They say that necessity is the mother of all invention. For product designer Seth Heltsley, that necessity was getting rid of a huge pain in the neck.

Struggling with neck, shoulder, and upper back pain for years, Seth would find his life upended for weeks just trying to resolve the discomfort so he could return to his daily life. His flare-ups would last a week or two at a time. His work and personal life were constantly interrupted—booking expensive massages, trying out posture-correcting devices that didn’t work, and anything else he thought might relieve the pain.

But when Seth discovered percussive massage guns, he found the closest thing he could to instant relief. The one downside is, they’re hard to control without help (unless you’re a professional contortionist).

With an engineering mindset, Seth saw a way to put control of his massage gun into his own hands, and created the BackBadger—a universal ergonomic massage gun handle—to achieve that goal.

"Before the BackBadger, my flare-ups were like a week or two long. Over the first couple days, my muscles would seize up, I’d get limited range of motion and fairly constant pain. I would do things like take muscle relaxants and get massages. Eventually, I’d work through it. The difference with the BackBadger is probably three 5-minute sessions over the span of as many days, and I’m back to normal."

“Having a way to be able to self-administer that treatment, whenever I needed it and without bothering other people, and just being in control of it? That was something that I wanted, and I saw a way to do it.”

BackBadger has since found its way into the homes and hearts of many, including retired professional athletes, surfers, office workers, firefighters, and grandpas. BackBadger helps them all find freedom from chronic pain and new ways to feel their best. That’s what gets us out of bed in the morning: to continue building and improving our products—giving people new tools to support their practice of wellbeing, in a world where it can be challenging to live well.

“Helping someone to free themselves from pain is really huge. Having personal experience with chronic pain, and knowing I’ve had a hand in helping someone get out of that is just really rewarding. That keeps me going.” – Seth

Ninefold Design is a small independent team of product designers, creators, and jacks-of-all-trade. We create authentic, functional products for humans like us. To learn more about our work, visit ninefolddesign.com.