It's Never Too Early to Learn About Back Care

Like many mom entrepreneurs, Lisa Habermehl came up with a business idea when she realized her daughter had a need that wasn't being addressed.

But Habermehl's entrepreneurial effort isn't a product in the usual sense. Instead, it's information about back care, produced in a format children can understand. Her website is IPositionMe.com.

Habermehl notes that children learn about calling 911 in an emergency. They're taught dental hygiene. They're told about staying at a healthy weight and eating well. But no one mentions preventive measures for the back.

The idea started as a volunteer project, when her daughter came home from kindergarten complaining that her back hurt. About the same time, the school notified parents that they were expected to do 10 hours of volunteer work at the school. Habermehl--a kinesiologist who suffers from back pain herself--decided to focus on back care for kids.

"It started off with just putting some rhymes and friendly characters pulled out of the air to help the kids learn some things," she says. She created Backasorus Rek--"I thought I could reach the boys with that"--and Dottie Goodback for the girls.
Her first presentation was for the after-school program, which included kids from kindergarten through middle school, so she added some crossword puzzles for the older kids.

She got such a great reception that she decided to expand on it. "And before you know it, I have a 20-page booklet here," Habermehl says. She placed a cold call to orthopedic surgeon Stephane Lavoie, who applauded her efforts and agreed to write a quote for the back cover of the "backtivity book," titled I Position Me: Back Care for the Growing Spine.

She created I Position Me LLC, registered the company with the state and copyrighted all the materials and characters in her book.

Her resolve to create a business hardened after her own back problems began to worsen. "That fueled me even more to get to the doctors and the pediatricians because there is nothing done for back pain prevention or any education on it. It's an area that's not even discussed at all," she says.

Habermehl is convinced that early education could prevent or at least minimize the back pain so many adults encounter as they get older.

Still, Habermehl recalls that it took the combined efforts of parents, caregivers, teachers and physicians talking about the 911 emergency response telephone number to get the message across. Her business is still in its initial stages. She knows it will take patience and persistence, but she hopes to galvanize schools, physicians and even the business community behind her efforts.

The Florida Department of Education has included her book in its health program's lending library and--because children learn to read through rhyme--the "Just Read, Florida" program. The Florida chapter of the American Academy of Pediatricians is considering her materials.

She's even approached businesses, figuring they might want to invest in training the youngsters who will become their future employees.

Habermehl is determined to succeed. "There's hope there," she says. An orthopedic surgeon in Arkansas plans to order the books for a children's group he works with. In addition, a preschool in Atlanta wants to incorporate the program into the curriculum, she says.

"Respecting what the spine does and its function for the body as a whole, that's all I want to do," Habermehl says. "I'm glad I've done it for a few kids already. If I can get what I've put into it back and make money out of it, that's icing on the cake. That's not what I got into it for."

Proper back care is simply the sensible thing to do, Habermehl believes. "We teach kids really young about dental flossing and brushing. It's the same thing; we just can't see the spine. It seems common sense it should be part of the basics of growing up."