Back pain or discomfort is a condition many people have to live with everyday. Whether it is caused by a genetic issue, stress, bad sleeping habits, an athletic injury, or some other form of activity that is straining it, it is something that people have been searching for ways of easing for a long time. You may also just need to ease up some of your muscles from a hard day of work, if they are feeling stiff. Doctors visits can be expensive over time, and if you need a physical therapist or chiropractor appointments regularly, then you may end up wasting a lot of money when you could find a much cheaper solution.
Muscle Massage Options
On the search for ways to ease your muscles you may find a lot of suggestions all over the internet, and from your friends or colleagues. For many years foam rollers were popular, but they aren’t super effective, so what are some alternatives to foam rollers? Depending on what location on your body, your budget and the space you have available, you could come up with many options for easing your muscles. There are types of rollers you could use that are more dense and solid than foam rollers, and these are often used on the feet, but could be used for other muscle groups as well. Another option is various types of sticks; generally having a soft wrapping and graspable handles, they are used in similar ways as rollers. You could also attempt to use various types of balls you might have available, whether it’s a softball or baseball, tennis ball, or lacrosse ball. The motion of rolling a ball over your muscles can give you temporary relief, and help work out any knots that may be bunching up in your muscles. Of course, if your budget isn’t very limited, you could also resort to buying a massage chair for your relief while watching TV, a movie, or just hanging out at home with your family.
However, one of the best options you could use to massage your muscles is a percussive massager. Percussive massagers used to be limited in use to athletic trainers and physiotherapists, but as technology has advanced, and percussive massagers have evolved in designs, you can find massagers much more easily for your home, or office use. The most common handheld percussive massagers are gun-like in shape, also known as massage guns, easy to hold, lightweight, and powerful enough to get a great massage to your muscles to ease discomfort or pain. The best budget massage guns are capable of a variety of intensities to make it adjustable to whatever you need, and they also include multiple heads depending on how large of an area you want to target with the gun.
Budget Massage Guns
When you are searching around for massage guns you are going to find a lot of options in a lot of price ranges. For example, if you are looking through google search, or Amazon, you’ll happen upon brands such as the Hypervolt by Hyperice, or the VI Pro Mini Handheld percussion massager. Trying to choose the best budget massage gun for you can be difficult with so many options. The best thing to do is to look at each gun side by side and see which have the best features and the most options. For example, the VI Pro Mini has six attachments included, whereas the Hypervolt only has five. As well, the VI Pro mini has the same amount of gear speeds as the Hypervolt, but has a much more powerful motor, at up to 160W, while also being almost half the weight. With such lightweight options, you can have a very portable massage gun that can go anywhere with you, whether it is at home, at the gym, at the office, or even on a long distance trip (small handheld massage guns are TSA approved as a carry on.)
How to Use Your Handheld Massage Gun
If you have chosen the best budget massage gun for you, then the next step is to learn how to use your new device. Percussive massagers can be used all over your body, almost anywhere, and with powerful options to get deep tissue massages for a fraction of the price of a massage therapist. Some of the recommended areas to use your massage gun for easing your muscles include the neck, upper back, lower back, upper arms, forearms, hands, glutes, deltoids, hamstrings, calves, hip flexors, adductors, quads, chest, feet and the shins.
Almost everywhere can find some benefits, however there are a few spots you should avoid. Due to the nature of the percussion blows that a percussive massage gun doles out, you should avoid directly applying it to any bones and joints, as well as the spine and head. Wherever you do decide to use your massage gun, choose your settings appropriately. Your thighs can handle a much stronger percussive force from your massage gun than your forearms could.
As you begin your massage therapy session wherever you are with your massage gun, make sure you don’t focus on just one area. Wherever you use your massage gun on your body, remember that everything is connected, so while you may want to ease the pain or tension in one muscle, remember to move the massage gun along the whole area to also give some relief to nearby tendons and muscle groups that may be also strained from your main target muscle.
Adjusting Intensity Levels
If you are learning how to use Hypervolt, or use the VI Pro Mini Handheld, you should read the instruction manual, and learn about the speed or intensity levels that it can be set to. The speed of the massage gun is measured in RPM, and they will also include a variety of tips or heads to help adjust the intensity more finely. There are people that enjoy a harsh, uncomfortable and high intensity massage in order to ease their muscle pains or tension, but not everybody is like that, so test your massage gun on your thigh or some other thick muscle to get a bearing to how intense each setting is, and try not to use a setting that overwhelms your pain tolerance. Some pain is to be expected sometimes when trying to work a muscle with percussive massage, but if you choose too high of an intensity for too long, you could do more harm than good.
Choosing the Right Tip or Head
With the VI Pro Mini handheld by Vigorous Innovations, you’ll get six different tips and heads. Each head is designed for a specific case, whether it is a general massage, or more pinpoint, or more broad massage. Flat heads will massage a wider area, and the cone head is for pinpoint. The foam balls would be for a less intense experience.
When to Use a Massage Gun for Back Pain
The best thing about the best budget massage gun is that it can be used anywhere, at any time. Although, most often you will use it after a workout, or stretching session, or a long sitting session. If you suffer from back pain, then as long as you can handle the uncomfortable nature of the percussive blows from the massager, it should be able to help your muscles get the work done on them they need to ease up, and reduce tension, thus reducing the effects of the pain. Percussive massagers in general are great to use when you suffer from any of the following: shin splints, muscle spasms and cramps, muscle soreness, back pain, bursitis, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, or sciatica. If you are concerned about whether you should be applying intense percussive force from a massage gun to any particular part of your body that is in pain, you can always consult your family doctor or primary care physician for their opinion.
Regular use of a massage gun for back pain is a great way to relieve the pain temporarily, and over time could even result in less intense pain when you do suffer from it. If you are an athlete or fitness enthusiast, or just take the occasional walk, jog, or bike ride, you may want to consider using a percussive massage gun regularly in order to help recover quicker from your activity. The percussive forces on your muscles after a workout help the body increase blood flow to the area, reduce swelling, improve oxygen flow to muscles and allow the body to cart off lactic acid more easily (the main cause of pain in muscles after activity).
Percussive Massage Guns and You
It doesn’t matter what level of fitness you are, if you are experiencing back pain, or pain in any other muscle groups or tendons, you should consider getting yourself the best budget massage gun you can to help give your muscles a percussive treatment that can help ease tension and pain. Vigorous Innovations has a range of percussive massage guns on their website, and on Amazon for all your potential needs, whether you need a more portable option, a stronger more intense massage, or a quieter option.
Click here to learn more.