Do massage guns work ?

Woman using a massage gun — Massage guns promise therapeutic vibration massage, but often fail to deliver

Massage guns promise to give you quality deep massage with no need to see a professional therapist, but they too often fail to deliver this because:

they use percussion which is less effective and potentially more harmful than genuine vibration massage,
their handles do not allow you to effectively reach about 1/3 of your body, and
with massage guns becoming a fad the market is flooded with poorly built ineffective machines.

Futher, the value of the premium massage guns is questionable because they are horrendously expensive when compared with quality power tools that have roughly similar mechanisms. In this article we will discuss these issues, then how you may use a genuine vibration massager that gives those benefits massage guns promise.

What is the difference between a percussion massager and a vibration massager

The simplest way to explain the difference between a percussion and vibration massager is that vibration massagers use vibration to penetrate whereas percussion massagers use mechanical vibration to assist physical penetration. This is like comparing a jackhammer with vibrating compactors used in the construction industry. In this article we will discuss the effectiveness, safety and usage of each.

The scientifically proven benefits of vibration vs percussion
Comparing the penetration of vibration and percussion massagers
Comparing the safety of vibration and percussion massagers
You cannot self massage a lot of your body with a massage gun
The flood of poorly designed percussion massagers/massage guns
Table: Comparison of percussion and vibration massage
Are massage guns worth it?
The alternative: a genuine vibration massager
Further information
Professionals
References

The scientifically proven benefits of vibration vs percussion

The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage — Summary of the scientifically proven effects of vibration massage

The therapeutic benefits of vibration massage

Vibration massage is supported by extensive scientific research. For an excellent summary please see the The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage- with clinical applications. In summary, these clinically proven effects include the following.

Relaxing muscles
increasing blood flow
“stretching muscles”
reducing post exercise soreness and speeding recovery
improving performance
reducing pain
helping musculoskeletal conditions
increasing healing

The therapeutic benefits of percussion massage

We were not aware of any research or other scientific information supporting the use of percussion massagers so we did an extensive search of websites claiming to show the benefits of percussion massage. In every case where they referenced a scientific study it was a study of vibrations, not percussion. For example: on Hydragun’s website their article 5-scientific reasons percussive therapy works references the following journal articles (1–6)⁠. They are all studies of vibration therapy, not percussion.

Please see our article on the “science” of percussion for more information on how scientific information is misrepresented, and how to get half decent results in trials researchers even modify percussion massagers so they act as vibration massagers.

Comparing the penetration of vibration and percussion massagers

False claims about the penetration of percussion massagers

In our research we found many unsubstantiated claims that percussion massagers penetrate 60% better than vibration massagers. We believe the source of this claim is the following statement on Theragun’s website, claiming that their professional grade percussion massagers penetrate 60% more than consumer grade vibration massagers. This is probably true, but consumer grade vibration massagers are generally poor quality, poorly designed and not very effective (7). A comparison with these is neither valid or flattering.

Quote from Theragun regarding penetration — Quote from Theragun website regarding penetration

Vibration penetrates much better

It is a fundamental principle of physics that properly applied vibration penetrates much further than physical penetration. For example, according to a scientific journal article on the effects of vibrations in the construction industry (8)⁠ vibrations from a pile driver travel from 18- 247m, whereas vibrations from a quarry blast travels 1.6-6.4km. There is no question that a properly designed vibration massager can penetrate much further than a percussion massager.

Dangerous use of a massage gun — Driving in heads like a jackhammer can do serious damage

Comparing the safety of percussion and vibration massagers

The physical penetration of a massager head that occurs in percussion massage creates a far greater risk of causing damage or injury.

You cannot self massage a lot of your body with a massage gun

As this diagram shows, like a real gun massage guns need to be pointed correctly to have their proper effect, but their handles do not allow doing this for self massage for a lot of your own body, unless you have arms like Inspector Gadget. This is why we so often see people demonstrating massage at the back of the shoulders with the massage gun at an ineffective angle.

Using a vibration massager prone — With a proper handle vibration massage can easily be applied anywhere on your body

Proper ergonomically designed handle

As a contrast, the vibration massager pictured has an excellently designed handle allowing effective self use anywhere on the body. Video on the massager pictured

The flood of poorly designed ineffective percussion massagers/massage guns

Alibaba massage gun listing — You can buy one of these for under $15, including the stupid looking heads

With percussion massagers/massage guns becoming a fad we have factories in China with little knowledge of building therapeutically beneficial machines flooding the market. If you check Alibaba.com, the website manufacturers use to list their products you will find over 200,000 listings for massagers. As stated, most know very little about therapeutic benefits and try and differentiate their product by price and gimmicks. This pic shows an excellent example. You can buy those machines for under $15 from the factory, and they come with a range of stupid looking heads, one which might be useful as a hair brush.

Massage gun with gimmicks — Would you expect to see a quality power tool with fiddly push buttons, a LED speed display, cheap nasty plastic attachments and a handle like an aerosol can?

How to pick gimmicks

Gimmicks are things manufacturers add rather than functionality. The easiest way to pick a gimmick with a massager is to consider it as a power tool (which they are). For any feature, consider whether you would expect it on a quality power tool from manufactures such as Makita, Bosch or AEG. If not, it’s probably a gimmick.

Comparison of percussion and vibration massage

NOTE: You may need to scroll the table below left/right for more information

	Mode of operation	Scientifically proven benefits	Safety	Amplitude	Heads
Vibration massage	Penetrates with vibration	Extensive: see research summary	Relatively safe	3-5mm	Flattish for vibration transfer
Percussion massage	Uses vibration to push in head	Tries to claim the benefits of vibration	Penetrating head can cause injury or damage	larger	rounded or pointed

Are massage guns worth it?

We've see that the therapeutic benefits from massage guns are probably not worth it, but what about the value you get from the actual hardware. To do this I've compared USA prices for a top model Theragun and a top quality jigsaw from Home Depot. The Jigsaw is probably a bit stronger built, but the Theragun has a few cheap to make rubber and plastic heads. Lets look at the pricing:

DEWALT 20-Volt MAX XR Cordless Brushless Jigsaw $169 USD
Theragun PRO $599 USD

Quality DEWALT Jigsaw — Quality jigsaw from Home Depot $169 USD

The alternative: a genuine vibration massager that's well built and costs a fraction of the amount

We've seen that massage guns claim to deliver therapeutic vibration massage but too often fail to deliver. Why not buy a genuine vibration massager instead. We make an excellent personal use vibration massager but I want to show you without using ours that if you look you can find decent well priced vibration massagers. We found this one at a North American Chiropractic supply place for only $166 USD. It would do a much better job than the Theragun and you could buy three of them for the same price.

The DrGraeme Ultimate Quad Head Massager

How to choose a really effective massager

The idea of having a personal massager is great, but for massage guns the execution is terrible. If you like you can go check out the way we do it: the General Purpose Massager or our Ultimate Quad Head Massager.

Professional at desk — Professionals: click the image to find out more and possibly trial vibration massage

Professionals

If you are a professional and wish to know more about vibration massage please check out practitioner page for more information and possibly a sample massager to try this therapy yourself. Our DrGraeme massagers were originally built by Dr Graeme for use in his clinic, and to prescribe to his patients for additional self use at home. Now these are used by colleagues and other professionals for similar purposes.

References

Imtiyaz S, Veqar Z, Shareef MY. To compare the effect of vibration therapy and massage in prevention of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). J Clin Diagnostic Res. 2014;
Johnson PK, Feland JB, Johnson AW, Mack GW, Mitchell UH. Effect of whole body vibration on skin blood flow and nitric oxide production. J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2014;8(4):889–94.
Herrero AJ, Menéndez H, Gil L, Martín J, Martín T, García-López D, et al. Effects of whole-body vibration on blood flow and neuromuscular activity in spinal cord injury. Spinal Cord. 2011;49(4):554–9.
Lau RWK, Liao LR, Yu F, Teo T, Chung RCK, Pang MYC. The effects of whole body vibration therapy on bone mineral density and leg muscle strength in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vol. 25, Clinical Rehabilitation. 2011. p. 975–88.
Thompson WR, Yen SS, Rubin J. Vibration therapy: Clinical applications in bone. Curr Opin Endocrinol Diabetes Obes. 2014;21(6):447–53.
King LK, Almeida QJ, Ahonen H. Short-term effects of vibration therapy on motor impairments in Parkinson’s disease. Vol. 25, NeuroRehabilitation. 2009. p. 297–306.
McDonagh D, Wilson L, Haslam C, Weightman D. Good vibrations: Do electrical therapeutic massagers work? Ergonomics. 2005;
Svinkin MR. Minimizing Construction Vibration Effects. Pract Period Struct Des Constr. 2004;9(2):108–15.

What is the difference between a percussion massager and a vibration massager

CONTENTS

The scientifically proven benefits of vibration vs percussion

The therapeutic benefits of vibration massage

The therapeutic benefits of percussion massage

Comparing the penetration of vibration and percussion massagers