Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph..
Clear skies. Low 58F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph.
People working in hot environments should be drinking 32 ounces of water per hour.
As the Lewis-Clark Twins begin play in Idaho Class AA American Legion state tournament today in Pocatello, coach Kevin Maurer said his team is “the most complete now that we’ve been this summer” after a smattering of injuries sidelined key players throughout most of the season.
No political party has a monopoly on hubris or idiocy. But as it wrapped up its weekend convention in Twin Falls, the Idaho Republican Party conjured up something rarely seen among the governing class — a naked and universal sense of contempt for the governed.
Ed Robertson, who makes Badger Braces in Colton, shows the design of his product that supports the ankle after a sprain and can prevent future re-injury.
The Badger Brace comes with an orthotic sized to the wearer’s foot.
After lacing it on, straps with velcro wrap the ankle to provide further support and an elastic sleeve goes over as the last step.
Ed Robertson, who makes Badger Braces in Colton, shows the design of his product that supports the ankle after a sprain and can prevent future re-injury.
The Badger Brace comes with an orthotic sized to the wearer’s foot.
After lacing it on, straps with velcro wrap the ankle to provide further support and an elastic sleeve goes over as the last step.
Job titles: Founder and owner of Badger Braces in Colton; physical therapist at Pullman Regional Hospital.
Job history: Has worked as a physical therapist at St. Joseph Regional Medical Center, established Riverside Physical in Orofino and then went to Pullman Regional Medical Center.
Education: Graduate of Bonners' Ferry High School, bachelor's degree from Lewis-Clark State College and bachelor's degree of physical therapy from the University of Washington.
Family: Married with four grown children.
Hobbies: Basketball, camping and boating.
Company history: Robertson began developing the Badger Brace about 12 years ago and got it patented about three years ago. He began selling the devices in March and has one employee. The fabric portions of the braces are manufactured at Idaho Sewing for Sports in Grangeville and Multi-Fab, Inc. in Spokane, depending on which company has room in its schedule. In Colton, arch supports are added and the finished braces are packaged and shipped.
COLTON - The Washington State University football team uses close to a mile of tape each time it gears up for a game as trainers stabilize the ankles of the athletes.
The task takes hours, with the athletes' schedules on game day being governed by getting through the training room in time to be ready for kickoff.
Ed Robertson, a Palouse physical therapist turned entrepreneur, believes an invention he created could put an end to that hassle. He contends his Badger Braces work better than tape and can be laced up by the athletes in just a couple minutes. Taping has to be done by someone else.
"The market is ripe for something truly innovative and I think this is it," said Robertson, who played basketball in high school and at Lewis-Clark State College.
His company reflects the atmosphere of Colton. It's located in a former grocery store. His wife, Ferris Robertson, helps him with assembly and other tasks. His only employee, Kim Schultheis, also owns S&S Cabinets next door with her husband, works in an insurance office in Colton and is a school crossing guard.
Business Profile talked with Robertson about how he turned his idea into a product and the potential Badger Braces has to grow.
Business Profile: How did Badger Braces get started?
Ed Robertson: I was talking about why ankle taping doesn't work very well with athletic training students in the biomechanics class I taught at Washington State University. There's a body of evidence out there that shows the value of ankle taping is really very limited, and yet it still remains the gold standard for preventing and treating ankle sprains. As a physical therapist, I see the injury every day. In doing deeper research into why that doesn't work, I came upon the novel idea of how to stabilize the ankle better. I went to the store, bought some ankle braces, brought them home, cut them apart, resewed them and changed the straps and added arch support and wore it to the gym. I needed it to fit into a soccer cleat or a football cleat and a basketball shoe. It worked.
I'd wear it for a while and kept tweaking and refining the design until I felt like I had it perfected. And then I put it under my desk for five years. I didn't know what to do with it. With four kids at home, I couldn't really afford the patent, didn't know where I would go to get them made. I didn't know how to get to the next step.
BP: How did you overcome that hurdle?
ER: A couple things happened. My wife and kids urged me to finish it. So I pursued the patent. That was a long and expensive process that took three years. I work for Pullman Regional Hospital, which is wholly committed to innovation. The CEO, Scott Adams, sponsored my attendance at Be the Entrepreneur Bootcamp, a weeklong event organized by the Palouse Knowledge Corridor (a not-for-profit economic development group).
I went from an idea under my desk to a product in a box in about six months. I left boot camp with an accountant, an attorney and a banker, and a clearly refined business plan.
BP: How long have you been selling your product and how popular is it?
ER: I started selling online in March. I've sold a couple hundred for $84 a piece. These come in a left and right in men's and women's shoe sizes. I have them as far away as Minnesota, Texas and California. Pullman Regional Hospital stocks them in its emergency room and so do many doctors' offices in Pullman. I'm happy with the early signs and I have tremendous positive feedback from patients and physicians who have used them.
BP: What are your next steps with marketing?
ER: I want to get these into urgent care centers, emergency departments, and doctors' offices. A lot of athletes sprain their ankles, but so does Joe average bag of doughnuts who trips over the hose in the backyard. Ankle sprains are like death and taxes. They're almost universal. The first five minutes you swear to God it's broken. Your wife drives you to the ER. They X-ray it. If it's not broken, you're likely going to leave the ER with a boot or an ankle stirrup, possibly with crutches. The boot costs about $200 and the stirrup runs about $20. I'd rather people be in Badger Braces. Patients can wear them home from the hospital and go to work or play volleyball in it the next day.
The mechanism of injury comes from the front of the foot, not the ankle. The arch support and the straps that attach to the front of the brace as opposed to around the heel are what keep the ankle from rolling. That's what makes it more stable and more comfortable.
The brace comes as a kit with a home exercise program so that patients can start their rehab right away. They don't need to go to a physical therapist. Often times, with minor sprains they don't anyway. I have exercise videos on our website. I also include return to sport guidelines. This isn't intended to replace physicians, but patients frequently don't continue care after their initial visit to a medical provider for an injury.
BP: How profitable are you?
ER: So far I'm not. I'm still trying to stop the bleeding. We're still in the investment and start-up phase. It's a $1.4 billion industry in annual sales of ankle braces in the United States. If I can just get a tiny slice of that market, I'd be pretty happy. There's three directions this could go. This could just fall flat. The other thing that could happen is there is the potential for this to just explode, which is just as scary and dangerous. I hope we have slow, controlled, measured growth. To me the money is like oxygen. I need it to keep breathing, but that's not why I'm doing it.
BP: How challenging is it to balance your job as a physical therapist with running a company?
ER: The culture of the hospital allowed me to continue to develop this project while I maintained my employment. They were very supportive. They helped with my website. I work 30 hours in three days at the hospital clinic and four days a week are dedicated to Badger Braces. My wife and I do all the assembly. Colton is our assembly, packaging and distribution center. One of the things the boot camp taught us was entrepreneurship is not a 9-to-5 job and that has proven to be accurate in this case. It helps that my four kids are grown and out of the house. It's demanding and I wouldn't be able to do it without the help and support of my wife.
Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.
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