Our Story
To master human motion, enhance lives, make everyone a scientist, and encourage discovery.
Dunedin, New Zealand is rich with “tech-savvy” innovators and dreamers and MR EMG‘s story is no exception; MR EMG was born from our collective desire to make Surface EMG easier.
Practitioner and co-founder, Rowan Ellis has been using EMG in his practice for over 15 years and as its potential became apparent to him, he wanted to share the benefits of the approach with other researchers. There was a problem though, no existing product was perfectly suited to the application.
Co-founder, Michael Macknight, discovered the work of a local academic who had been working on an EMG research project, which wirelessly recorded EMG signals from the face and jaw, - Professor Mauro Farella. By combining Professor Farella’s basic sensor technology with a custom designed iOS App, MR EMG was born.
Rowan’s hands-on experience in muscle mechanics and movement, as well as his comprehensive understanding of the benefits that this type of technology provides, is invaluable and the key to understanding the needs of our customers, his experience with MR EMG provides an in-depth view into the true value of the product.
We also understand in order for MR EMG to create real change in the world of musculoskeletal research we need to have and do more than just develop a great product, our aim is to provide our customers with support at every step of their journey, from their initial enquiry right through to training.
Our team has witnessed the real life impact MR EMG can have as a research tool and they are dedicated to providing our customers with the highest level of training and support.
MR EMG Directors
Rowan Ellis
Rowan is an innovative manual and movement clinician with over 30 years of experience. He began as a remedial massage therapist and realised early on the limitations of hands-on treatment and the need to incorporate exercise to build strength for his clients. This combination provided the foundation of Body Synergy Gym. His area of specialisation is treating clients who have suffered from long-term pain and Musculoskeletal issues by evaluating movement and performing exercises or actions using SEMG (MR EMG). Bespoke exercise programs are created for clients using strength and conditioning training tailored for each client, dependent on their physical requirements.
Rowan is passionate about surface electromyography (SEMG) and uses SEMG with his team as the approach in the exercise rehabilitative space. He knows first-hand the immense benefits of biofeedback in helping people with their musculoskeletal issues. For the past 18 years, Rowan has developed protocols for its implementation when assessing and treating musculoskeletal problems. Rowan has a Master of Professional Practice (Sports Science) and his research included using SEMG biofeedback to encourage movement education in people suffering long-term musculoskeletal and spinal pain. Rowan is our lead educator and assists clinicians with implementing MR EMG into their practice.
Qualifications: Master of Professional Practice (Sports Science), Bachelor of Applied Management major in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Michael Macknight
Michael has spent his life building data acquisition hardware and writing analysis software. He oversees hardware design and writes our iOS software. Michael’s passion is in building tools for real people to use without needing to know how they work at a technical level. Success is when things just work.
Kylie Ellis
Kylie’s professional career began twenty years ago in the health, fitness and wellness industries as a Massage Therapist, Personal Trainer, and manager of a rehabilitation gym.
She has been a business owner for approx. 20 years of a Musculoskeletal clinic and rehabilitation gym, Body Synergy. The clinic specialises in treating clients who have suffered from long-term pain and Musculoskeletal issues by evaluating movement and performing exercises or actions using SEMG (MR EMG). Bespoke exercise programs are created using strength and conditioning training tailored for each client, dependent on their physical requirements.
Kylie has observed many changes within the health and fitness industries and the challenges faced by practitioners with a scarcity of investigative technology available within an affordable price range. This barrier became a motivating factor in creating MR EMG, which was both an affordable and easy-to-use system for a wide range of clients.
For the past ten years, Kylie has worked in education, specialising in learning facilitation assessing business degrees and facilitating the Master of Professional Practice program. She understands the impacts on business owners sustaining themselves within the business and their practice area. As technology has advanced, today’s customers have extensive sources of information available to challenge the guidance of subject matter experts.
Kylie has spent her professional career defining the value of the customer relationship and providing business solutions. Her role at MR EMG will be to focus on partnering with customers to ensure their business thrives.
Qualifications
Master of Professional Practice (Education); Graduate Diploma in Tertiary Education, Bachelor of Applied Management major in business transformation and change
Kelly Macknight
Kelly has significant experience in leadership having spent many years as part of the senior leadership team of a global technology company. Kelly has a high level of understanding about all aspects of business, and the importance of cross-collaborative working, in order to achieve commercial results. At MR EMG, she ensures that the customer journey is as great as the products themselves.
Mauro Farella: Scientific Advisor
Professor Mauro Farella was born in Naples (Italy) and moved to NZ with his family in 2009, attracted by the high-quality, research-intensive academic environment. He has a special interest in the development of wearable devices for the diagnosis and long-term monitoring of bruxism, orofacial pain, sleep disordered breathing, and eating disorders. Professor Farella is deputy director of the Sir John Walsh Research Institute, where he is also the director of Craniofacial Research. He is also a member of the management committee for the New Zealand Center of Research Excellence on Medical Technologies (MedTech CoRE).