A vibration therapy gun vibrates your muscles similar to how massage or foam rolling works, helping loosen tight muscles, reduce pain and increase flexibility. Used by physiotherapists and Stretchologists alike.
Vibration therapy can ease the aches and pains of new workouts by increasing blood flow and decreasing lactic acid accumulation. To avoid injury, however, it’s crucial that users properly use massage guns.
Benefits
Massage guns (sometimes referred to as percussion massagers) are handheld mechanical devices similar to small jackhammers that use electric or battery power to vibrate muscles, commonly used by physical therapists and professional athletes to assist their recovery from injury or illness. It works by percussing muscle tissue which breaks up knots while increasing blood flow to the area – helping reduce myofascial restriction, tension, range of motion limitations and alleviate pain while providing deeper penetration than traditional compression therapy devices.
Studies have demonstrated the benefits of using a massage gun prior to exercise can increase muscle flexibility and reduce tension, enabling athletes to train harder and more consistently, leading to improved athletic performance. Furthermore, using one after an intense workout can help reduce lactic acid buildup in muscles, speeding recovery time.
Massage guns are frequently utilized during stretching to improve its effectiveness and thus increase muscle and joint flexibility. While massage guns may provide benefits to muscles experiencing tension issues such as tendinitis or rotator cuff issues, they do not treat injuries like tendinitis or rotator cuff problems directly; rather they serve only to treat symptoms rather than cure injuries directly.
Studies have shown that massage guns can help decrease delayed onset muscle soreness (tightness and stiffness felt a day or two after strenuous workouts). They have also demonstrated its usefulness in treating chronic back pain by increasing mobility and alleviating tension.
One of the primary advantages of using a massage gun at home is saving both time and money, while also having greater control over how much pressure to apply based on individual needs. Some consider self-massage using a gun more precise than going directly to an actual massage therapist because users can sense exactly how hard they’re working while adapting accordingly.
Safety
Most people know not to hit an open wound with something, such as a vibration massage gun. The percussion force produced by these devices can damage nerves, blood vessels, joints and muscles easily if used incorrectly; these injuries can easily be avoided if simple safety rules are followed.
Problematic massage guns are designed to drive their heads directly into your muscle tissue, increasing vibration intensity. While this may feel great at first glance, this could actually be dangerous. Professional vibration therapy machines have pads that sit directly on skin and send therapeutic vibrations throughout your body much like ultrasound (vibrations at different frequencies). Marketing of massage guns as true vibration therapy machines is misleading.
At least part of the pain experienced when using these devices stems from how they’re advertised: as ways to treat harder-to-reach areas on your body and are likened to t-bars used by massage therapists which don’t apply pressure as hard.
If you use a percussion massager to aggravate an already pulled muscle, you could risk injuring the ligaments that connect bones together. Ligament sprains are more common than muscle strains and typically happen when stretching beyond one’s normal range of movement, often suddenly. They tend to be extremely painful injuries with possible snapping sound when they occur – these injuries often present themselves very abruptly and you might hear or even feel them happen!
Organs are similarly susceptible to being damaged by massage guns; kidneys for instance are located directly under your spine in the middle of your back and can easily be damaged with one. Furthermore, driving the massage gun head into bony areas could irritate either your spinal cord or discs within your spine and irritate them further.
Therefore, if you have certain medical conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis or hypertension, it is advisable to use these tools under the supervision of a doctor or trained physical therapist. Furthermore, those with pacemakers or ICD should refrain from using such devices.
How to Use
Massage guns have quickly gained in popularity among gym-goers, athletes, and professional trainers since their introduction. While scientific studies have yet to fully support their benefits, evidence points toward increased flexibility, quicker recovery time, and relief of pain. Vibration therapy guns, more commonly referred to as percussive devices or percussive massagers use repetitive pressure and vibration for soft tissue massage using battery or electric powered hand held mechanical devices with different shaped applicator heads such as balls flat tips bullet/pointy heads forks for targeting myofascial tissues surrounding muscle bellies/tendons for improved flexibility, speed up recovery time or relief of pain relief. Vibration therapy guns use repeated pressure and vibration for tissue massage, which in turn may help improve flexibility, speed up recovery time as well.
Vibration massage guns are often used to soothe sore muscles. Their vibrating action helps break up scar tissue and increase mobility while their percussion stimulations bring in additional oxygen to bring about relief from soreness. When combined with stretching exercises, this can improve range of motion while decreasing chances of injury.
Massage guns can help you return to fitness after recovering from shoulder discomfort, or improve lifting performance by decreasing anterior pelvic tilt — the tendency of arching your back when lifting which can lead to lower back injuries – by massaging rectus femoris with vibration guns.
However, it’s important to keep in mind that massage guns should never be used on pulled muscles. A sprain consists of stretched or torn ligaments that must be treated accordingly in order to avoid worsening of injury.
Vibration massage may be safe for healthy muscles, but is not advised in treating sprains or herniated disc pain. Too much percussion could result in rhabdomyolysis — an irreparable injury to skeletal muscle fibers — in extreme cases.
Start out slowly when using a vibration massage gun and gradually increase its settings until you reach maximum intensity. Avoid pressing too hard on painful areas or exceeding two minutes on each spot; further relax muscles by following up with heat or ice treatments afterwards to ease any soreness or inflammation.
Cost
Amazon searches for “massage gun” produce over 800 products ranging in price from $30 to $600, making this an effective and economical alternative to professional massage therapy sessions which may cost as much as $100 for 60 minutes of services rendered by licensed therapists. You could potentially save yourself both money and hassle over time by investing in high-quality models for home use instead.
Percussion massagers work by applying short bursts of vibration or percussive motion to muscles to increase circulation and ease tightness, according to expert in the field, Dr. Joshua Hedt of Nashville Exercise physiologist. While their exact mechanisms remain unknown, he believes these tools help by dislodging nerve bundles within knotted muscle tissue that would otherwise send pain signals directly into the brain.
Massage guns may reduce the need for other methods of post-workout recovery, like foam rollers. This could save both time and money if you live far from a sports massage studio or have trouble getting up off of the floor on your own.
Massage guns may also be more comfortable for anyone suffering from back or neck issues as you don’t have to bend over as often for use. This feature should be especially valuable for anyone suffering from these ailments.
When purchasing a massage gun, consider how heavy you want it and whether attachments will help reach hard-to-reach muscle groups. Also check its noise level: some models can be very loud which could detract from your experience of using them, according to Malek.
Are You A Fitness Enthusiast Who Wants To Speed Up Recover After Exercise? A Percussion Massager Can Speed Recovery Up If so, but do your research before purchasing one from any company. Also be mindful of their warranties and replacement parts policies before making your choice.
Katrina Eresman is a freelance writer based out of Cincinnati. Her areas of interest are health, wellness and fitness topics – with an MS in exercise and health promotion from Lipscomb University under her belt. Her writing has been published on sites like Consumer Reports, Huffington Post and GoodRx.
