Michael Cummings

C/o Cardiffit

2085 San Elijo Ave.
Cardiff by the Sea, Ca. 92007

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing this letter to document and comment upon my use of the "Michael Cummings Shoulder Staff with my personal training clients and myself.

At sixty one years old, I have been a full time personal trainer and exercise therapist for over thirty years. During that time I have spent over forty thousand hours working with clients in a variety of resistance training modalities, developing my own protocols for postural realignment, freedom from back and joint pain, weight loss and body awareness.

The average age of my clients is fifty five. The youngest is thirteen and the oldest is ninety-three. Many are physically challenged. Many have shoulder girdle and rotator cuff injury and or dysfunction. They train with me one to three times per week; the training relationships often lasting for years or even decades. This gives me a unique opportunity to evolve both the client and my thesis.

Michael's Shoulder Staff design has what I believe are significant and important applications for awareness, strength development and control of the rotator cuff muscle group unlike any device oriented strategy that 1 have worked with to date.

The Problem

Most people, inclusive of athletes, have a compromised ability to articulate the shoulder joint with the level of biomechanical control and finesse necessary to facilitate a correct transformational response in the shoulder girdle and upper extremities. This inability also powerfully affects load transfer to the lower body. Correct utilization of the rotator cuff muscles and their synergistic supporters define the disposition of the postural position of the entire shoulder girdle itself and its concomitant effect on the biomechanics of the total structure.

In my view, an individual's ability to control outward and inward rotation of the upper arm defines that individual's capacity to select load transfer lines that pass back and forth between the grip and the target muscle(s) being stressed in an exercise. To develop this ability it is necessary not only to be able to generate isolated humeral outward and inward rotation, but to do so without transferring rotation forces to the forearm distally or create a proximal protracted response in the shoulder girdle. Traditional movements to strengthen the rotator cuff have always fallen short for me, as the student invariably pulls with the hand to create outward and inward rotation paths, assuming the stress results in a strengthening response to the rotator cuff. In my experience they have been ineffective in educating the student to make more sophisticated kinesthetic choices when involved in compound load transfer movements.

The Solution

Michael's Shoulder Staff is astoundingly effective in mitigating this typical response. Bypassing the grip, outward rotational movement must be generated by the rotator cuff itself. The student's obligation is to maintain a straight arm supported by an upright posture. The elasticized outer tubes extend away to the distal ends of the staff as the arm is brought over the top of the head, allowing a kinesthetic connection to be built between the act of rotation and its point of origin. It is the rotator cuff alone that then accomplishes the movement while the surrounding musculature releases its 'neurotic' grip on the rotational process, allowing a new state of awareness to emerge. The return path of inward rotation driven by the anterior deltoid, pectorals, latisimis and subscapularis also illuminates, bringing completion and a new way of being to the entire area.

The Method

I initially experimented with the Shoulder Staff by performing straight arm anterior to posterior and posterior to anterior rotations in the sagittal plane. The Shoulder Staff was much less stressful to my shoulder girdle than the typical fixed staff rotation that I normally perform. I experienced an immediate increase in my ability to abduct my arms in the posterior position while maintaining a locked elbow. The rotation became much less contentious in that I could 'play' with the tensions passing through the rotator cuff rather than work on lessoning my 'flinch' response as the regular staff passed overhead. Continued practice with this basic movement has continued to increase my range of motion and kinesthetic sense.

Although I have experimented with other powerful, transformational movement protocols using Michael's Shoulder Staff, I am intentionally limiting my comments to the basic overhead rotation as that has proved the most transformational to both my functional and impaired client populations.

3 Results

Here are some examples of client results I have obtained:

Ron S. 74, retired dentist. Multiple shoulder surgeries for damaged rotator cuffs both sides. Right side long head bicep atrophied from unrepaired skiing injury. Ron has had protracted shoulders and limited range of motion that we have moderately improved in the five years he has been working with me. After gradually introducing the basic overhead rotation with the Shoulder Staff on an intermittent basis, Ron is now able to perform upright rows, lateral raises, rear lat pull downs and compound dumbbell chest flys. The ability to perform this expanded movement set has eliminated his shoulder girdle protraction, opened his chest allowing for the development of his pectorals and deepened his breathing. His normal unobstructed range of motion has increased significantly.

Angelo D. 73, artist. Type 2 diabetes, pacemaker, and high blood pressure, formally obese. Angelo has arthritis in both shoulders and an extremely limited range of motion. Although he has made significant progress in all areas of his metabolic syndrome during the seven years he has worked with me, his shoulder stiffness and pain have made upper body movements challenging and uncomfortable. After gradually introducing the basic overhead rotation with the Shoulder Staff on an intermittent basis, Angelo now has virtually pain free range of motion after warming up and is able perform shoulder presses that have increased his strength and overall shoulder girdle balance. His post workout soreness has diminished and continues to improve.

George H. 62, retired dentist. George has a severely craned neck, atrophied rotator cuffs, and a protracted shoulder girdle from his years of leaning forward to treat patients. Although he has worked with me for many years, it has been challenging to continually bring him back into alignment. However, since he retired last year, George has begun to 'straighten up'. After gradually introducing the basic overhead rotation with the Shoulder Staff on an intermittent basis, George has found rotator cuff control, the ability to perform pain free lateral raises and a movement toward a reduction of his craned neck and protracted shoulder girdle. This has allowed for a better overall body position for compound leg engagement, kettle bell work, free squats and standing shoulder presses.

Charlene S. 67, businesswoman. Charlene is in great shape! She has trained with me for over twenty years. She's strong, super fit and committed to always making progress. Her movement issue has always been to have too much of her energy 'trapped' in her grip for upper body protocols. After gradually introducing the basic overhead rotation with the Shoulder Staff on an intermittent basis, Charlene has softened her ferocious grip and been able to transfer that energy more equitably throughout her upper body. This has improved her exercise technique in all movements. She feels more relaxed and in touch with training, making the exercise experience even more enjoyable for her.

There are many more, but this is a good cross section of the results I have enjoyed with my clients from using the basic movement of Michael's Shoulder Staff.

In Conclusion

I am looking forward to the fully 'engineered' version to appear in the marketplace. I will certainly be purchasing one for myself and will recommend to my clients that they do as well to support healthy, aware rotator cuff movement throughout their entire training lifetimes.

I will continue to use and experiment with the Shoulder Staff and look forward to continuing progress for my clients and myself!

Thanks, Michael, for a truly creative innovation. Sincerely,

^------~^

Jonathan Field