Yoga Wheel
yoga equipment for all ages
Understanding the People
The first phase of my research was talking to people and testing them on the current market yoga wheel to understand how they felt about yoga and how often they would use this.
Then I went into deeper analysis of the yoga wheel by doing research on the current yoga wheel. This included looking at reviews online, and testing people to understand the flaws and design opportunities.
How might we make yoga accessible to all?
Persona
They are above the age of 60 and adventurous. They want to use a yoga wheel to strengthen muscles, balance control, release tension, and open up tightness.
The current market only offers yoga wheels that seem to be for people who are young, flexible, and above 5”3”. This means the current market standard is for people who are tall and very skinny. Society portrays yoga as something that tall, skinny, and young people do but older people can also benefit from the practice of yoga and using a yoga wheel.
Current Market
Supportive & Sturdy
Goal: Make the yoga wheel smaller to better fit the user, wider to make it more sturdy, use thicker material so less likely to crack, add extra padding for comfort, and add neck support.
What are the current pain points?
Noticeable neck strain and neck injury possibilities. Concern for people who are older and can easily strain their body
Tested the current market yoga wheel to see where people experience problems. I chose to use this yoga wheel to test the users because it is the average size of all yoga wheels currently on the market.
Can barley fit two hands on, too thin. Especially for somebody older who doesn’t have as good of grip.
Relieving Strain
problem found
My user testing led to me to understand that the position I had the head rest at was still too extreme of an angle. This is because the yoga wheel is already a curved surface and the person already has to bend around that surface.
I found that I needed to have support directly under the neck and not at the bottom of head so I made a soft supportive cushion that fits perfectly under the neck.
solution
Final Design Details
Making It
I made the refined prototype out of wood, because the current market many people had issues with the plastic snapping, So, I wanted to make it more durable and feel more homey with the wood texture showing.
Sewed the neck rest with elastic bands added to the sides with velcro, so easy for the user to attach. Especially for people who are older and have reduced grip strength.
Validation Testing
Current market yoga wheel
-Strained effort of stretching due to back pain
-Not stable with her placement of hands
-Felt strain on her neck
-Her lower back hurt- meaning the sizing was not accurate for her body type
Final yoga wheel prototype
-She was able to bend back 4 inches farther which gave her a deeper stretch
-Hands completely flat on the ground validate the wheels ability to give a deeper stretch
-Felt the comfort in her neck
-Felt more stable because of the extra thickness and durability of material
