BodystanceBackpod - Premium Device for Costochondritis & Tietze Syndrome | Physio Designed | NZ Made | Posture Corrector & Back Pain Relief

I love this product. I love the way Steve August (the inventor) figured out and explains costochondritis - it makes sense. It's about the ribs, not inflammation or nerve pain. I developed costo in 2006 after being prescribed lisinopril, which caused severe coughing, for months. This, in turn, froze up my back ribs and ligaments. At the beginning, my severe chest pain and trouble breathing led to several ER trips in an ambulance, siren on, taking corners on rails. But after all the doctors had done all their cardiac and lung tests, and found nothing, they simply sent me home, unable to explain my pain, and worse, unwilling to help me manage it. I suffered untreated for 2 years when we moved to a new state and I found a pain doctor there who explained I had costochondritis and did prescribe for me. The pain meds were the only thing that gave me any kind of relief. Tylenol didn't work, nor Advil. Over the next 13 years (15 years total), I've developed kidney failure, lung failure, diabetes I, epilepsy and a host of other complex and rare medical conditions. I've attributed so much of my immobility and pain moving to simply being on dialysis. I've attributed my shortness of breath to my lung problems.Enter the Backpod. I ordered this because I'm having a terrible time right now getting pain meds sorted out and I've come to the conclusion that the doctors are not going to help me. I have to help myself. So I reopened my research into this condition. As it turns out, the Backpod now exists - which was not true when I first got costo. This device works to open up spaces between your ribs and move the ligaments between them. I used it for 2 minutes on each side the first night I got it. The next morning I woke up pain-free. It was UNREAL! I haven't had a pain-free morning in over 15 years. I wake up every morning reaching out for my oxys, because I know I need them. My AM pain is always that bad. It's now Day 6 of using the Backpod, plus I've started physical therapy in hopes that the PTs can help me maximize my results and optimize my therapy, which they have so far been very good at. In just 6 days - still NO PAIN!! That first morning I woke up, I took a shower and realized I had so much more REACH in both shoulders, and the same when I was toweling off. So I did some shoulder rolls and I could just hear my upper rib bones crackling right down from the top to the bottom, so I could tell they were loosening up. It felt great!Costo is a horrible condition to try to live with. It limits you in so many ways - mobility, ability to do chores, cook, shop, spend time with loved ones, go out, sit up for any lengths of time - and for me, I'm realizing all of this disability was due to the costo, not my kidneys or lungs. I thought all this time I was just stuck with it.The Backpod is super easy to use. You just lay down on it. You can put it behind you while you lean back on a stack of pillows and watch TV in bed. Then you can move it around - up, down, more to the middle, wherever it feels the best is probably where you need it most. It doesn't require any batteries or charging, and only very little maintenance. My puppy did try to chew on it, but I caught him in time. The big dog just licks it. I don't mind, as long as they don't destroy the thing.Being on disability, a $68.00 cost is high for me, but I decided to go for it and see if I can get myself into a position to start tapering off my pain meds under medical supervision. I had my first narcotic free day yesterday, and I was shocked. I didn't even think about taking any meds. I would so much rather invest this money here and stop having to go to a pain doctor monthly, and stop having my energy and ability to focus be affected by my oxys than stay on pain meds and not have a solution. I never thought I'd ever get better from anything again - all of my medical issues are chronic, and some degenerative. But this one, I cured. I did it by myself, with the help of Steve August, and I did it in a matter of days, after 15 years of hell. If you're in hell from costo, the Backpod is your way out!!! I only wish Steve August's information would infiltrate the medical community here in the US. Doctors here are so stubborn about insisting on what they heard once upon a. time, and they don't do much research as they continue to treat you to see if they can find you a cure. We have to heal ourselves. Thank you to Steve August for paving the way for those of us with costochondritis to do that!!

I hardly ever feel compelled to write a review (although, selfishly, I wouldn't be able to buy anything or eat anywhere without them!) but I do feel the need to share my support for this product. This was my second bout of costochondritis -- my first happened sometime two years ago, when my doctor diagnosed costochondritis after I had this nagging, lingering chest pain after a bad respiratory infection. I don't remember being told to do anything for it except take ibuprofen and wait it out for 6-8 weeks. I wasn't terribly active back then, the pain wasn't necessarily holding me back from any activity, and so I did as I was told, which was basically nothing. And eventually, it did go away. (Lucky, I know.)Since then I've become an avid surfer, surfing just about every day. I really consider it instrumental for my mental and emotional health. And so when this episode of costochondritis descended upon me, it hurt like hell to paddle or pop up, no matter how many Motrins I took before and after. That's when I began to do my research, and came to the conclusion that if I didn't give myself a chance to heal (by taking a break from surfing) then this costo could linger on for months or years. I forced myself to take a break, and let me tell you, between the chest pain and not surfing, was a painfully depressing period. I swear I needed to go back to therapy, take antidepressants again, something -- and it had only been a week!!One night, I watched a whole bunch of costo videos on youtube, trying to figure out how the heck I can exercise without aggravating my chest, and I came across a few helpful ones. One video detailed a good door jamb stretch for costo sufferers (with arms raised above head level); a few others led me to purchase this Backpod and a jar of Penetrex. So starting the very next day, I did that door jamb stretch several times a day, basically every time I could remember. And when the Backpod arrived, I would use it once in the morning and once in the evening. It was uncomfortable -- NOT painful, nor should it be -- but at the same time, relaxing? Somehow it just felt very therapeutic to lie on this oblong plastic contraption. I rubbed on the Penetrex 3-4x a day, as per directions, on my chest and along the spine of the affected side.Within as little three days, I felt a very significant improvement in my costo pain, so much that by the fifth day I dared to get back in the water (taking it easy of course). It's been a little over a week since I've owned this and I would say I'm 95% back to normal. I think the combination of rest (ugh), the stretches and the Backpod -- and maybe the Penetrex? -- truly worked for me, and I was able to avoid a much lengthier period of suffering. This will be my go-to prescription should I be so unfortunate to have it reoccur.I really sympathize with those that have been suffering with costochondritis for any significant amount of time. For something that isn't life-threatening, it can really be downright life-depleting. If you're on this sinking ship, and deliberating if you should purchase the Backpod, please just do it! With that and a little extra TLC you might just find the relief you're looking for.

I never leave reviews but this is AMAZING! I work at a computer 10+ hours a day and typically have a ton of pain in my upper back and lying on this feels AMAZING. My back feels incredible afterwards. It seems expensive but it’s worth it, trust me.