Help on price of product

Hi All - hoping you can help. I have developed a new product that I hope to start selling later this year. I need your opinion on the potential value of this product.

It is a balance training and assessment product. There are products like this on the market already but they are much more sophisticated and incredibly expensive.

In a nutshell - put our sensor on a wobble board, see the results your computer. See how unbalanced your patient is. Set a "course" for them to follow and emphasize the areas that they are weakest in.

The very upmarket versions of this actually assist in the diagnosis of the balance problem and cost 30k and more. (You have probably seen them in the big rehab hospitals.) Our product does not do this and subsequently should cost a lot less. If you can help please email me and I will send you a link so that you can download our software to try.

I would firstly suggest that training on a wobble board is not an efficient way to train balance. The ground does not move like a wobble board and thus this type of equipment is fun to play with but of little relevance in the training of balanced walking and standing.

However as a piece of equipment that might sell there may be some interest if the price is very low. I would expect in the range of about AUD 250-300. I wouldn't pay more as it is not really worth an aweful lot as a treatment. But if the price is low enough you might get volume as people might like to have it as an adjuct that clients enjoy playing with. ;)
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Interesting opinion PhysioBob. I know the ground does not move like a wobble board BUT wobble boards certainly have established themselves over the years as useful tools in not only balance training but also rehab of ankle, knee and hip conditions. You almost make it sound like we should all be throwing away our wobble boards and I dont think you meant that.

Found some research - have a look at http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/art...medid=15767608
Effectiveness of a home-based balance-training program in reducing sports-related injuries among healthy adolescents: a cluster randomized controlled trial
Carolyn A. Emery, J. David Cassidy, Terry P. Klassen, Rhonda J. Rosychuk, and Brian H. Rowe
This study shows that balance training on a wobble board is indeed beneficial.

Maybe this is an interesting subject to discuss in another forum where there are more people to contribute?

I do mean that! We should perhaps saw of their bottoms and use them as lazy susan's for serving pizza :)

I don't mean to be rude by the way but a lot of development and cost goes into things that aren't really that valid a tool for achieving what they are sold to achieve. This doesn't mean wobble boards don't have a use, just not a balance retrainers that's all.

p.s. in relation to the study, it was done with individuals without balance problems to being with, college students! And it was compared to a no treatment group. My suggestion is that standing on one leg, or doing tai chi would perhaps be better and cost nothing. It would be interesting to look at the cost impact of these 'Free' ideas when compared to expensive 'wobble board' type training. Of course a woddble board will strengthen the musculature in the lower leg, peroneals, soleus, gastrocnemius in an over active manner. These are often the secondary defense during a loss of balance, especially an inversion of the ankle. The primary defense is however control about the hip joint - something the wobble board doesn't really address. Thus I would personally suggest that excessive wobble board training would in fact neglect the proactive areas that need training to prevent a fall, and simply strengthen secondary mechanisms that try to assist recovery. This might help of course if you decide never to address the primary issues.

Please do other people have comments on this. I am excited that you have developed a device that does not necessarily have to go on a wobble board! Thus it might be rather useful for other ideas of balance training.

Hi - i agree with physiobob on a number of points.

1. If it costs more than 100-200 dollars, i really have to see whether it is is worth the money or not. Will more patients come to see me because i have this tool? Will i get a better result because i have this - at the moment i would argue not although it may improve compliance with exercise if it is interesting...

2. I only use wobbleboards to keep the surgeons happy - they ask for it, they want to hear their patients are using it, i want their referrals - you know how it goes. I give them more functional things to do but make sure i follow their guidelines because in the real world, the surgeon just asks "did the physio give you wobble-board exercises?" and i want my patients to be able to answer "yes"!

3. Wobble boards do not improve proprioception.

4. I have found that standing on it with one leg improves the muscles in the arch of my foot - that is what i use it for!

Good luck - unless it is part of some ground-breaking research that means everyone will want to buy one, i don't think pricing it high will help

One thing I am learning frorm this little exercise is that unless you actually have a live evaluation of the product, you will attach a very low value to the product.
I have been to two different universities and 4 private practices and the average estimate of the value of the product is $1700.00.

I would be interested to know if either of your opinions would be different if you downloaded the software and looked at the demo version. Maybe not, as you still won't see what it is like if are actually on a wobble board.

So this discussion has really been about usefulness of wobble board training, which is fair enough if that is all you do with our sensor. But as PhysioBob very astutely observed, if we can stick it on a wobble board we can stick it on anything.

If either of you are in Melbourne (or Sydney) I am happy to drop by to give you a live demo.

Sorry Murray, I am in London right now. I would be interested in ideas for sticking your sensor on other things. Could it go inside a shoe for example?

We will be bringing out a version of our sensor later with the ability to be attached to a limb or other body part (eg head). Lots of uses for that of course.

Good thinking :)