About Us

On a mission to popularize proactive therapy for the young and the active, AVOS premiered its pilot product, AVOS Therapy Slides, in 2022. Created as an effective therapy to help increase flexibility in the feet easily, the slide-style sandals are providing benefits beyond their intended use. The slides are rapidly gaining attention and praise from professional athletes for their simplification of an otherwise inconvenient therapy routine.

AVOS did not reinvent the proverbial wheel; it was born out of a need for its creator, a professional skateboarder, to stay on top of regular physical therapy and quickly recover from injuries. After being told by his doctor that the best way to prevent recurring foot and ankle injuries was to consistently roll his arches on a tennis ball, something important was realized: while the routine was simple and effective, it was also inconvenient—and no one had made it easier to stick with.

If this stretch was so widely recommended by professionals, why wasn’t there a more practical solution? That question sparked the first version of what would eventually become the AVOS Therapy Slides.

The idea was to make an important and frequently recommended stretch much easier to complete consistently. The benefits of regular therapy include increased flexibility, optimized performance, and a reduced risk of potential injury from stiff muscles and tendons. Not only for athletes, regular use also helps relieve common foot-related issues and fatigue encountered by most people.

In the short while since launching, AVOS has collected a sizeable digital stack of unsolicited messages from users wanting to share their rehabilitation stories—some even reporting positive effects on muscles in the legs and back. Although most can benefit from the use of the slides, AVOS' mission is to encourage young athletes to be proactive about their health by making it easy to develop good self-care habits and routines before they are forced to face it with age.

The AVOS Founding Story

AVOS were invented and created by Shawn Hale, an active professional skateboarder for Tony Hawk’s iconic Birdhouse Skateboards company. 

Skateboarding is a brutal sport. With most of the practice taking place on concrete, one can assume that its athletes are well acquainted with injury and recovery. Shawn, considered a veteran of the sport in his early 30s, was acutely aware of this process, having again severely rolled his ankle while performing for an upcoming skateboard video. Although knowing well to follow doctor’s orders to roll his arches out on a tennis ball, Shawn found it difficult to comply. Like all of us, Shawn struggled to find the free time to stand over a tennis ball for 10 to 15 minutes rolling out each foot. Knowing there had to be a better way—and wanting to get back on his board— Shawn set out to find a way to consistently complete the routine as easily as possible.

Starting out with crude prototypes—drilling large holes in sandals, cutting up countless tennis balls, and using his 3D printer at home—Shawn worked through countless iterations to refine the design. After settling on an ideal prototype, Shawn mustered the courage to share it with his physical therapist. He was happily surprised at the doc’s positive reaction to his creation and worked together with him to perfect the function of the slides. The result is AVOS Therapy: a pair of proactive therapy slides which allow you to effectively stretch your arches (plantar fascia) while remaining mobile!

Shawn then sought to formalize the business and the production process, teaming up with an old friend with a bit of experience in the matter. Together, they founded AVOS Therapy, informally launching the project with Shawn’s appearance on a highly popular skateboard podcast, The Nine Club. A prototype was revealed and pre-orders were received, which essentially funded its start-up costs. The team persevered through the pandemic, losing its initial production facility due to the circumstances, and delivering its pilot production to much acclaim from the athletes who immediately recognized the benefits.