CUSHION THE BLOW

Newport Beach’s Steve Gambhir has changed the lives of thousands of people with back, tailbone and buttock problems with his revolutionary seat cushion, Ergo21.

By Rick Weinberg, Editor, California Business Journal
Email: Rick@CalBizJournal.com / Mobile: 949-648-3815

Steve Gambhir, owner, Ergo 21 — Steve Gambhir, President, Ergo 21

FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, Steve Gambhir drove on the Los Angeles freeways for six hours a day in his sales position. He detested it – not only because of snarled traffic jams but because of the toll it took on his back.

He started buying various cushions to try to alleviate the pain and discomfort. “I was buying a cushion a month, trying different ones so I could find the right one,” he says.

But nothing worked. His back discomfort remained and it gradually became worse.

“We had 13 different cushions behind our sofa at home,” Gambhir says with a laugh. His wife finally told him, “Why don’t you design your own cushion.”

He did.

He spent months researching when he stumbled across a unique technology known as LiquiCell, which are liquid-filled membranes designed to help improve blood flow by more than 100 percent. At the time, LiquiCell was used in hospital beds and recliners for people who were unable to move. The LiquiCell prevents numbness and body sores in addition to improving blood flow. It was a miracle technology that was incorporated into $5,000 office chairs.

Gambhir licensed the unique technology and created Ergo21, a high-level cushion and back support that can be used in multiple ways – in the car, on a sofa, bed and during yoga and meditation. The product has become so hot that Gambhir is closing in on his first $1 million in sales – and he is also expanding his product line with LiquiCell-filled bicycle seats, pillow cases and shoe insoles.

CONSUMERS WITH YEARS OF BACK, TAILBONE and buttock problems are raving about Gambhir and his cushion creation.

“I’ve had three back surgeries, the last a spinal fusion of the three lower discs that were bone against bone,” says Ricky Hamilton, a truck driver from North Carolina. “I still have tremendous pain and permanent nerve damage that affects my legs and feet. I also had a spinal cord stimulator put in to help cope with the pain.”

Gambhir changed all that. “I recently drove 500 miles without a problem,” Hamilton says. “It was truly remarkable. It was first time I drove without any discomfort. I could not have dreamed of this happening. On a scale of 1-10, I rate this as a 15.”

Hamilton is so overwhelmed by the product that he offered to be the company’s national spokesperson when Gambhir begins running nationwide commercials.

The thinner Ergo21 cushions for lighter people may not look like much at first glance. But it’s the Liqui-Cell membranes inside of it that make it such a spectacular product – something people have been wanting to obtain for years, something that can truly help lessen back, spine and buttock ailments.

Just recently, Gambhir happened to sit next to Nabil Jalil at a meeting in Newport Beach, Calif. They began conversing. Jalil, the CEO of BlackGrid SEO, mentioned to Gambhir that he dreaded his long drive home to Santa Monica that evening.

Gambhir knew instantly that Jalil had lower back issues. “No worries,” Gambhir told him. “I have something for you.”

Gambhir ran out to his car and emerged with one of his revolutionary cushions. Jalil was stunned — and skeptical. Nothing had previously worked for him in helping to alleviate his pain from two back surgeries over a period of five years.

But lo and behold, as Jalil was driving home, he felt different. He felt good – for the first time in years while driving.

“Since my surgeries, every time I sit, I would feel discomfort on most chairs and seats,” he says. “But as soon as I sat on the Ergo21 cushion, I was astonished at how comfortable and relieving it is to sit on it. I felt reborn.”

The timing could not have been more perfect for Jalil, who was scheduled to drive six hours to San Francisco the following morning. No problem. He threw Ergo21 on his car seat and took off for the Bay Area.

“The trip was a very smooth journey for me,” he says. “It gave me the feeling that I have lost for a very, very long time. It has changed my life. It has made driving fun again.”

Ergo21, which features five different-sized custions, is ideal for Uber and cab drivers, as well as truck drivers, police and pilots. Basically, anyone who spends hours in a vehicle or plane for most of their day can benefit tremendously from Gambhir’s creation.

Take it from Uber driver Kevin Cruikshank.

“Driving for Uber and working a couple online businesses was really taking its toll on my buttocks,” he says. “I had been doubling pillows on the couch. However, the pinching sensation was causing me to lose focus.”

He spent weeks researching for relief and discovered Ergo21. He was intrigued. “It seemed to make complete sense for my situation,” he says.

He ordered the product and viola – “I was finally able to take my mind off my pain. These cushions are unlike anything I’ve sat on before.”

Before Ergo21, he was unable to drive three hours per day. Since then, he can drive 10 hours a day regularly.

“When I sit on it, my butt feels like it’s floating on liquid,” he says. “No discomfort at all. Just pure comfort.”

For ambulance EMT employees, Ergo21 is life-changing. They spend their days lifting, hauling, pulling, performing CPR in the back of ambulances, climbing into wrecked cars and contorting themselves into positions to render aid, taking a harsh toll on their back and hips. Even standard transfers is a chore because of heavy patients.

“I spent 37 years doing that,” says one former EMT. The damage done to his body was horrific. He had constant back and hip pain on his 6-foot-4, 235-pound frame when sitting or lying down. In the Dodge Charger, his hips got so sore from the hard seat bolsters, creating severe leg pain, that he had to sell his beloved vehicle.

“I couldn’t take the pain any longer,” he says. “I tried many different seat cushions — foam filled, air filled, water filled, jelly filled, some filled with beads. I even tried padded toilet seats to sit on my easy chair for TV and at my computer desk.

“I really needed something for driving on trips. I could drive for about 30 miles and pain from my hips shot down my legs. I’d have to stop regularly and stretch. That’s not much fun.”

He finally came across Ergo21 on Amazon. He was cynical at first. “I thought it was just another piece of foam to sit on,” he says.

He was wrong. After just a few minutes, “something was different,” he says. “I wasn’t shifting around like I usually do. An hour later, I woke up from a nap and wasn’t hurting.”

The next day, he and his wife jumped in the car to take a 90-mile trip to visit family.

“Normally that was torture for me,” he says.

Not this time.

With Ergo21, “after 30 miles, I was looking around thinking at any time I’d be shifting in my seat and feeling pain. No pain. No shifting. Nothing. After 60 miles I was still thinking I would start hurting at any time. But nothing. Not a hint of what it used to be. I was thinking it was too good to be true.”

For the majority of people, it is a dream come true.