Sunday, May 5, 2013

As a practitioner why haven't I heard about SCENAR?

I get this question a lot and the simple answer is it hasn't been available and around that long in the U.S.  As well, the manner in which it was introduced and marketed initially has also had an effect of keeping it under a bushel basket if you will.

I for one believe it is long past time for every practitioner who helps stop pain and accelerate the healing of the human body's soft tissue (muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves) to know about it and to incorporate it into their practice.

It is a tool that I have used to repair labral tears of the shoulder, reduce bulging discs, render R.I.C.E nearly obsolete by rapidly healing sprains, strains and whiplash, remove scar tissue, program out chronic pain from failed back surgery syndrome patients and even restore nerve function.

I use the diffusion of innovation theory to help people understand how and at what rate a new technology like SCENAR takes hold in a market.  It is well worth reviewing as it holds true for most if not all innovations.

The theory states that there are four main elements that influence the spread of a new idea:
  • the innovation, 
  • communication channels, 
  • time and, 
  • the social system.  
These elements work in conjunction with one another. So, diffusion is the process by which an innovation like SCENAR is communicated through certain channels (marketing/distribution) over time among members of a system - in this case the members of a system being health practitioners in the U.S.

So, let's look at SCENAR in the U.S. market.

RITM OKB ZAO received their 510(k) FDA clearance in 2010.  The SCENAR is thus a Class II Medical Device in the U.S.  This was just three years ago.  The U.S. market then is still in early stages of adoption of the SCENAR.  In Russia, where the SCENAR was developed, it has been in use for 20 years and is widely accepted.

Rogers, who produced the theory, says there are 5 stages in the adoption process of accepting a new innovation:
  1. knowledge, 
  2. persuasion, 
  3. decision, 
  4. implementation and 
  5. confirmation.  
Makes sense doesn't it?  I bet if you think about your buying decision making process for other tools, processes, gadgets, instruments, in your practice or your life you can see how you have gone through these stages.

So each of us who might use an innovation like SCENAR in our medical practice, chiropractic practice, rehab practice etc. go through these stages.   Available clinical evidence may come into play as a part of the process for you.

Then, Rogers also suggests that there are 5 categories of adopters and that adoption of an innovation follows an S curve when plotted over time.  The categories of adopters are:

  1. innovators
  2. early adopters
  3. early majority,
  4. late majority and
  5. laggards
Of course there are also gatekeepers and opinion leaders in communities as well.  A bit complicated huh?

So, which of the 5 categories of adopters do you fall into? 

I am an innovator and early adopter.

I have developed new technologies in collaboration with others.  You can find my patents at www.uspto.gov.  I am also an early adoptor in my chosen professional field and to a great extent with my primary hobby as well which is music, composing and sound engineering.  In terms of pain treatment and injury repair I want to know what's new and discover if it is effective for my clients.  I am always seeking alliances and referral partners in order to help my clients.  It is key.   If you are a practitioner reading this do you do the same?

If you haven't adopted a regenerative electromedicine tool like SCENAR into your practice yet you are likely in the early majority or later category of adoptors. 

Now, I mentioned how an innovation is introduced and marketed has an effect on all of this as well.  So, consider that RITM OKB ZAO didn't initially have a strategy for market introduction and penetration of the U.S. from their Russian HQ.  It was entrepreneurial practitioners who first introduced the innovation to the market.  That is how I learned about it in 2006.

Over the past two years RITM OKB ZAO's approach is becoming more strategic and coordinated and there is even now in 2013 a more focused approach coming about in terms of distribution.  They are "growing up" as an organization and we are experiencing that more and more in terms of them being truly "global" in nature and handling the needs of a the global marketplace.

I say "patience" with entrepreneurial, innovative ventures especially when the product they have produced really produces like the SCENAR does.