Carl Cadwell went from doubter to believer in the technology Caroline Stites was trying to get off the ground more than a decade ago.

Not only did he help make her wellness machines available to consumers, he believes the technology has significantly improved his health in three separate ways, beginning with a torn rotator cuff while waterskiing in his late 60s and a physician’s advice that surgery was best.

“My arm really hurt. I could basically just hold it against me,” Cadwell said. “When I got on the machine, I could start to move it and actually raise and lower it, but only with the vibration and frequency of the machine.”

He’s talking about the VibraGenix machines he helped Stites create a model for. She had the vision and a prototype, but as a manufacturing expert with Cadwell Industries, Cadwell had the ability to create a mold for that vision.

“It’s kind of my brainchild, but I needed help building things,” she said.

As part of a group with other business owners, Stites shared with Cadwell the troubles she was running into with importing her machines from overseas. She wanted to integrate sound and light technology as part of a comprehensive wellness solution that goes beyond traditional methods. Cadwell was intrigued, but not committed, so Stites brought one of her machines to his house so he could try it out on his injury.

“Two months later, I had zero pain and a full range of motion,” Cadwell said. “I had lost a lot of muscle in that time, so it took me another couple of months to get all my strength back, and I could once again drive my car with both hands. I didn’t have to have surgery and an extensive recovery.”

Now 81, Cadwell says the rotator cuff “hasn’t bothered me since and I would never have known I even had the injury.”

Cadwell signed onto Stites’ project, and she said they expected to get a revamped product to market in about a year, but it took three.

The collaboration led to the company’s flagship product, the VibraGenix Elite, which looks almost like an oversized scale with a platform for users to stand on, while an upright column is the guts of the machine – housing the system that vibrates the platform at the intended intensity and sound frequency for restorative healing in a session lasting up to 20 minutes.

Models are available for purchase, starting at $17,000, at the company’s world headquarters at 1119 Columbia Park Trail, Richland.

Wellness center

With a price point likely out of reach for many, the accessible solution is local use of the machines through a membership at the company’s wellness spa, ReGenx Wellness Center. It’s located at the same site as its Richland shop on the corner of Fowler Street, just east of Ben-Franklin Transit.

For $199 a month, members can cycle through not just the VibraGenix machine, but a variety of machines in a single visit, including the “red bed,” which has the warmth and revitalization intended from red light therapy, but Stites says it also incorporates sound frequencies.

“These are medical-grade red light models, so they’re FDA class II, approved for wound healing, pain relief, inflammation and rebooting mitochondria, which is the powerhouse in every cell,” Stites said.

Similar in appearance to a tanning bed, a user chooses the desired sound frequencies for wellness, healing, weight loss and more, then disrobes and lies in the bed for up to 20 minutes. The sound frequency piece is the differentiator for the products.

“We have software that has over 3,000 frequency formulas so you can do sound at the same time you’re doing the light. That’s a perfect infusion,” Stites said. “I believe sound is the most effective way to heal because you’re 70% water, and sound travels five times faster through water, so you’re literally affecting every cell at the same time. Any time I can infuse sound with any other modality gives that synergistic effect.”

Users can also experience some of the VibraGenix products at Cadwell’s fitness centers, including LifeQuest in Pasco and The Pacific Clinic in Kennewick.

LifeQuest has the most machines and includes use of them with a regular membership, including the red light bed, VibraGenix, guided meditation with BrainTap, and MagSlim therapy which aims to burn fat using technology that induces rapid muscle contractions to tighten skin and increase muscle mass, among other offerings.

Cadwell has outfitted his home with many of the same machines and uses them daily.

He says one of the biggest benefits is for his lung function.

Late in life, he was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called alpha-1 antitrypsin, which affects the protein that protects your lungs and can lead to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.

Cadwell was prompted to get checked out after having trouble snow skiing. He found he couldn’t go far without having to stop and catch his breath, which was a sudden turn for an active person who steered clear of gluten and sugar.

Cadwell learned he had the worst possible kind of the genetic disorder, putting him at an even higher risk for lung and liver issues and a pulmonary function of just 56%.

“I started doing infusions, which don’t restore your lungs at all,” he said. “It either stops the deterioration or holds it, to slow down the rate in which you decline.”

A lot of people with the condition end up on oxygen, and Cadwell said, “it’s pretty miserable.”

Without the expectation of regenerating the lung function he had lost, Cadwell began using VibraGenix frequencies targeted at COPD and emphysema. He said he was able to go back to running and built up his endurance.

At his next test, doctors found he had 70% lung function. “That’s just kind of where I’ve stayed. I can tell you, you do way better at 70% than you do at 56%,” he said.

Cadwell has returned to skiing and said he’s in a group that follows clients with his disease that checks in on him monthly.

“I just had a call a couple days ago, and she said, ‘You know, Carl, we’re going to do an article on you because you are doing so much better than any A-1 antitrypsin person out there, and we want to know what you’re doing right.‘”

Holistic approach

The experience doesn’t surprise Stites, who has long had a passion for holistic healing, starting with her dissatisfaction of traditional medicine’s focus on treating symptoms rather than addressing root causes.

“By the time I was ready to go to medical school, I had this epiphany. It seems like we’re moving organs or parts of organs and we’re giving pharmaceuticals that have side effects,” she said. “Then, we have to give other pharmaceuticals to kind of counter that, and we’re never addressing the root of the problem.”

This realization led her to explore alternative healing methods, including nutrition, Reiki and quantum physics, which further solidified her belief in the power of frequency and energy for healing.

She’s now developed a host of products focused on bringing cellular energy back into function to resist disease and heal more quickly.

These machines are key to the third example of healing Cadwell points to in his life: prostate cancer.

“About three years ago, my PSA (a protein typically used to check for prostate cancer) jumped from the mid-2s to 4.8,” he said, noting that anything over 4 is typically considered abnormal and may be indicative of cancer.

“I had three tumors in my prostate. Two were small, and one was big. I immediately got on the VibraGenix hard for 40 minutes, twice a day using frequencies specific to prostate health. I also alkalized myself for three weeks because cancer can’t live in an alkaline environment, and three months later, my PSA dropped to 1.1. The big tumor had shrunk and the two others disappeared,” he said.

Cadwell said his PSA is now down to 0.5 and the tumor hasn’t grown in size, but he visits his doctor regularly to monitor it. He credits this third health success to VibraGenix – a long way from his initial skepticism that Stites described as “woo woo.”

Expanding reach

Cadwell and Stites, who share the same title, CEO and founder, are working to expand the company’s reach.

The machines are sold around the world. They participate in trade shows to showcase products and are looking into licensing options for more wellness centers to highlight the health benefits of sound frequencies.

“Our smallest building block is not the cell, which is what we think of traditionally, it’s the atom,” Stites said. “The atom is 99.9999% space and it’s vibrating energy. So, if you look through that lens, we are these amazing frequency builders; not just a meat sack, we’re ultimately frequency and energy. So why not take frequency and treat the body with it?”

The ReGenx Wellness Center, located within the VibraGenix showroom, opens at 7 a.m. every weekday and closes at 8 p.m. Monday-Thursday, and 5 p.m. Fridays. It is open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturdays and closed Sundays. Go to: vibragenix.com/regenx-home.