EARLY — Tori Wheeler, manager of Innovation Wellness Health Spa in Early, knows first-hand the values of treatments including infrared light therapy, compression therapy and cyrotherapy — therapies that are available at the five-year-old business.
Wheeler was a Blanket High School multi-sport athlete when her dad, who was also her coach, brought her to Innovation Wellness. “He brought me throughout all my seasons to just keep me healthy,” Wheeler said. “I had an ongoing injury and this helped me combat that. I wanted to work here.”
Innovation Wellness, at 919 Early Blvd., is owned by insurance professional Bill King and his wife Nancy, and their son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Janessa King.
“The primary thing we do is, we help people to reduce pain and inflammation,” Bill King said. “The services that we offer do not require any prescription. They’re not considered medical services.”
A brochure further explains the mission: “to help eliminate chronic inflammation more naturally and support the body’s innate ability to heal itself.”
Therapies at Innovation Wellness can aid healing and recovery in areas including arthritis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, lupus, heart disease, PTSD, aches and pain, nerve pain, pre/post surgery, insomnia, anxiety/depression, weight loss and muscle tears, the brochure states.
According to an Innovation Wellness information page:
• Philosophy – “We believe that God created our bodies with the ability to heal themselves naturally. The innovative equipment in our spa was selected to help reduce pain and inflammation more naturally and to support the body’s innate ability to heal itself.”
• King said, “I have been in the life and health insurance industry for over 40 years. During that time, I have seen the outrageous cost and sometimes devastating side effects from pharmaceuticals for pain and inflammation. It was exciting for me to have an opportunity to bring natural treatments at a reasonable cost with minimal risk of side effects.”
Innovation Wellness staff, accompanied by Bill and Scott King, gave a tour of the rooms and equipment at the business and explained more about the therapies.
“I think the most incredible thing is the fact that we have it here in Early, Texas, in Brown County,” Kim Atkinson, who handles marketing for the business, said. “Usually it’s in a big city like San Antonio or Dallas.”
Clients can purchase memberships or individual services.
According to brochures, therapies include:
• Infrared sauna – Uses infrared light to heal the body from within; reduces pain an inflammation; skin-tightening; boosts cardiovascular system; promotes relaxation; reduces stress and anxiety.
• Compression therapy — consists of a compression device that surrounds your arms, legs or hips; reduces lactic acid buildup, deep swelling, inflammation, restless leg syndrome and the appearance of varicose veins.
• Cyrotherapy – uses the effect of cold on the human body for physiological and/or therapeutic purposes; reduces muscle tension and soreness; improves athletic performance; reduces pain, inflammation, swelling and bruising; improves athletic performance; helps in areas including arthritis, post-surgery, before/after exercise, back pain, depression and anxiety, fibromyalgia, bursitis, multiple sclerosis and migraines.
• Celluma therapy – reduces pain and inflammation; kills acne-causing bacteria; reduces appearance of fine liners and wrinkles
• Floatation therapy – reduces stress, anxiety and PTSD; reduces insomnia, pain and inflammation; deeply relaxing; hydrates hair and nourishes skin and nails.
Beginning April 1, Innovation Wellness will have an esthetician, a person who will provide skin and beauty services.
“We have all kinds of athletes that come here and we call it the trifecta, because what they’re able to do is infrared light therapy, compression therapy and then get into the cyro machine,” Atkinson said. “And then they’re feeling like a million bucks. We also have the athletes that are improving their game, like pitching faster even after an injury, running faster in track. If they’re improving their cellular level activity, of course they’re going to perform better.”
Referring to infrared light therapy, King said, “A lot of people do not realize that infrared therapy is well studied. There are hundreds of papers on the benefits of infrared therapy. But to the common person it’s just light. A lot of people wonder ‘how can light help me that much.’ Light therapy is not really new. Two-thirds of the things we offer involve infrared light.
“Infrared therapy was studied by NASA because they were looking for a way to help the astronauts to heal faster. A lot of the studies started with that. 99 percent of our molecules are water. Two-thirds of our weight is water. Infrared therapy stimulates, energies the water. It causes a change in the electrical structure of the water that’s in the body. The big thing is that infrared therapy stimulates and energizes the cells in the body.”
King offered further explanation via email, saying, “much of the basic research was done by NASA but our NovoTHOR device which treats the whole body in just 12 minutes was developed in conjunction with Harvard Medical School and military forces in the U.S. and Great Britain.
“It is manufactured in the U.S. according to applicable standards as required by the FDA and it is used in hospitals, spas, and pain clinics worldwide. Besides our facility, there are seven other units located in health spas and pain clinics in Texas and another that is located at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.”
Besides its use on wound healing and pain, it is also popular with professional sports teams for faster recovery, King said. “The U. S. Olympic team used it to help prepare for the 2016 Olympics at Rio and even had the device shipped there to be used between events,” he said.
Wheeler, the Innovation Wellness manager, said she’d received compression therapy, infrared light therapy and cyrotherapy as a high school athlete. Wheeler said she’d found the therapy “very, very helpful.
“It sold me when I was in high school so it’s easy for me to sell it now. I believe in what it does. I know what it’s done for me.”

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