Feet First with Jamie Greenawalt

Arlan Fuhr (0:05)

Hi, I'm Dr. Arlan Fuhr, the Chairman and Founder of Activator Methods International.

Welcome to our Activate Your Practice Podcast. And this morning, we have a privilege of having the President of Foot Levelers Incorporated, Jamie Greenawalt. And so Jamie, I want to welcome you to the podcast.

Jamie Greenawalt (0:29)

Well, thank you so much, Dr. Briggs, so wonderful to be with you.

Arlan Fuhr (0:33)

You know, you may not know this, but you had a question up here is, how did the company get started? And I have to tell you something probably you knew, but I practiced about an hour from your grandfather. He was in Iowa and I was in Minnesota. And so I knew Monty Greenawalt way before he started Foot Levelers. So I thought I'd just open up with that and then let you say, I didn't realize you were so close. Yes, we were neighbors.

So anyway, go ahead and give us a little history.

Jamie Greenawalt (1:10)

Sure. Well, Foot Levelers was started, we're actually entering our 74th year of operations. So this is 1952 My grandfather was in practice of the young chiropractor next to a podiatrist, and they would refer patients to one another. And when you refer out and his patients would get prescription orthotic that was really rigid and restricted movement in the butt, they would come back and sometimes their pain is worse, or they were too aware enough that they were really uncomfortable. And so as it goes, necessity is the mother of invention. And so Dr. Monty went into his garage at the end of the days, and over a period of months, came up with a design based on what he knew about the body, which addressed some things that a podiatric model, which is supporting all three actions of the foot. And so we use flexible materials that are still being today. And that was really how Foot Levelers got started.

And when his patient actually wore them and came back the next week, she said, this really has changed my life, and it really helps me manage some of our symptoms along with chiropractic care. So that's been the premise of how we've been able to provide care and support to the doctors and the patients that we serve up until today, 74 years later.

Arlan Fuhr (2:25)

Well, Foot Levelers is best known for orthotics. Why do the feet and how we stand and move play such a big role in the overall health?

Jamie Greenawalt (2:35)

Well, as we said, Foot Levelers is your Peter, your foundation. And when the foot hits the ground, everything changes. So we all take thousands of steps a day.

Hopefully we're getting more steps in. And every step is either stressing your body or helping it. And so if your foundation is off, that obviously, that of course, travels up the kinetic chain from your ankles, hips, knees, low back, and even posture becomes fatigue. So we really believe that supporting the feet at the, supporting the body at the feet really allows you to have better posture and support cook mechanics and therefore support your body throughout the whole day.

Arlan Fuhr (3:13)

How has foot levers continued to innovate and remain the authority in that space?

Jamie Greenawalt (3:19)

Well, you know, I think it's, we've not really tried to be trendy. We really have been rooted in clinical relevance and just being politically accurate and right.

A lot of our products have been researched for many years before they were brought into the market and to doctors and their patients. And so we invest in researching materials and really listening to our doctors and getting their feedback as we evolve and make our products better.

And right now, we're expanding that same philosophy beyond the feet into sleep and recovery. And this last year, we actually used our very first custom pillow that was based on the pillow that Dr. Monty invented in 1969, the very first ever simple pillow in the world. They actually had the first pillow or not. And now we use technology to allow us to map, to create the image of the head and the neck of the shoulders to map your neck and the grade of pain level specifically made just for you. So we believe it's supporting the posture from the feet all the way up to the neck.

Arlan Fuhr (4:26)

Let's talk another end of the body, and that's the neck. And you just came out with a new pillow called what? The Nexi Custom?

Jamie Greenawalt (4:36)

Yes. And the Nexi fans are so intelligent. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

Arlan Fuhr (4:41)

Oh, yeah. Just tell us how that came about.