business owner and occupational therapist
Ms. Paula Wilbert began her lifelong career in 1982 after graduating from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy. Over the next 35 years, she followed her career path serving as an Occupational Therapist, specializing in Head Injury Rehabilitation, Sensory Integration and Ergonomics, before becoming an entrepreneur in the private sector.
Out of the blue, Ms. Wilbert experienced an accident whilst playing soccer with her son, who was still young at the time. After the tumble, she developed sore wrists, to the point where she could no longer put weight on her hands. She patiently waited for the injury to heal, but after some time she found she was still experiencing pain and discomfort, particularly when she tried to resume yoga practice with its common weight-bearing poses.
Ms. Wilbert knew she needed to find a solution for her wrists. By utilizing her skillset in occupational therapy, she invented, developed, and patented an ergonomic gel pad to be used inside gloves.
Her journey to developing Wrist Assured Gloves was an innovative one. Initially she tried cutting up a foam mouse pad which she fastened in place with an elastic wrap. Although she felt an immediate sense of relief from the cushioning and lifting of her wrist, she realized that something a little more pleasing to the eye would be needed than her makeshift solution.
Convinced that the right product must exist somewhere, Ms. Wilbert shopped around to experiment with different types of support gloves, wrist wraps and braces, but nothing seemed to provide what she was looking for. This revelation led to her developing an entirely new to market product; a fitness glove with firm gel to cradle the wrist. At this moment Wrist Assured Gloves was born.
Wrist Assured Gloves (WAGs) was officially unveiled at the Yoga Journal Conference in San Francisco in January 2007. Six months later, an improved version of the WAGs Pro was released at the IDEA World Fitness Expo in San Diego. 2009 saw the release of WAGs Ultra, with WAGs Flex hitting the marketing in 2010 and the WAGs Fusion came in 2015. To this day, her gloves are used to help people with arthritis, tendonitis, wrist injuries, weak wrists, and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome to support weight on their hands, free from pain and discomfort.
Ms. Wilbert’s expertise in her field speaks for itself. Not only is she an accomplished business owner, but she is also the President of Joint Protection Products LLC. In recognition of her achievements, she was recently included in Marquis Who’s Who.
Looking back at her successes to date, Ms. Wilbert credits her inherited family values and sheer determination. In the future, she plans to introduce an exciting new patented product to the market and eventually sell the business to a larger fitness or rehabilitation company.