Sharing a short interview with my good friend and colleague Jay Dicharry formally of University of Virginia now at Rebound Physical Therapy in Bend Oregon. Jay has just developed an amazing new training tool called the MOBO. Jay and I have taught courses all over the country together and I have learned so much from him and shared his awesome books Anatomy For Runners and Running Rewired with so many people. Jay is also an amazing athlete and can run up and down mountains as well as ski them with the best. My children even got to test minimal shoes in his fancy gait lab for an article we did together on children’s shoes:) Jay and I also did this old school video Are You Ready to go Minimal for Running Times in 2012 and it has almost half a millions views now. What Jay demonstrated in 2012 has only been further confirmed as essential foot functioning.
Jay is offering a generous offer to our readers to purchase the MOBO online with the code “RUNWV10” for 10 percent off. Check out his site to learn more about the product and view some of the exercises www.moboboard.com
Doing some foot and balance training on the back porch and at our store Two Rivers Treads
Unpacking the MOBO 🙂
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MC: Jay I have always been fascinated and enjoyed your innovative methods to find better solutions to common problems. You have a gift of finding methods that are fun and do not involve super fancy equipment. So how did the idea of the MOBO come about?
JD: As you know, the objective findings of gait analysis have opened my eyes to the realities of dealing with athletes. Research is great. And I’ve done a TON of research myself, and done the publishing route as well. But I believe my greatest contribution to the world of sports medicine has been through the use of gait lab technology to assess every single athlete I see. It’s a bit like cheating – imagine you get to do a full clinical musculoskeletal exam on every single patient and athlete you see, but you ALSO get to measure aspects of gait and force generation in the lab. This type of assessment allows you to get objective benchmarks that show exactly what your athlete is doing. I founded the first gait lab in the world that used this type of assessment at University of Virginia, and then continue this at the REP Lab in Oregon. This equipment is rather novel and new, and most don’t understand all the ones and zeros the computer outputs, much less how to make actionable changes to one’s training plan based off its findings. But I’ve been using this type of assessment for over 15 years, have data on thousands of runners, and made it a passion to teach the sports medical community what I’ve learned. It’s been fun giving back to the field through teaching internationally and writing Running Rewired, Anatomy for Runners, and almost 40 peer-reviewed scientific papers. And MOBO came about with the same goal in mind – to produce a tool to help our athletes!
In my lab, I began to see a trend in imbalances in the foot and ankle in our athletes, and also did a lot of research on foot and ankle dysfunction, overuse injuries, and shoe design. I began a novel approach to retraining foot function and had quite a bit of success. Mark, you’ve been a champion in spreading this message, and as always, I thank you!
But developing the skill of proper foot control isn’t just a one exercise to save the world. And you don’t get it from a pill. You get it from putting in targeted work. But it’s hard to know what type of work to do! I’ve always said that the best training environment is one where I can shut up, and the athlete can FEEL it. I designed MOBO to help athletes and patients FEEL proper foot control. It’s a tool that can be integrated into all of your foot and ankle proprioception work, and also a tool to integrate your foot WITH your hip and core control. We don’t just train feet- we train athletes. And the body must work together.
MC: I saw a Prototype about a year ago behind a curtain at The Running Event in Austin. How long did it take to go from concept to getting a working prototype?
JD: Funny story here. I made my first prototype over 10 years ago It looked nothing like MOBO does now, but it worked perfectly. I was so excited! Then I showed it to a mutual friend that owns a multimillion-dollar company selling health and sports products. He loved it – felt it work his foot in a way he never has. But he said it would never sell. It didn’t “look” like much. I got frustrated. And shelved it. For over 10 years. Then about a year ago, I got an idea, went into the basement, grabbed a jigsaw and cut some designs as best as I could with a steady hand. It worked great and had a look and feel to it. I had a real product on my hands now. Realizing I couldn’t make these with precision by hand, I bought a CNC machine and made them in my garage. I refined design and feel. I was pumped – MOBO was born!
MC: Most people who create and invent new things go through several stages of failure before they find something that works. Was that the story of the MOBO or did you get it dialed in pretty quick?
JD: As I mention above- this was not an overnight idea. But once the flame was rekindled it took me a few months tops to nail it. But then I realized I had to mass-produce these. That was a HUGE hurdle! Almost like starting over with things getting lost in translation with the production end. Lots of screw-ups with materials and geometry. Quite frustrating to see all these errors. It took about 6 months, but we got it back on spec, and I’m really really happy with the product we ended up with. Then came the box design, branding, and all the other stuff I had no idea how to do. I wanted a very iphone-esque experience when you open the box. I like clean design. I wanted to use a sustainable material. I like things that have a purpose. I don’t care for things that have no role. I designed it flat-pack to reduce shipping cost and to maintain portability for the athletes who use it while traveling. I wanted a safe and environmentally healthy traction coating. One board had to be reversible for both left and right feet. The design had to feel intuitive. The fin boxes had to have multiple configurations and be labeled consistently. All of these things required a lot of thought and planning to ensure the small details supported the function of MOBO. I had a lot of personal goals for the product, and I’m really happy with what we now have.
MC: what was the testing and evaluation process before a final product was up to your standards?
JD: When I designed the boards and made them in my garage, the goal of nailing the design specs- size, shape, contour, geometry had to be perfect to support our body. I believe on making things that improve our anatomical function. Not things that you make and then try it find a market fit for. The total intent was improving the function of the boards for the user. That was the fun part. Then when we went mass production, we got more into durability testing. We love the natural material of bamboo. But natural materials have natural variability in density, water content, and width. So, we worked to ensure that the boards could support high loads before failure. Our current boards fail at 420KG. So, they are plenty strong.
MC: I have subjected our kids to product testing J. Mostly shoes. Did you get your kids involved in the testing?
JD: Well, kind of. The reality of MOBO is that it works great for a women’s 6 up to a men’s 12. So it’s a bit out of spec for them. Not to say that kids can’t use it, but their small feet means that their foot won’t line up perfectly on the board. In case you are wondering. Yes, I did make them a one-off version for kid feet for them to use, as well as a few other things that you may see in the future.
But, I think my kids learned a lot. They were wondering what is dad doing in the garage? What’s this machine in there that cuts things from computer files? How did he do that? I tried to teach my kids about what I was doing. I think we live in a CRAZY world right now. When I took computer in grade school, I thought it was so cool that I could make a “if/then” program in basic. It would do nothing more than ask you a question and spit back some lines of text. I thought it was so cool! But now, I can learn CAD, buy a CNC machine, make actual things to help people, and solve problems, and then start a business from them. I mean its CRAZY how cool modern technology is. I want them to see and live this experience with me. Who knows what will rub off, but I hope they get to see outcomes. All this stuff you learn in school lays a foundation, but continued work and ingenuity makes great things happen!
MC: Who is the MOBO for ? Do you see it more for prevention or training a weakness?
MOBO is short for MObility BOard. Mobility is not about just passive stretching, but rather about FEELING and owning active control of your available range of motion. We don’t want athletes to sit back and be passive. We want them actively involved (emphasis mine). That’s how your nervous system LEARNS skills. And those skills are critical to both improve durability, and performance. Yes, there are studies out there that support the idea of proprioceptive training to improve foot health. To train the “foot core” that supports our bone structure. And yes, there are studies that show that improved foot function helps athletes run faster, cut harder, and jump higher. We train our core, hips, and knees for durability and performance. Why wouldn’t you expect anything less from your feet?
The cool thing about MOBO is that once you try it, you get it. Every single PT and orthopedist I’ve put on this has said – whoa- I totally get it! Every single trainer who has seen it loves playing on it, and figuring out ways to integrate it into their existing exercise practice. Even the yogi’s love it. And every patient has said – wow – I really have to use my foot! And that’s the thing. Everyone gets it. It’s a product for rehab in the clinic, for trainers in boutique gyms, and a product for consumers to have at home. And because there’s a balance challenge, its actually pretty fun to use. I have a few in my living room at my house and anyone who walks in the door jumps right up on it and starts to play on it. I think that’s pretty cool that people WANT to use it vs. being told them have to use it. I like it when natural curiosity leads to improvement.
And it’s for a wide scope of people. I designed it not just runners. Basically, if your sport involves your foot connected to the ground or a platform. You need to improve your foot health! While we recently launched commercially, I’ve had a handful of Olympic runners, Olympic skiers, free skiers, world caliber triathletes, NFL players, surfers, a movie star, and even some of the RedBull Rampage mountain bikers on it for the past 5 months. They all get it. Your connection point to the ground matters.
MC: Anything you learned in the process you want to share?
JD: YES – for those reading this that have a solid idea – take the jump. I’m a clinician. A coach. A biomechanics researcher. A consultant. A writer. I had some training in all of these things, and my career morphed into a crazy combination that strengthened and developed of all of them. And led me to the idea for MOBO in the first place! That was my comfort zone. But running a business? I’ll be brutally honest – I’m terrified! Not my comfort zone! There are so many things I’m learning daily. From production issues, to patent filing, to dealing with tariff codes for overseas sales. Just so many unknown; it’s never ending. But I think its worth taking the risk if you’ve got something that you believe will help others. If you have a dream – follow it.
MC: Any other new inventions in the pipeline?
JD: First time I mentioning this anywhere. Yes. I have another product I developed. Its big and bulky. For sure, not a consumer type product. Its more for gyms and clinics. And I have no idea when I’ll actually bring this to market. But again- it was fun to develop something and build it. We live in incredible times.
MC: Jay, anything else you want to share?
JD: Someone saw a pic of me holding a MOBO and told me at first glance they thought it was a cookie. I LOVE cookies. Especially big ones. It would be pretty cool if I could make MOBO in chocolate chip flavor. Maybe if I can ensure the flavor stays fresh during shipping – ha!
In all seriousness- sure I hope the readers out there see this and get a MOBO. But even if you don’t, I really hope this venture inspires you to do something for your feet. Success in sport requires adequate preparation. Period. Not just to prep your engine, but also the chassis. We’ve gotten to the point where most runner now do some type of core stability work, hip work, etc. People go to the gym and spend hours working their chest, shoulders, and back. But as an athletic community we grossly neglect our feet. So I built a tool to help engage us, and get us thinking about leaving no stone left unturned in preparation for our sport. I hope this spawns a discussion about training our body from the ground up. Thanks for a great chat Mark!
MC: Thank you Jay and look for to catching up in Austin next month!
