Since the beginning of Block Therapy, we have been using cedar wood to make the Block Buddy and Baby. This has been such a beautiful medium – the smell is one of my favourites, but most importantly, the density of the wood is similar in density to bone. This is why cedar was chosen.
At first this was working great. Each block that is made is hand finished and we were able to keep up with the flow, however, I knew there would come a time when this method would no longer serve us. Also, the cedar is taken from trees that are 10-15 years old, and knowing that we would be supplying many, this wasn’t sitting right with us. We needed another solution.
For years we tried different woods, but we were never happy. Hickory for example is a hard wood and felt cold in the tissue – not to mention it weighed a ton. Birch had a funky smell – not good when doing face work, Basswood felt great but isn’t an accessible resource . . . no matter what we tried, cedar was the only wood that made sense. But again, we knew there would come a day when we would have come up with a different plan.
Then, on December 31st, about 1 hour before we rang in 2020, I met an amazing man, Nghia Tran. We had a conversation and felt that we needed to dive a little deeper to see what led us to each other. During a lunch, he asked if there was anything he could assist with regarding Block Therapy as he felt there was something here for him. I immediately said Yes, Block Production. Within a week, he presented me with a solution that fit all our needs and concerns, to ensure quality and to maintain the therapeutic benefits of the Block Therapy practice.
Drum roll . . .
Introducing the Bamboo Block Buddy and Baby!!!
Bamboo is a grass that grows 10-18 inches per day. There is no shortage of this amazing resource, it’s natural and . . . it’s similar in density to bone! Thanks to Nghia, an Engineer who did the research, we now have a Block Buddy and Baby that we can feel proud to send out to the masses, knowing we will keep our trees intact.
So, going forward, Bamboo it is. Whether you are using cedar or bamboo, therapeutically, they are the same. Bamboo feels amazing in your fascia and I am thrilled. I love my Bamboo Blocks!!!
I am so grateful to Nghia for taking on this task and giving me a solution to the years of stress and worry about how to scale as the word continued to spread about Block Therapy. 2020 has been an incredible ride for us all, but for me, this is the year we took the company to the next level to ensure we could continue to deliver blocks to the masses.
We released a video explaining why we switched to bamboo earlier this week with our launch on November 11, 2020. In case you missed it, you will find it below.
Next Week: Block Therapy and Babies