The Epsoma Story
How it happened
As a DC I had heard years ago that I should have patients soak in Epsom Salt to help relieve sore tight muscles, especially after a first adjustment. So, I did that, for many years. I’ve always been lucky, I’ve never had many aches and pains. But in late 2010 I began to develop right shoulder pain, so I did what any good DC should do, I started trying to get myself adjusted. We all know we tend to neglect our own spinal health. So, my shoulder is starting to get better from adjusting, but not better fast enough, since I’m using it everyday to work and support my family. So I decided to try adding massage to the adjustments. And that started to help too, but again, not enough. So, off I go to my nutritionist, and he loads me up with all the nutrients I needed to give my tissues what they needed to heal better, faster. And, it was helping but still nagging me after a long day adjusting. (I’m an Activator adjuster, so I do a lot of leg checks with bilateral knee flexion). My shoulder is still bothering me, so I started doing what I tell my patients to do – soak in an Epsom Salt bath, and it helped.
So, I’m getting adjusted(or checked)as often as I could get it done, I’m getting massage when I could get out of the office, I’m taking enough supplements that I rattle when I walk, and I’m soaking in Epsom Salt baths till my whole body looks like a white raisin…AND, it is getting better but still giving me trouble, so one night after a long day at the office, I’m sitting at home, my shoulder hurting and me rubbing it, thinking about what else I could do or what I could do differently, dreading going and getting in a tub of Epsom Salt…AGAIN. So I’m thinking if there were some way for me to get more Epsom Salt into the tissue(right biceps tendon and anterior deltoid), maybe a poultice, or a lotion, I got up, went and got my box of Epsom Salt and my wife’s hand lotion, a small glass bowl and a tablespoon from the kitchen. I sat down and started mixing till it seemed right, then started rubbing. It was gritty and grainy and I could tell no difference. So I sat back a bit disgusted, but OK…it takes 20 minutes for a soak to work, maybe I should just wait, so I did. And in about 20 minutes, it felt a little better, so I put some more on and rubbed it in and waited 20 minutes and…it felt probably 40% better, I waited another 20 minutes and put another layer on and went to bed. The next morning it was probably 60% improved, I was excited…so I went to the office and started telling patients to mix up some Epsom Salt and rub it on anything that was achy, stiff or sore.
And they loved it, they said it worked, they also griped and complained, “…it’s gritty, it’s grainy, it scratches my skin, it separates,…” Turns out Epsom Salt which is Magnesium Sulfate is hydrophilic, it loves water, lotion is a mix of oil and water, so the magnesium pulls the water out of the lotion and leaves a white clump of oil, it re-mixes easily but people had a problem with that, they also made excuses, “…I didn’t have any lotion…I didn’t have any Epsom Salt…it’s too much trouble…” I learned that people are lazy, or the more polite way to put it is “…people like convenience…” So I did some research online, made a decent product, ordered some bottles online, printed some labels off my computer onto Wal-Mart labels and put it up for sale. I was excited about having a way for my patients to do something for themselves at home between visits. I had no thought about doing anything besides keeping it for my patients…until…
A friend/patient suggested making it available to a wider market, commenting that other Doctors of Chiropractic might like to have it for their patients. So here we are, more than 40 improvements and changes later. I’ve been selling in my office since 5/10/2011. (Big thanks to Doris Childers for being the first to actually pay money for my product, she bought it to help calm her autistic daughter) My friend the nutritionist moves a lot of Epsoma through his office, a Massage Therapist tells me she uses it during a session to relax a muscle group while she works on something else,…but I have decided to be a bit selfish, I am going to keep Epsoma limited to the Chiropractic market, only available through the offices of Doctors of Chiropractic. Individuals can purchase one or two bottles through our website, but they have to pay shipping and we encourage them to ask for it at their local DC office and save the shipping cost. I hope to help our profession by helping our patients, I hope you’ll help me elevate our profession!