You have seen a massage gun being used by influencers and athletes on your Instagram feed, featured in TV, and used in the gym. But you’re still not sure whether you should buy one. Do these devices live up to their popularity? Well, here’s 5 reasons why you should seriously consider making the investment. The 5 reasons we listed in this article can hopefully help you answer that question.
First of all, what’s a massage gun and why do you even need one?
A massage gun – also called a percussive massager – is a handheld, portable device that usually looks like (or sometimes sound like) a power drill. These devices are cordless, most use rechargeable batteries and come with interchangeable massage gun heads or attachments.
When a device like the Hydragun massage gun is applied on the muscles and you turn it on, it uses percussive force to drive vibrations deep into muscle tissue, which speeds up recovery from intense workouts and improves physical performance and eliminating soreness.
Foam rollers, massage guns and other recovery devices – what’s the difference?
A massage gun works the same way as a regular massage – it just goes about it in a different way. The device provides the same effect as massages and foam rolling.
Foam rollers utilize myofascial release to remove tension in the muscles. Fascia is the band of tissue that connects and surrounds the nerves, blood vessels and muscles. For different reasons, your fascia can get inflamed and tight. When this happens, it can be difficult to move around. In this case, the sustained pressure applied when using foam rollers relaxes the tight muscles.
So what’s the upside of using massage guns like the Hydragun? It targets specific muscle groups much better than foam rollers do. It is particularly useful when you need to massage hard-to-reach areas in the body. And there are other pretty good reasons why you need to get a massage gun.
5 Reasons to buy a massage gun
1. Helps improve your workout performance
Massage guns are usually marketed to fitness buffs, and there’s a good reason for that. You can use them as part of your warm-up routine to “wake up” your muscles before working out. Using massage guns can also help speed up post-workout recovery by boosting blood flow and eliminating the lactic acid that builds up in your muscles.
2. Almost instant pain relief
If you suffer from chronic pain, recovering from an injury, or do manual labor regularly, using massage guns can be an important part of your pain management routine. Massage guns can ease muscle tension, and relieve general body pains within a few minutes.
3. Helps you relax after a long day
Massage helps you relax physically and mentally after a long day. Massages cause the body to release “happy hormones” like dopamine which boosts the mood and aids in relaxation. It works by down-regulating your nervous system, which manages the stress hormone levels in your body. This eases anxiety and helps you fall asleep faster.
4. Focused muscle relaxation for painful knots
Unlike using foam rollers, using a massage gun allows you to target specific muscle groups at a time. This makes it ideal for relaxing tight knots in muscles like your pecs, hips, glutes and traps that are very difficult to massage using foam rollers.
Using foam rollers to massage hips or traps involves a lot of rolling on the ground and getting into awkward body positions. Using a massage gun, on the other hand, means you only need to gently apply the device on your muscles for a few minutes to get almost instant results.
5. Affordable and more practical than traditional massages
Getting a professional massage is great, but you would need to come in for multiple appointments to achieve the results you want. And because professional massages can cost hundreds of dollars per session, this can be quite expensive for many people.
Not to mention the hassle of booking appointments and commuting to and from spas. This means spending a lot of time which can be hard for busy people. Massage guns on the other hand provide unlimited massages for a one-time investment. You can use a massage gun to relieve body pain anytime, anywhere.