Body Spring
We met Meena McCullough in June a year ago in the offices of Texas A&M-Fort Worth at Burnett Plaza. She had won $2,000 in a pitch competition hosted by TechFW, Cowtown Angels, and Valliance Bank.
McCullough, a physical therapist, is the founder 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.
Body Spring
Recently, she did well in another pitch competition, this one the Startup Pitch Competition through the DEC Network. A second-place finish netted her $7,000.
“I'm not pitching a lot, actually,” McCullough said, but “I absolutely felt confident, and I think the reason is I'm really focused on building the business. That's the main thing, building the business. The fact that we're getting so much success when we go to pitch competitions, I think it speaks to what we're building behind the scenes with the business.”
There is more, however. McCullough has a brick-and-mortar up and operational in Carrollton.
The location is a base of operations for the manufacture of products and working with clients.
Said McCullough: “So, we're going to be doing classes and then I see people one-on-one as well to work with the tools, and do demos here at this physical location.”
The building was made available, she said, through an early investor in the company, Michael Doke.
The move to the building was made all the smoother through the help of former clients, such as a carpenter who assisted with minor, more cosmetic modifications on the building.
“I'm very grateful,” she said. “It's really been their help, and it's largely been inexpensive, which is huge for a startup, because of people that we've helped through our method.”
McCullough earned a Doctor of Physical Therapy from The University of North Texas Health Science Center in Fort Worth in 2014.
PressEX is designed to break up “rigid connective tissue and awaken the dormant muscles deep within your body.” The approach, McCullough said, 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 said. “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.”
Reach Meena McCullough at [email protected].