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Meena McCullough is clearly quick-witted and adaptable, if a presentation last week at a daylong pitch-camp workshop is an indication.
She won $2,000 in a pitch competition Friday in the event at the offices of Texas A&M-Fort Worth at Burnett Plaza, hosted by TechFW and Cowtown Angels with sponsorship from Valliance Bank.
“I completely changed my pitch [at the last minute],” McCullough says. “It was interesting because I went in that day and Hayden [Blackburn of TechFW] gave some good tips on pitching and then I talked to one of the angels [investors] and they gave me more tips on pitching. So, I kind of threw a Hail Mary and completely changed everything I was gonna say.”
The audible was the right call. Her Hail Mary toss was a perfect strike, at least to judges.
Via LinkedIn
Meena McCullough
McCullough, a physical therapist, is the founder and president of Body Spring, which through its PressEX method is making advances in joint pain relief. The method harnesses the principles of the science of fascia, the complex connective tissues found throughout the body. Fascia is a continuous web-like structure that surrounds and supports various structures, including muscles, bones, organs, nerves, and blood vessels.
Research has revealed that fascia is a dynamic system that can contract and release tension in response to mechanical signals.
PressEX is designed to break up “rigid connective tissue and awaken the dormant muscles deep within your body.” The approach, McCullough says, accomplishes four key objectives: aligning joints, stabilizing joints, stretching the nervous system and connective tissue, and activating hard-to-reach muscles.
The company’s range of patented fitness products caters to different needs and preferences, including physical product line, online subscriptions, group classes, and personalized one-on-one training sessions, available both online and in-person.
McCullough was introduced to the concept of fascia years ago while she was dealing with pain of her own. She was not yet a physical therapist when she met a PT in New Braunfels who was able to “take my pain away instantly. It didn’t stay away permanently, but in that moment he could take it away.”
“He told me about this book. It's called “Anatomy Trains,” she says. “I got the book immediately. But when I got the book, I didn't really understand it because I wasn't a PT yet. It was a kind of a technical book. So, it sat on my shelf for years until I opened it back up after PT school. From then on, it's been a process of me learning more and more and more.”
McCullough has since devised tools and methods to use fascia to alleviate pain in patients. She has been awarded one patent and is in the process of applying for another.
The first time she used fascia principles was on an 80-year-old patient who was headed for back surgery.
“I did a couple of these pressure techniques with him over a course of just three days,” McCullough says. “I went back and his wife said, ‘We're gonna hold off on talking to the surgeon. He's feeling good.’
“That’s when I really got motivated to follow my own intuition versus always doing everything, you know, that I learned in school. I thought I had built up enough space to where I could start using my intuition to develop out some of my ideas with my patients.”
McCullough says her data collection shows that PressEx relieves pain from 80% to 100%.
McCullough has a degree in communication studies, “of all things,” from Texas State. She earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy from The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth in 2014.
McCullough previously won a grant though a pitch competition put on by the Tarrant County College's Everyday Entrepreneur Venture Fund. She hopes the $2,000 prize here can help move her toward offloading and creating better operations within the company through virtual assistant and marketing help.
“I need to start scaling,” she says.
As an aside, McCullough was effusive about her experience at this pitch camp workshop. "I've actually been to one other pitch camp and this one was even better. I loved the flow of it. I loved how they had so many activities for us. Some of it was class time, some of it was interactive; some of it was interacting with angels or some of it was interacting with each other. So there was so much variation in what we did that I didn't have a chance to get bored or tune out. Not to mention the venue was amazing. I thought that space was just perfect and, you know, a bonus was like the food was delicious. There's a quiche in the morning that was like the best quiche I've ever had in my life."
Food always goes a long way for body, mind, and spirit.
McCullough believes the tools she is developing will one day be as common as weights in a workout facility.
“That’s my vision,” she says. “I don't know how long it's gonna take … 10, 20, 30 years, but eventually it's gonna be a household product. It's gonna be in your fitness arsenal, to utilize everywhere in people's gyms and people's home gyms and commercial gyms.”
To secure a spot on her email list, go here.