We had the good fortune of connecting with Heather Karr Johnson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Heather Karr, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
As a massage therapist I worked on a lot of people with VERY tight muscles and found that doing deep trigger point work was very painful to my hands and thumbs. I wanted my clients to benefit from the good deep work, but also wanted to protect my hands. I tried using a golf ball and although a golf ball is perfectly shaped for smoothly and deeply massaging hard-to-reach muscles, it was damaging to the palm of my hand when pushing deeply. I wanted a way to push the ball deeply into muscles but also disperse the pressure of the hard golf ball in my palm, yet still be small enough to allow my hands to glide on the client’s skin so it doesn’t feel like a tool is being used on them. I made the first SPABALL Massager prototype in my kitchen from a mound of Sculptey clay. After many modifications, not only did my unique design protect my hands, it made the ball more controllable, and allowed me to remain “in-touch” with the client. This enabled me to perform many deep massages with trigger-point work without injuring my thumbs, a common injury for therapists.
I proceeded to get it patented and manufactured in the USA … and now they sell all over the world.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Basically I’m a massage therapist in a private practice (www.ahhhmmm.com) that invented a tool that I personally needed (www.spaball.com) and ended up manufacturing and selling the tool to other therapists.

The most important factor in my success is that I didn’t stop going even when it became a LOT more work and time (and money) than I had bargained for. I couldn’t have done it when my kids were young. It just takes TOO much time and attention. I have to admit that it took a 24/7 effort for a very long time. There was no room for “a life” at all. Now it’s much better, but it was never easy.

My true passion is massage, and specifically massage for end-of-life (hospice). During covid I wasn’t able to do this massage for people when they needed it most so I started a non-profit (www.palliativepuffs.org)

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My spa is in Thousand Oaks CA now but are moving to Prescott or Payson next year!!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
God.

Website: www.spaball.com. www.ahhhmmm.com. www.palliativepuffs.org

Instagram: @palliative_puffs

Yelp: ahhhmmm massage therapy

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