Since we started this journey, we have been blessed to work with some of the best clinicians, academics and professional sports stars. Not to mention our marketing and PR partners who have helped bring our vision to life. Posture is the eternal fight against gravity and to that end our mission is to create the optimum lying su rface as well as screaming from the roof tops just how important posture is to our well being. Whether you are a stroke survivor or an elite athlete or anyone in between.
Keeping a good posture will…
- Reduce lower back pain
- Improve digestion and circulation
- Boost energy levels
- Lessen tension in neck and shoulders
- Increase lung capacity
- Improve core strength
We commissioned this piece by local Manchester artist Gideon Conn as a tribute to everyone who has supported and believed in us so far. From the researchers to the early adopters, the sports stars that shouted about us online, you know who you are, and to you gravity defiers, we say thank you, From the Levitex® dreamers.
Gravity defying sleep
Our CEO James has spent many years helping the postural care of critically injured, chronically ill or in-firm patients working with physios and occupational therapists in the NHS and around the world. What he has learnt on this journey is that the rehab needs of his complex neurological patients is much the same as the rehab needs of elite athletes – nutrition & hydration, mental & physical conditioning and of course sleep! So equally everyone in the middle has the same needs for wellbeing and improved quality of life. Using the science that he learnt in healthcare, he set about creating a lying surface that considered not just comfort and pressure relief but also support and posture.
We called the product Levitex® – the Optimum Surface for Sleep.
Soft like a traditional memory foam but firm like a sprung mattress all in one foam composition. At 25% compression (light squeeze) the softness takes all the pressure off your body whilst at 65% compression (firm squeeze) the firmness supports your body and maintains your posture.
This is where the lack of gravity comes in.
Your posture is affected by the force of gravity pushing down on it. This applies when sleeping as well as when sitting and standing. Do you wake up with aches and pains? This could be due to your poor sleep posture and the alignment of your head and spine. We noticed Levitex® had a special property the reduced the amount of pressure on your body when you led on it. We wanted to prove it for you, so we sent our products to Salford University where Senior Lecturer Jo-anne Webb to conduct some research. She found that when her subjects led on our products there was almost no pressure pushing back onto the body. The force of gravity downwards was not counteracted by pressure back upwards.
Be still at night.
Providing that sweet spot between comfort and support, Levitex® allows your body to remain still throughout the night unlike traditional feather or fibre pillows which move all night and in turn so do your muscles. This stillness allows your body to know where it is – something called ‘proprioception’ or tone. Without this your neck, shoulder and trapezium muscles work all night, giving you a stiff neck and shoulders. Imagine trying to sleep on the top branch of a tree and have a restful night’s sleep. Without a stable sleeping surface that is what you put your body through
The best night’s sleep?
We cannot promise you a “best nights sleep” if you have a bad day at work, have an argument with your partner or stay up late to binge on Netflix we can’t help! What we can do is investigate and understand what it is that you are lying on and how that relates to your pressure posture and proprioception. Just in case you have been sold down the river with other similar products we decided to have ours independently clinically trialled at Salford University. The participants were asked to try 11 different mattresses and toppers and not knowing which was which, they all chose ours as the most comfortable. The study didn’t stop there! The participants were put on gold standard pressure mapping equipment – not the mats you see in the shops but the best equipment prescribed by doctors around the world! – Guess what we came top for pressure relief too… Throughout this journey we have been amazed at how little evidence there is for consumers to make an educated decision when choosing their lying surface.
No more fancy marketing terms like “orthopaedic” or “therapeutic” – what do they even mean! It’s time for you to make that informed choice…
Combine a world-renowned specialist in pain medicine, medical device engineering, postural management expertise, speciality chemical engineers and a bunch of entrepreneurs together and the result is a patent pending innovation in Foam technology, set to revolutionise the healthcare and domestic sleep market!
Our CEO, James Leinhardt, has a wealth of knowledge in 24hr Postural care and has designed class-one medical devices to manage the posture for clients suffering with complex neurological illness and Injury. His existing business works with NHS trusts and social care throughout the UK and his nighttime system has reached clients as far as Europe, the Middle East and Australia. Working with client groups such as catastrophic brain injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy and Stroke survivors, James Feels a social obligation and strong sense of purpose to care and improve the lives of patients in medical difficulty and the wider public.
Medical director, Dr Ilan Lieberman works as a Pain Medicine Consultant and Clinician with The University Hospitals of South Manchester (UHSM). Between 2004 and 2014 he was the Clinical Lead for the Pain Medicine Service in UHSM. In December 2013 he was appointed as the Director of UHSM Academy, the learning and development arm of UHSM. His areas of special interest include back pain management and interventions, chronic pain syndromes after surgery, trauma, injury or infection, complex regional pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, neuropathic pain, pain management in multiple sclerosis, refractory angina pain and whiplash.
