When it comes to relieving pain in specific areas of the body and helping your muscles recover faster, you have several options. Some like ice while others prefer heat, both of which can help with the muscle pain, but not the recovery time. Other methods, such as foam rollers and taking creatine supplements, can make workout recovery happen on a shorter timeline, but don’t make the pain go away.
Want to know one thing that’s good for both? Massage guns. Here’s everything you need to know before making your purchase, courtesy of Fit Foods.
How Do Percussion Massage Guns Work?
Designed to alleviate pain and assist your muscles in recovering faster through percussive therapy, a massage gun uses a type of percussion in order to penetrate the skin down to the muscle tissue. While you don’t want to point the gun at any vital areas of your body, like your neck or upper chest, or at any bony areas, it can make your muscles feel better.
The massage gun moves at a very high-frequency vibration and should be held an inch above the muscle that you’re targeting. Any closer and you could end up doing more harm than good. All that it takes is a mere 30 seconds pointed at the soft tissue, and then you can move on to the next muscle.
Why Do You Need a Massage Gun?
For people who work out a lot, DOMS, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness, can be an issue, especially if you’ve pushed yourself harder than usual. The type of vibration therapy provided by a massage gun can help prevent DOMS, as well as remove any lingering tightness, knots, and other issues with your muscles.
For all of these reasons and more, it’s good to have a massage gun on hand if you frequent the gym. The only issue that you might run into is choosing the right one.
Choosing a Massage Gun
Massage guns can be quite an investment, with prices running upwards of hundreds of dollars. There are a number of less expensive ones as well, although they may not have all of the bells and whistles of the higher-end models. In order to select the right one for your needs, you’ll need to examine several factors, including:
Features and Ease of Use
Massage guns usually have a number of features, including the ability to change the power or frequency of the vibrations. They might also come with charging cords for built-in batteries, or the ability to replace the batteries when they run out. Before you choose a massage gun, take some time to look over the various features in order to determine if it will do what you want it to.
Extras
What kind of extras does the massage gun come with? Some have handy carrying cases that make them easy to tote around, although those cases also are great places to store your massage gun. Other things, like additional power cords (in case those internal batteries die) and massage heads (that go on the tip of the gun) in various shapes and sizes are additional extras that might come with the device.
Amplitude
In this case, power actually refers to the revolutions per minute (also known as RPMs) produced by the massage guns. The higher the revolutions, the stronger the frequencies, and the better your massage will feel. However, there are plenty of uses for massage guns that produce a lower amount of RPMs, such as helping minor muscle tension feel better.
Usually, you’ll find the professionals, like chiropractors and physical therapists, operating massage guns with a very high RPM, since they’re the experts. For home use, a lower RPM machine may be easier to control and handle.
Battery Life
No one wants a massage gun with short battery life. There are few things worse than being halfway through your post-workout massage and finding out that your battery is now dead. Thankfully, many massage guns have batteries that last for around four hours or more continuously on a single charge. With that said, this is definitely something to look for when examining the models in your price range.
Noise Levels
Massage guns aren’t exactly the quietest — even on the lowest setting — and the more RPMs they produce, the louder they tend to be. When looking at the devices, make sure to test them to see if their overall decibel levels are low enough to allow you to enjoy the massage without worrying about making a ruckus. From an alternative point of view, if you don’t mind the noise, then you won’t care about the levels that your massage gun can reach.
Price
Finally, there’s the last factor to consider: price. You want a massage gun that you can afford. Although you might view it as an investment in your health (and you’d be completely right in doing so), you also don’t want to go into debt buying one. Thankfully, massage guns are available at plenty of price points, so you should have no issues finding the best one for your needs at a decent price.
Best Massage Guns
Now that you know what’s involved in choosing a massage gun, it’s time to go over several models that we think are the best. Read on to learn more about them.
1. The Theragun Pro or Elite
Thanks to the comfortable handle and easy-to-use features, the Theragun Elite or Pro is a good choice for someone who wants to get in a post-exercise massage. The powerful gun can reach 16 mm below the skin, really getting at those hard-to-reach body parts and muscle groups. It has five speed levels (the speed range is between 1,750 and 2,400 RPM) and can apply up to 40 pounds of pressure. However, it tends to be on the louder side, and the rechargeable battery life is only a mere 120 minutes.
This gun also has a companion app (called The Therabody App) that is compatible with their other models as well, including the Theragun Mini and the Theragun Prime.
2. RENPHO Massage Gun
The RENPHO has a very long battery life (up to six hours with one charge) and includes five settings, ranging from 1,800 to 3,200 RPM, making it pretty powerful for the price. It comes with a set of interchangeable heads so that you can choose the ones that work best for your needs, as well as a carrying and storage case and a USB charging cord. The only downsides are the sound levels, as well as the fact that it can be hard on the hands thanks to vibrations that it produces since it lacks the dampening of other models.
3. Vybe PRO Handheld Deep Muscle Massager
Although it’s a bit more expensive than the previously mentioned model, the Vybe PRO is a mini massage gun that does something that many others don’t: give a deep tissue massage. Yes, this is one of the nine power settings on this lightweight device. It’s also fairly quiet, more so than the others, and comes with eight different heads that can be changed out. Although the quality of those head attachments isn’t the best, that’s easy to overlook given what this device can do.
4. Hyperice Hypervolt 2
If you’re a serious athlete in search of a powerful massage gun, then look no further than the Hypervolt 2. This massage therapy gun runs at an impressive 2,700 RPM at its fastest of the three settings, which is good for a device that only weighs 1.8 pounds. In addition, this massage gun comes with five different heads, a charger cord and set of plug adapters, and a handy storage and carrying case. Although its battery life is only three hours, the fact that the device uses Bluetooth connectivity and a special Hyperice app to save your settings for next time makes it worth checking out.
5. Ekrin Athletics B37S
Between the ergonomic handle and whopping eight-hour battery life, the Ekrin made our list with ease. This high-quality massage gun has five different speed settings, going from 1,400 to 3,200 RPM with the push of a button.
Plus, it comes with six different massage heads and can go up to 56 pounds of force, helping the massage get deep into your muscles and boost your overall wellness. With that said, it tends to be a bit bulky and is on the pricier side, so you need to weigh your options carefully.
Final Thoughts
What goes hand in hand with a healthy diet and exercise regimen? A handy tool designed to help you recover from sore muscles quickly, assisting your muscles in getting ready for your next workout and taking away any lingering hamstring or lower back pain at the same time.
Yes, a massage gun can do all of that and more. You just need to choose the right one for your needs. The models mentioned here will do the trick, giving you a handy place to start. Put one of them in your gym bag next time you head to work out.
Looking for more information on massage guns? Contact us today.
Sources:
The 10 Best Massage Guns of 2022 | Healthline