Relax The Back — Local services in Lower Merion Township

I discovered the Relax The Back lifestyle while living in Connecticut in the late 90s. Like most, I found this store through necessity; a lower back pain issue I had since college. I purchased my first recliner (the original BackSaver) from Bill Angel in West Harford Connecticut. It gave me a lot of relief while watching T.V. or reading.

When I moved back to Philadelphia in 2006, I soon discovered Gerry and Dave Austin, the father and son team who own the Bryn Mawr RTB store near where I grew up (as well as Cherry Hill and Delaware). I found Gerry and Dave to be extremely nice and incredibly low pressure in selling their products.

One of the main concepts of the store is that in order to remain as pain free as possible, you want to keep your spine in proper alignment as much of the day as possible; whether you're driving, tasking in an office chair at work or at home, sleeping, reclining/relaxing, taking an airplane/train ride, etc.. For example, if I don't use my seat wedge and self-inflating pillow while driving in my car, my lower back will begin to hurt within 5 to 10 minutes. That 2 piece setup cost me all of $140 to keep my lower back pain from surfacing.

Beyond spinal alignment products, RTB offers massage products including chairs, self massage tools, stretching products etc.. In fact, my next 2 purchases fall under this category. They sell a product that comes with 3 circles that you use to stretch your back to the round curve. The other is a new product for RTB; a fixed angle foot massager that vibrates on a scale from 1 to 10. It includes a round bar at the top so you can move your feet along it instead of resting on the main area.

Perhaps my favorite product/tool is one that I bought almost 25 years ago; the TheraCane self massage tool that has a price tag of around $30. I was born with a congenital block in my neck which causes constant neck discomfort and almost constant muscle spasm in my middle to upper back. Short of having a personal masseuse, this is the best action I know to take to give myself just that little bit of relief I need.

My most recent purchase is the best product I ever got from Gerry and Dave. The timing could not have been better. They were having their once a decade floor model clearance sale and my knee was in need of a new recliner.

I went through a period of time where I was working at home very late and falling asleep reclined in my original BackSaver chair that RTB no longer makes/sells. I woke up a couple of times with my left leg hanging off the side/bottom of the chair. When I awoke my knee was in excruciating pain.

I went down to see what Gerry and Dave had for recliners that may solve my problem. I measured the bottom width of the Perfect Chair with automatic controls and it was just the fix I needed. The additional width was plenty to solve my problem. Also, the chair raises your legs from the knee down independently for additional relief in recline.

As it turned out, Dave sold me a Perfect Chair with the leather and heat package without realizing it. I said to him, I guess I owe you another $500 then. Needless to say, he didn't want me to...

I am so glad I purchased my home office chair and pillow FROM THEM! I needed desperately a good ergonomically correct office chair as I work from home and sit for a long hours. My previous so called ergonomic chair was killing my back and hips. I found this store locally and could visit and test all the chairs before making my decision. The store professional recommended several models for my body-size and need. I learned a lot from him about how to choose a right chair for my body. The delivery was right next day and everything was assembled by them. Also the pillow is now saving my neck! The whole experience was so pleasant and time and cost were worth it. When I need any good chairs again I will definitely buy from them. You get what you pay for - buying these excellent products in a real store with people who know what they are doing was one of the best...

My father bought a zero-gravity lift chair (made by Golden) at Relax the Back Bryn Mawr 20 years ago, which I inherited. It recently broke so that the back would not be upright enough. I contacted the store, and the owner asked me to e-mail him photos, which I did. He suggested a diagnostic visit until I told him that we lived far from his store. But he didn't forget us--an hour or so later, he'd looked again at the pictures and called with a suggestion of what had gone wrong. A quick trip to the hardware store to purchase about $2.50 worth of parts and the chair is working perfectly again. Superb customer service coupled with excellent expertise!

tl;dr After 20 years, an expensive chair wasn't working properly. David--the owner--looked at pictures, figured out what was wrong, and I could fix the chair quickly...