WORLD FIRST

That depends. A little. Or a lot. Fact: some therapeutic products on the market especially portable ones are very simple in structure and technology. Only little engineering is involved in inventing and making these devices. These products can nevertheless bring some low level of therapeutic effects, but to a very limited extent to our body. These low tier therapeutic products, unfortunately, tend to drag down the reputation of the whole therapeutic device market. Many customers regard the overall therapeutic device field as a low-in-technology industry. But that is not true. On the other hand, there are companies and engineering teams that have been dedicated and aiming at building high tier, higher effect, sophisticated therapeutic products, and continue to do so. They continue to embed newest study, new materials and new technologies into their devices. The therapeutic effects from these devices are more substantial and because these devices are results/effects based. Regardless of the appearance, complicated or simple, it is the inner structure and engineering that is important. To build a high tier therapeutic device is a lot of effort. First of all is the innovation: constant innovation is key to maintaining a higher level device line. Secondly it is the materialization of the ideas. This is the step that a lot of engineering barriers will be faced for a lot of device makers. E.g. For energy based therapeutic devices, different energy forms need to be mimicked and output for precise therapeutic purposes. While some physical forms are relatively easier to imitate, some other energy forms are very difficult to produce correctly via a home device’s space and power. The human body is unbelievably complicated. A device’s therapeutic effects need to be optimized in every way that is coherent with and facilitates our bodily functions. It is this optimization that is ultimately essential. Eligible clinical approval is necessary before the product can hit the market. But it doesn’t stop here. A long term and active collecting of market data and feedback is needed for fine-tuning the technical parameters of the device. For a good product line, this is a never ending process. Technology world advances at an amazing speed. Many new technologies and new understandings become accessible these days. Higher end therapeutic device companies actively try to integrate these new fronts into their devices wherever applicable to optimize their effects. As you can see, a lot can be done, and sophisticated technologies can be and have been packed into therapeutic devices. It doesn’t matter the area of specialty of the therapeutic device. It doesn’t matter the therapeutic device is for clinical usage or for home settings. The actual technology within a therapeutic device varies drastically. How much technology can be packed into a therapeutic device really depends on our will, our capability and continuous effort. How can you differentiate/discern a higher-end therapeutic device from a lower-level one? Well that will be the topic of a future post of ours. Stay tuned.

What is moxibustion? How does it work? Moxibustion involves the application of heating sensation onto the surface of our body. How is it different from regular thermobustion or, simply, taking a hot bath? The main difference lies in the philosophy.  Moxibustion is Eastern medicine based. Its purpose is to assist the energy flow through the Meridian lines inside our body. Therefore all efforts of Moxibustion are typically focused on the Meridian lines of our body. Pressure points (a.k.a. acupoints) along Meridian lines are considered to be the clogged spots of our body and will be the target of the therapy. Moxi-sticks are held closely to these points during a moxibustion therapy and typically for one session only on a limited number of pressure points along a certain Meridian line, or in a certain area can be addressed. The goal is to stimulate these spots and resolve blockages inside so a health energy flow can resume. Different pressure points serve different purposes regarding health benefits. In a moxibustion session, heat released from the Moxi-sticks comes onto the skin in a naturally diffusing pattern. Meaning at the receiving end, the heat is constant and non-constant at the same time. The pressure points on our skin effectively go through a periodic variation of temperatures for stimulation. According to Eastern medicine this is one of the best ways of stimulating pressure points. Key words: ‘stimulation', ‘variation’. Moxibustion is one of the hidden jewels in the Eastern medicine realm with proven benefits. But normally moxibustion is not easy to apply day in and day out. Doing a moxibustion session takes some effort and time. What if modern technology can integrate this therapy into a practical package? An easy-to-use device that can closely mimic the effect? A session can be applied without hassles even while doing other things? ViGO Energy Pal/Energy Med has done exactly that! A palpable moxibution effect as a part of its functions and benefits.

ViGO Energy Pal is a unique and innovative product even within the modern physical therapy industry. ViGO Energy Pal contains and applies Western elements and Eastern elements simultaneously to the human body for an optimal therapeutic effect. And over the past 20+ years with all the positive feedbacks, this ideology of ours has proven itself to be totally ingenious and the effort (to create the product) worthwhile. Aside from the “prominent” 5 energies, ViGO Energy Pal has a “hidden” ingredient: The “Acupuncture Sequences”. ViGO Energy Pal’s energies are ingeniously designed to work together to form an effect in an equivalence to a “virtual acupuncture” or “acupuncture without the needles”. When we place one of our body parts (typically rich of acu-points) on the surface of ViGO Energy Pal for therapy, the acu-points under that part of skin get to be gently massaged by the energies released from ViGO Energy Pal, in a very similar way them being stimulated during a session of acupuncture. In the Eastern medicine realm, backed by the knowledge of reflexology and acupuncture, this “massage” on the acu-points has an immense and long-term positive effect on the whole body’s wellbeing. But a “massage” like this requires skills & experience to reach an optimal result. During a traditional acupuncture session, after the acu-needles go into the skin, to realize optimal effects, an authentic acupuncturist will apply to the needles gentle maneuvers, such as gentle twisting, flicking, vibration, pushing&pulling and heating sometimes throughout the whole process. The applied-pressure level, direction, time pattern (sequences) all matter. The purpose is for the Meridian Lines to be best stimulated, for blockages to be resolved and therefore enhancing energy flows throughout (parts of) the body. There exist optimal sequences for these mini maneuvers. i.e. a "music sheet” of rhythms, continuums and pauses, forces and spatial directions. A group of these choreographed “dance movements” stacked together forms a set. A good acupuncturist has their own best sequences and therefore a signature set of maneuvers. A good set of these maneuvers can and will differentiate a highly effective acupuncture session from a mediocre one. Sets of maneuver sequences have been embedded in ViGO Energy Pal’s program. Maneuver effects have been materialized via the mini-control of the intensity, period and pause, spatial direction, rotation, push& pull of the energies output from ViGO energy pal that are designed to mimic the effect of an acupuncture session. All of these embedded sequence sets are the best picked and highly classical ones. When ViGO Energy Pal runs, these sets of mini maneuvers are automatically applied to the receiver. The back story. During the making of our ViGO Energy Pal, we had worked together with a selected group of established professors of Eastern Medicine and Qi masters on the topic of best sequences of acupuncture maneuvers. This was groundbreaking work both for the acupuncture community and for the therapy device industry. It was the first time such work had been done. In a way ancient acupuncture technique had been modernized. We then converged the sequence sets into a few most classic ones, each of them of a long historical presence. We bit-by-bit translated them into the "electronic language” and implemented into our device: ViGO Energy Pal, where acupuncture effect is mimicked by the output of man made physical energies. We have tested the actual effect, the sequence sets for countless times and optimized them over the years for the best overall results. This Eastern element is hidden and subtle. But it differentiates a highly effective acupuncture effect from a mediocre one. A related question: When a customer uses ViGO Energy Pal, How do they know they are applying the device to the correct acupoints? Do they have to be an expert in order to use ViGO Energy Pal? How do we know where the acupoints are? Answer: ViGO Energy Pal’s philosophy is “extremely practical and easy to use”. It is designed for everyone in all usage scenarios. Complicated technology is implemented in a minimalist device body with a simple operation interface. The usage of the device is easy and basically fool-proof. Indeed an end user doesn’t need to possess any Eastern acupuncture knowledge to use ViGO Energy Pal. The effect is already there. Acupoints will automatically be gently massaged and stimulated. Also, there is no “bad effect” for stimulating a “wrong” acupoint: There is no such thing as “a wrong acupoint”. They all have their own beneficial effects when being stimulated. ViGO Energy Pal can be used as is. i.e. with any given posture, for however long, daily. No particular attention needs to be paid to thus extra effect as it runs in the “background”. This being said we do recommend first time users to focus more on the foot posture and the hand posture. While acupoints are dotted throughout our body, the soles and the palms are the most acupoints-rich areas of the body and have significant meaning and effect in the Eastern medicine on the overall wellbeing. We also recommend long term users to rotate between different postures, on a regular base. Try placing the device onto different parts of our body surface from time to time when we are deeper into the therapy course. This way different acupoints on our body get to be touched and addressed by the energy, a worthwhile effort to fully utilize therapeutic effect of ViGO Energy Pal!