About us

Hi Everyone, 

Drs Chris and Steph Mathieson (Chiropractors) here. We currently practice in Melbourne, Australia and we are passionate about delivering high quality healthcare to our local community. 

Please watch our short video to hear our story:

The reason we are here is because we purchased one of the Demere 3 Spinal Degeneration Model (SDM) back in 2016 and could only find one available in the UK. We were so impressed with the Demere 3 SDM that we wanted 3 more for the practice in 2018 and after months of searching online we couldn’t find any. We decided to call Brian Sherwood the original inventor and designer who was manufacturing these since 1989 to see why we couldn’t purchase one. Brian advised us they were no longer being made so we asked him if we can attain the legal rights to reproduce his SDM. For 30 years the Demere SDM’s were made by hand and we wanted to bring these SDM’s into modern manufacturing processes. 

The original Demere 3 Spinal Degeneration Model.

Manufacturing process

It has taken 13 months, many hours and significant capital investment to modify the design and find a suitable manufacturing process to reproduce the original Demere 3 SDM. The manufacturing process required to produce the Demere® 4 SDM at an acceptable price is through mass production injection moulding.

Diagram of an Injection Moulding machine.

The trade off for the high quality injection moulding manufacturing is a high volume and high cost to begin manufacturing. Manufacture to retail will cost over $1,000,000 AUD. So, we need your support to pre-order your Demere® 4 SDM so we can raise the 40% deposit required from the manufacturers. Once we pay the 40% deposit the bank will back us for the remaining costs. 

If we do not receive the amount of pre-orders to reach our 40% deposit we will not be able to manufacture these models and in that case would refund all pre-orders that have been made. 

Manufacturing the Demere® 4 SDM is important to us as we feel demonstrating to patients what their condition entails improves patient care, patient outcomes and ensures improved communication between health professionals and their patients. 

By supporting us to manufacture the Demere® 4 SDM you are helping us to achieve our goals in supporting healthcare professionals worldwide now and in the future. 

Demonstrating L4 and L5 degeneration to a patient.

Challenges & solutions

We have been able to negotiate manufacturing costs after some feedback from our customers and have managed to reduce the RRP to $599 (GST included). This still includes the highest quality manufacturing, free shipping worldwide for all pre-orders and our Lifetime Replacement Guarantee*.

Other Ways You Can Help

We understand that pre-ordering a Demere® 4 SDM may not be for you and we thank you for your support so far. We would greatly appreciate it if you could spread the word to your colleagues and share this page to support us to manufacture the Demere® 4 SDM. 

You can also register your interest with us directly at info@smilingspines.com.au if you are not in the position to pre-order a Demere® 4 SDM now.

*Lifetime Replacement Guarantee Terms and conditions.