For Immediate Release:
November 5, 1999
Press Release
Billy Joe Hobert Finds Muscle Pain Relief with New Therbo™
Robot Treatment from Meilus Muscular Therapy and Sports
Billy Joe Hobert, the NFL's number 4 rated quarterback, who plays for the New Orleans Saints, has found relief for a "neck stinger" injury he suffered on October 3, 1999, in just a few short treatments from Al Meilus, inventor of the Meilus Muscular Therapy treatment robot called Therbo™, based in Pinellas Park, Florida.
The robot, developed with funds from the Department of Energy, Lockheed martin Corporation and the University of South Florida, is the brainchild of former GE robotics engineer, Al Meilus. Meilus conceived the idea after a personal experience with muscle pain that did not respond to conventional medical treatment.
In a five-year project that has seen many prototypes used and improved on, Meilus began using the first automated robot in January 1999. He presented the Therbo™ for the first time publicly at the Super Shootout at Raymond James Stadium, in Tampa, FL, part of the pre-Super Bowl festivities. One of the players who chose to be treated at that time was Billy Joe Hobert. He was so impressed with the robot that he became part of a scientific documentary being filed by the University of South Florida PBS Channel 16, Tampa, FL. (That documentary is currently scheduled to be broadcast in the Tampa market on Channel 16 during January 2000.)
Billy Joe, remembering the pain relief and flexibility that Meilus was able to give him during that first treatment, called on Meilus again in October, 1999. After being taken out of the October 3 game with a "neck stinger". Billy Joe flew to Tampa, FL, to be treated for this injury. He came in with pain, limited flexibility and limited strength - but left the clinic a few hours later able to throw the football 60 yards with PBS videoing the entire treatment and results!
"I never remember my arm being this good," Billy Joe told Al Meilus after having his entire shoulder girdle treated just this last weekend. Billy Joe, who purchased one of the Therbo™ units for his own use, had asked Meilus to come to New Orleans to treat him both before and after the game against Cleveland. Meilus explained that musculature used in throwing a football forward will cause the shoulder to be drawn up and forward of its normal position. When this shortening of the muscles, caused by repetitive motion, is not addressed and corrected, injury can occur more easily when a force such as a knee tries to move the shoulder in the opposite direction.
During the Sunday game, Hobert was injured with a blow to the head by another player's knee. It was announced that he would be placed on injured reserve, but because Meilus was there and able to treat him immediately after the game, he was listed instead as questionable for the Sunday game, November 7. Because he had been treated and the muscles loosened prior to the game, Meilus was able to spend 5 ˝ minutes with Hobert during half-time and repair much of the damage suffered. Hobert returned to the field during the second half and did not play, but was able to throw the football on the sidelines. Meilus was quoted as saying, "once you remove the lifetime of shortened muscles, it's easy to remove a new injury and the injury itself is not as traumatic." The secret, says Meilus, is lengthening muscles which have been shortened through years of use. Therbo™, a patented therapeutic robot, lengthens muscles which cannot be duplicated by other means.
The muscle treatment Al Meilus is providing with Therbo™ is changing the conventional wisdom on muscle injuries. Trainers and coaches have not seen, up to this time, such dramatic differences in flexibility and strength and injury recovery. Billy Joe stated that "normally it would take two months to achieve these results and because of that the coach may have me sit out for two months." But the Meilus Muscular Therapy and Sports group is making real changes. Sports personalities treated by Meilus Muscular Therapy and Sports include football players, hockey players, baseball players, ice skaters and golfers. Retail cost for units range from $1,500 to $20,000 depending on level of automation.
For more information on Therbo™ and Meilus Muscular Therapy and Sports, contact Al Meilus at 8301 49th Street North, Pinellas Park, FL 33781 or call 727-547-1233.
