It’s diffi
cult to pic
ture Ben
jamin Fran
klin walking
down the
aisles of the
local Ace
H ardware
store,
searching for
the perfect
conductor to
complete his
electricity
experiment.
It’s even
stranger to imagine Alexander Graham
Bell perusing mail order catalogs,
making sure none had copied his tele
phone idea.
But Doak Ostergard, who recently
invented a therapeutic ankle and lower
leg exercise machine, says he used to
page through catalogs looking for pos
sible duplications. And. he used to
pace up and down the aisles of hard
ware stores, hoping that the materials
for his invention would pop out at him.
“I made a bunch of trips to the hard
ware store,” laughs Ostergard when
talking about his search for parts to
create his exercise machine.
The final product: The Stroker, a
lower-leg rehabilitation device that
provides a natural fomi of resistance
and hydrotherapy.
The physical make-up of the device
includes a heelless rubber boot which
fits over the foot and a heel buckle
which secures the foots placement in
the boot.
A stainless steel rod connects the
boot and a plastic scoop, which is a
resistance mechanism.
Submerged in water, the moving foot
in conjunction with the scoop foot
provides a resistance that allows the
foot both hydrotherapy. The weight of
the resistance allows the strained ankle
or lower leg to rebuild endurance.
“It letsyou utilize the hot/cold whirl
pool therapy at the same time as you
exercise.” he says.
“Exercising the muscles which con
trol the foot creates a resistance when
you pull it through the water."
This was not an overnight discovery
for the 30-year-old Ostergard. now an
athletic trainer at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln. It took him three
years, 1985-88, to invent, perfect and
patent the “The Stroker.”
The brainchild for his invention came
in 1984. a year after he graduated with
degrees in kindergarten through 12th
grade physical education and athletic
training from UNL. After graduation.
he returned to ms nomeiown,
Gothenburg, where he worked with his
father, was a substitute teacher and
did some athletic training at Gothenbuig
H ' School.
ring his stint as an athletic trainer,
one of the student athletes injured her
lower leg in basketball. At the time,
doctors told the athlete she couldn’t go
out for the track team, Ostergard says.
Determined to treat the athlete.
Ostergard put together the usual reha
bilitation program of combining hot
and cold whirlpool treatments to work
out the strain and free weights to build
endurance.
After working with the athlete, he
thought there must be a simpler way to
combine hydrotherapy with muscle
building.
The wheels began to churn.
Ostergard sat down with some wood
and Plexiglas and designed a prototype
for The Stroker.
Trainer walked so others run
At the time, he wanted to find a way
to combine the hydrotherapy provided
by the whirlpool and the exercise of the
strained ankle or lower leg provided by
the free weights.
While the prototype was in rough
form, Ostergard says, “to me it was
obvious it was a good idea.” he says.
After months of refining the device,
Ostergard sent a description, photo
graph and diagrams of his invention to
an orthopedic brace company in spring
1985. The company said such a reha
bilitation device didn’t fit into its prod
uct line.
But Ostergard wasn’t disillusioned.
In fact, he kept refining his machine.
“The more times you re told ‘It won’t
work’ — it just adds fuel (to the) fire to
make it work."
He returned to Lincoln in fall 1985 to
substitute teach, and kept working on
the rehabilitation device.
At the same time he was looking into
mass production and considered hav
ing the device molded. While the par
ticular mold Ostergard was consider
ing would have cut down on manufac
turing time, it would would have cost
thousands of dollars he says he wasn’t
willing to spend.
“At the time, I didn’t have the money,”
he says.
"(Now), I could find investors to do
that, (but) I’m not willing to give up that
much of a share in it.”
His other options would be to give
the investor a percentage of the profit s,
but Ostergard says he doesn’t want to
do that right now.
So for now, Ostergard will continue
ordering parts from five different dis
tributors, and he will continue assem
bling his invention himself.
Locally, he orders plastics, rubber
material and strap material.
He orders cambuckles from an Illi
nois company, while the strap that’s
attached to the buckle is ordered from
a local distributor. Plastic for the boot’s
sole is purchased from a Lincoln plas
tic and graphics distributor, the rub
ber is ordered from a local rubber dis
tributor. And the stainless steel that
bridges the resistance mechanism and
the boot is ordered from a local dis
tributor.
“If you were to look at the parts,
Ostergard says, “it doesn’t look like
much money."
Ostergard says it is expensive, how
ever, to order the parts from various
companies. He also says he expends a
lot of time and energy assembling and
marketing the device.
Conveniently, The Stroker got some
practical use and some attention in
January 1986, when former Nebraska
football player Jeff Smith came to Os
tergard lor help.
Ostergard was putting the final
touches then on “The Stroker." while
Smith was playing for the Kansas City
Chiefs and had suffered an ankle in
jury.
He needed a quick remedy, so he
tried Ostergard’s invention.
“Jeff used it (The Stroker) every
weekday for one month — and he was
sold, so he invested."
That meant business.
Ostergard pooled his resources,
hooking up with his cousin, who of
fered some business ideas and money
for the project.
The next step was to get a patent,
which Ostergard received in 1988.
Since then, several distributors made
offers on The Stroker, but Ostergard
declined, because no manufactures
offered to mass-produce the invention,
so he would have had to manufacture
it himself.
Two years after receiving a patent,
Ostergard is just beginningformally to
market his invention.
Although he doesn’t consider him
self a high pressure salesman, Oster
gard says he knows that in order to sell
his invention, he’s got to get the word
out.
“The old saying about business is a
wheelbarrow applies. If you don’t get
behind it and push it. it doesn't go.
When Ostergard began, the only
marketing he did for the product was
by word of mouth. Now, like most
Americans in business, he is circulat
ing a video and brochures on The
Stroker.
And he must be doing a good job.
Nine of the machines are being used by
NFL teams, including the Houston
Oilers, the New York Jets, the Minne
sota Vikings and the San Francisco
49ers.
On the local level, several Nebraska
high schools and colleges have pur
chased The Stroker for their athletic
departments.
Four of the exercise machines are
available at UNL's south stadium, the
University Health Center, the women’s
training room and the Bob Devaney
Sports Center.
While Ostergard would not divulge
the price of the machine, he says the
product is affordable. The closest
competition, he says, starts at $800,
and he says The Stroker costs less
than half that.
That s not to say the inventor isn’t
looking to make a bit of a profit. Oster
gard says he hopes inventing will turn
from a hobby to a full-time business
venture.
So what else does Ostergard have up
his sleeve?
The mild-mannered Ostergard
doesn’t know, doesn’t say. Until some
thing comes up, he’ll keep working on
Even when you think you ’re finished
with one project, Ostergard says, you’re
never really finished.
With his own inventions, Ostergard
says he always is looking for improve
ments, ways to refine the products,
including The Stroker.
And Ostergard takes that attitude
toward inventing in general.
Tve always looked at things and
thought there's an easier way than
this,’’ he says.
In the case of The Stroker, Ostergard
says, there was a need, because ankle
injuries are among the most common
sports injuries.
“Ideas come from need." he says.
According to Ostergard, once you
find the need, you have to make time to
develop the idea and work on it.
“Like free time — you’ve got to want
to be productive with it." he says.
“I think once you start thinking you’ve
got all the answers, you start falling
back,
— Lisa Donovan
Senior Editor
Photo by Al Schaben
