LOS ANGELES (December 2020) – Can a massage chair provide more than just quick relief for the day’s aches and pains? Bodyfriend, an industry leading health and wellness solutions company, believes that is only the start. The company launched its Medical R&D Center in 2016, based in Seoul, South Korea. The center is meant to ensure its products are based on fundamental science and medicine, while being the catalyst to evolve Bodyfriend into a top healthcare and medical device company.
According to a 2019 study by Research and Markets, the massage-chair industry is growing at a rapid rate, with sales expected to reach $1.75B by the end of 2027. The leadership at Bodyfriend realizes the continued consumer desire to live healthier, happier and longer lives and is leveraging its Medical R&D Center to innovate the massage- and wellness-products industries through science and medicine.
“By creating the Medical R&D Center, we plan on achieving our ambitious goal of becoming a leading global healthcare company that gives our customers truly healthy and longer lives,” said Changjoo Kim, CEO of Bodyfriend North America. “If we expect to differentiate ourselves in the industry, we have to take bold and unorthodox steps. By bringing together the brightest minds in medicine, science, technology and design, as well as embedding modern technologies like IoT, artificial intelligence and healthcare robotics, we can realize our goal.”
The center includes a cross section of science, medicine and technology professionals, such as: orthopedics, neurosurgery, internal medicine, psychiatry, otolaryngology, dentistry, brain specialists, physical therapists and music therapists. This group of more than 200 professionals collaborates to apply this wide knowledge across disciplines to the family of Bodyfriend products.
Two developments out of the Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center are Mental Massage and Brain Massage. According to a 2019 Korean Neuropsychiatric Association study, the Mental Massage can help reduce anxiety and depression when used regularly.
The Brain Message was developed in tandem with the Mental Massage to round out the need for decreasing a person’s stress, anxiety and depression, while increasing concentration levels. This was concluded in a research paper published by Bodyfriend scientists in the peer-reviewed journal Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice in 2018.
The user is induced into deep relaxation through what are called Binaural Beats embedded within the music, as well as EEG-guided meditation. Focusing on the back of the neck and upper body, this function is equipped with 52 different soundtracks of music, played through integrated speakers in the chairs. The soundtracks leverage alpha- and beta-patterns, playing a different one in each of the user’s ears to attain the desired frequency.
Future plans for the Bodyfriend Medical R&D Center include more clinical and research studies, expanding its already deep product line, enhancing its Healthcare Platform, forging new partnerships, expanding its sales channels through opening more stores around the world and more.
About Bodyfriend
Bodyfriend Co., LTD, headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is an award-winning global healthcare and wellness company with more than 1,300 employees, 1,200 patents and 139 stores (as of 2018), with many more distribution channels being implemented. In less than 10 years, the company has become the number one massage chair brand in South Korea and a leading brand globally, with global partnerships including Lamborghini and Marvel, among others. Bodyfriend also manufacturers a variety of health and wellness products, including a line of GLED facial beauty masks and line of water purifiers. Bodyfriend is the recipient of the CES 2019, 2020 and 2021 Innovation Awards, as well as the Reddot winner for its REX-L massage chair and W Cold and Hot Water Purifier Brain. Please visit www.bodyfriend.com for more information.
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Editor’s Note: For one-on-one interviews, b-roll, photography and other assets, please contact Rafael J. Davila, APR. Also note that Bodyfriend was awarded a 2021 CES Innovation Award for its Quantum massage chair. Please visit the virtual booth at CES 2021.
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