What is your opinion on massage guns? Do you like them?
The short answer is: it depends.
As a tool for very specific situations that will help reaching the final desired outcome? Sure, whatever helps.
As a substitute for proper manual work from a skilled massage therapist? No way.
Let me elaborate a little.
1. The human hand is still the best
The human hand, especially in the massage business, has still no comparison. With it we can feel, we can apply the right pressure, and modify it according to the reaction of the muscular tissue below our fingers. Maybe in some years AI and robotics will catch up and make us obsolete, but for now, the hands of a massage therapist are still the best tool for the job.
2. The touch
As humans, we enjoy being touched. Why? If we want to go all scientific about this, physical touch helps our brain to release dopamine and serotonin, which are two neurotransmitters regulating our mood, stress levels, anxiety levels. If we go less scientific: because it’s nice. We can feel the warmth and energy of a trusted person trying to help us, no machine can do that.
3. The misconception that pushing harder is always better
Sometimes, some muscles are so stuck and blocked that pushing harder and harder is detrimental. A good massage therapist is able to understand when that stubborn nod is not going to let go, no matter which sink you throw at it. In those cases a change of technique is probably needed, it might take longer time, stretching, basically a different approach. A massage gun will simply keep pushing, triggering a protective response from the muscle that will become even harder and more blocked.
4. The vibration
This is probably just me, but when someone use a massage gun near my head, let’s say on the trapezius, the vibration is really bothering my ears.
5. Hands preservation and laziness
Many massage therapists started to introduce those electric tools in their practice for pure self-preservation. When you massage for many hours every day, the hands get tired and worn out, especially if you don’t implement good preservation practices (i.e. stretching). Besides the massage guns, there are many other tools used nowadays that have the same function (i.e. IASTM tools, Graston Technique).
Some other, less professional massage therapist, they simply figure out that the machine can do the work for them with much less effort. Or they simply don’t want to do massage with their hands anymore.
Do you own a massage gun?
I do own a massage gun, but I don’t use it in the Studio. While watching TV at home with my wife, we occasionally use it on each other. She loves it on the gluts, while I enjoy it on the feet.
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Pubmed link to an interesting article on this topic: The Effects of Massage Guns on Performance and Recovery: A Systematic Review