Today we’d like to introduce you to Garrett Salpeter.
Hi Garrett, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
It all started with an injury I experienced playing college hockey in New England. I was told I’d need surgery to repair some torn ligaments, and fortunately I met another doctor who introduced me to a different approach. By working with my nervous system (and its impact on muscles and the healing process), plus using a unique type of electrical current, my ligaments healed on their own and I was back in 2-3 weeks instead of three months. It was a major “light bulb going off” moment, and it generated a calling within me to share this work with as many people as possible.
Academically, I was on track to be an engineer and ended up completing my Master’s in Engineering here at UT. Because of that healing experience, however, I ended up pursuing my interest in sports medicine instead of engineering. That lead me to collaborations with various medical people, additional graduate school in neuroscience, and a growing passion for using electrical technologies to help patients heal faster from a wide range of injuries.
During the 7-8 years of this initial “laboratory phase,” I kept seeing new opportunities to improve the technology we were using so it could do even more things and help even more people. Finally, the voice inside became too loud to ignore, and I started work to develop the NEUBIE (“Neuro-Bio-Electric”) device, which we paired with the NeuFit Method of neurological treatment that had evolved through experimentation in those early years.
We definitely “bootstrapped” our way to launching the device and have been growing the NeuFit movement piece by piece ever since. We’ve made great strides in working with professional sports teams and universities (including the Horns and Austin FC!), launching several research studies and building out an incredible team here that is supporting clinicians in implementing NeuFit and the Neubie all over the world.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
I often joke that if I had known how long and how expensive it would be to develop a medical device, I never would have done it in the first place. (Like most good jokes, this one has an element of truth to it.) All the elements of technical development plus the stringent regulatory requirements made for quite a ride.
Beyond the hurdles of launching a new product, we’ve had some interesting challenges after hitting the market. Many are common start-up challenges related to building the right team, an area where we’ve made a ton of progress and where I can now say I’m super proud of our team. Some of the challenges were specific to launching a disruptive product in an established medical device arena, which led to some bullying from bigger and more established companies. Fortunately, we’ve been able to withstand our own version of David vs. Goliath and are continuing to grow.
As you know, we’re big fans of NeuFit. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
At NeuFit, we harness the power of the nervous system to help people get out of pain and get back to doing what they love faster.
This work is supported by the revolutionary NEUBIE device, which is used by thousands of doctors and therapists around the world to help their patients recover faster from sports injuries and orthopedic surgeries, reverse chronic pain, restore function lost due to neurological injuries or diseases, and upgrade their fitness and performance. It’s also used by dozens of professional sports teams and universities and is the subject of multiple ongoing trials evaluating the effectiveness of its technology in areas like post-operative recovery, muscle hypertrophy, and functional recovery from stroke and MS.
Our flagship clinic is right here in Austin, where we offer these next-generation rehabilitation and fitness services to people looking for these same benefits.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love the culture, especially the high proportion of locally-owned businesses over national chains, and the amazing hiking and opportunities to experience beautiful nature all over the area. In terms of dislikes, I imagine mine is shared by many others: traffic.
Contact Info:
- Email: hello@neu.fit
- Website: https://neu.fit/austin-clinic/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/neufitatx
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/neufitrfp
