Do massage guns actually work- beyond the hype and marketing

Massage gun being used — Massage guns are heavily marketed, but do they work

The marketing

According to the marketers massage guns are a tool that uses percussion massage which:

is a substitute for professional therapists, providing benefits such as sports recovery and pain relief,
enhances the effects of vibration allows it to penetrate further, and
adds the benefits of conventional massage.

The reality

The reality is that massage guns and percussion massage:

are no where near as effective as they are claimed to be,
the marketing is based on false claims and misrepresented science, and
rather than enhance the benefits of vibration, percussion actually lessens the effectiveness and makes it potentially dangerous.

What is percussion massage

In this section:

What is vibration massage
How percussion is differentiate
The different therapeutic effects

What is vibration massage

Professionals have been using vibration massagers such as those pictured for decades. These devices sit on the surface and send therapeutic vibrations deep into your muscles. They are highly effective, with the vibrations having a host of excellent effects as discussed in our article The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage- with clinical applications .

How percussion massage is different

Instead of sitting on the surface sending in vibrations percussion massagers drive their heads into your muscles. The easiest way to understand the effects are by comparing them to the two machines pictured. Vibration massagers are like the yellow machine, whereas massage guns or percussion massagers are like the jackhammer. Comparing the two:

the yellow machine sends large amounts of vibrations deep into the ground while not harming the surface
the jackhammer only sends a small amount of vibrations into the ground, while smashing the surface

The different therapeutic effects

From just looking at how each of the machines works it is easy to see that percussion massagers:

pummel the surface more,
send in far less therapeutic vibrations, and
are more likely to cause physical damage.

Understanding that we will look at the marketing claims.

Are the marketing claims correct (do they really work)

Summary or the massage gun marketing claims

The massage gun marketers claim that percussion massage:

gives you the benefits of vibration, but
because they drive their heads in they penetrate further and add the benefits of conventional massage.

We will summarise each of these. For details see the video below.

Massage guns do not give you the benefits of vibration

As shown above percussion massagers do not send in anywhere near the amount of therapeutic vibrations a genuine vibration massager does. Also, because of the risk of injury they cannot be run at the optimum therapeutic frequency. Therefore, while they do vibrate their therapeutic vibration effect is only a small fraction of what you would get from a proper vibration massager.

Massage guns do not penetrate better

While massage guns drive their heads into your muscles it is the vibrations that have the therapeutic effects, and the vibrations from a genuine vibration massager can easily penetrate much deeper than any massage gun head.

Massage guns do not add worthwhile “conventional massage”

To our knowledge there is no evidence that percussion massage adds any worthwhile conventional massage benefits, and it is unlikely that the bit of pushing and rubbing has anywhere near the effects of a proper professional therapist.

Massage guns are not scientifically proven

Massage gun marketers claim all the benefits of vibration, but as we have seen percussion massagers only give a fraction of these benefits. Also, when massage guns are tested in clinical trials they are modified so they work more like a vibration massager, not as the marketers tell you.

Video discussion

Please see the video below for details about the deceptive claims.

Massage gun safety concerns

Vibration massagers just sit on the surface and send in vibrations, so they are very safe. On the other hand massage guns usually come with hard plastic heads, and some machines drive their heads in up to 16mm. They are like jackhammers, so can easily cause damage.

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

Sensitive structures: eg. blood vessels and nerves

If you are not an expert in anatomy there is the danger of the massage gun hitting sensitive structures such as nerves and blood vessels.

Muscle damage and internal bleeding

Because of their physical impact, even if used on muscle there is always the potential of damage. One journal (1) reported that a person who used a massage gun to help relax tired muscles after cycling but nearly died from massive internal bleeding. In another report (4) a person suffered hemothorax, which is bleeding in the lung cavity (usually associated with blunt force trauma).

Massage gun handles cannot reach a lot of your body

As this diagram shows massage guns need to be pointed into the muscle to have their intended effect. However, the handles do not allow you to reach to do this for a lot of your body. Calling the machines “guns” and creating their distinctive shape has been an excellent marketing gimmick, but this has been done at the expense of not being able to use the machines properly on a lot of your body.

Using a quad head — An ergonomic handle makes it easy to use a massager effectively on all your body

Example of an effective handle

This diagram shows an example of a person using a massager designed for function rather than be a gimmick. Note that the handle allows the user to easily massage her back. The machine is one of our Ultimate Quad Head Massagers .

Why massage guns are so expensive

Massage guns are much more expensive than comparable power tools

The mechanism inside a massage gun is similar to that of power tools such as a jigsaw or reciprocating saw. Trades versions of those tools are designed to handle to adverse conditions and cut tough things like mental, so are likely stronger and better built. So, why are “top” massage guns way more expensive?

Most of the cost of massage guns is marketing

Massage gun marketers spend a fortune on advertising, celebrity/athlete endorsements, and other marketing. On top of that they have to allow for commissions to all the websites and YouTube gurus to recommend them. Most of the cost of an expensive massage gun is the money spent to convince you that they are a good idea.

Alibaba listing of massage gun — Alibaba (manufacturer's portal) has tens of thousands of listing like this. Sellers can buy massagers for under $10 and sell them to you.

The “cheap and nasty” massage guns

While the “top” massage guns are expensive because their marketers spend a fortune on endorsements and so forth there are hundreds, if not thousands of factories with no interest in making serious therapeutic devices trying to cash in. If you go to alibaba.com you can buy these things dirt cheap.

The alternative to massage guns

As the massage gun marketers will tell you, therapeutic vibrations have excellent benefits. As discussed above genuine therapeutic vibration massagers deliver these much better, plus because they just sit on the surface rather than drive their heads in they are more comfortable and a lot safer. You are far better off getting a genuine vibration massager.

To help you with this we have the guides and videos below.
Vibration massage usage guide
How to choose a massager

Vibration massage guide

How to use a vibration massager

We built our own

When we looked for a massager for our Chiropractic patients to use at home the only serious vibration massagers we could find were professional machines built for colleagues to use on patients. Those built for personal use were ineffective. Because of this we built our own and started supplying these to colleagues.

These are available from a network of clinics that use, recommend and sell them, or direct from us. For more information please see our order page .

Our massagers

General Purpose Massager
Ultimate Quad Head Massager

Professionals

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. If you are a professional and wish to know more about this therapy, or possibly get a sample massager to trial please check out our practitioner page.

References

Chen J, Zhang F, Chen H, Pan H. Rhabdomyolysis After the Use of Percussion Massage Gun : A Case Report. Phys Ther. 2021 Jan 4;101(1)
Martin JD of H and WU of winchester. A critical evaluation of percussion muscle gun therapy as a rehabilitation tool focusing on lower limb mobility. A literature review. 2021.
Garc M, Jurado-castro JM, Ben J. Acute Effects of a Percussive Massage Treatment on Movement Velocity during Resistance Training. Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 21;18(15):7726.
Masters A, Duarte R, Chiang B, Sarvottam K, Patel K. Hemothorax After Use of Percussion Massage Gun: A Case Report. 2022;A4172–A4172.