Fitness professionals and athletes often turn to massage therapy for relief of sore muscles, yet going to a massage therapist often costs hundreds of dollars in sessions.
Vibrating foam rollers and percussive massage guns may help relieve post-workout muscle soreness by targeting tight muscles directly, according to research. Furthermore, such tools may even prove more efficient than massage therapists at treating these sore spots.
Increased Blood Flow
Percussive therapy devices offer an effective and fast solution for increasing blood flow. Commonly referred to as massage guns, these handheld devices emit high-intensity pulses of pressure to loosen muscle tightness. Percussive therapy devices help alleviate soreness while simultaneously increasing performance without leaving behind any residual pain after deep tissue massage treatments.
Recent research indicates that local vibration and acupressure treatments using percussive massage devices improve muscle performance. Researchers found that short bursts of vibration combined with acupressure increased oxygen and blood flow to muscles within minutes – providing faster recovery after intense workouts and faster return to full strength faster.
Increased circulation helps relieve muscle soreness and inflammation while also reducing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which typically lasts 24 to 72 hours after strenuous workouts. No matter whether you are an elite athlete or weekend warrior, adding percussive therapy into your workout regime will enable a faster recovery after strenuous sessions and improve athletic performance.
Pulsating massage guns or percussion massagers use pulsating action to release muscle knots and loosen fascia that wraps around muscles and joints, alleviating tight fascia that causes pain or limits range of motion and improving mobility. Percussion therapy may relieve fascia tension to increase mobility.
Percussive massage devices offer another advantage over foam rollers: they can penetrate deeper into muscle tissue. This is possible thanks to their larger amplitude, which means it touches and releases from multiple points per second allowing it to more effectively target muscles more effectively and penetrate deeper, reaching knotted spots while increasing circulation and relieving knots.
As an added benefit, percussion massagers can be used anywhere. Unlike deep tissue massage, which requires professional therapists to administer appropriate pressure, anyone can use one with some training; meaning you can quickly get effective massage even while on-the-go or stuck at work.
Reduced Pain
Percussive therapy devices resembling power drills have quickly become trendy in recent years. You might have seen them on Instagram, where professional athletes, Cross-Fitters and gym fans use them regularly. These percussive tools provide a simple solution for relieving muscle tension and speeding recovery after exercise.
Massage guns can also help those experiencing chronic back and neck pain, especially back and neck issues. Their rapid pulsation helps release muscle knots (known as “knots”) which often contribute to shoulder and back discomfort, reaching deeper muscle layers than foam rollers do – all while being much cheaper. Although not as effective as visiting a trained massage therapist for an in-person deep tissue massage session, massage guns still offer many of its benefits.
Vibration and percussions’ vibration can increase blood flow, helping reduce swelling in muscles and joints. Pulsation may also help break up fibrous tissue that’s hard to access with other methods – offering relief from pain and discomfort.
Percussive massage devices also have an immense positive influence on the nervous system. By increasing parasympathetic activity and decreasing sympathetic (fight or flight) activity, their use helps improve quality of sleep.
Percussive massage devices can help prevent or alleviate muscle stiffness before and after exercise sessions to maximize performance on training days. Pre-workout percussive therapy may also lower the risk of delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), an effect common after intense workouts.
Percussive massage guns not only improve your recovery from exercise, but they can also assist in avoiding injury by strengthening muscles. By targeting specific muscle groups and creating stronger contractions without risking damage to tendons or ligaments.
Percussion therapy can also enhance your athletic performance on the field, court, pitch or track. By training harder and more consistently and recovering more quickly after training sessions, percussion therapy helps athletes train harder and perform at higher levels on game day while keeping their careers on track. Furthermore, improved circulation and soft tissue mobility enhancements provided by percussive therapy help strengthen balance and coordination, so they can perform at greater levels than ever before.
Increased Flexibility
Handheld percussive massage therapy devices have quickly become a go-to tool in professional trainers and athletes’ recovery kits, offering relief to improve flexibility and reduce muscle tightness – potentially helping prevent future injury. Resembling electric drills, these handheld devices feature handles with which one hand can hold it as well as a massage head designed to hit specific pressure points or problem areas; its massage head thumps rapidly against muscles to trigger muscle contractions while stimulating blood flow to increase flexibility.
People may see massage guns as mere fads, but these tools can actually be an effective way to improve flexibility and reduce post-workout muscle soreness. Their thumping motions activate muscle spindles responsible for producing strong contractions of your muscles that inhibit pain signals from being released by your brain – effectively decreasing soreness after every workout session.
Tight muscles can limit your range of motion and lead to injuries as other muscles overcompensate to perform their duties more effectively – this means working harder in training can cause soreness that requires taking breaks between workouts. Massage guns help release tight muscles to prevent injuries while remaining consistent with workout routines.
Percussive massage therapy differs from vibration therapy in that its vibration movements only serve to relax the body and provide mild soreness relief, while percussive massage can go deeper into muscles by using percussive techniques like the use of an electronic gun with thumping action to penetrate up to an inch into soft tissues, helping ease tension and release kinks in soft tissue structures.
Percussive massage devices don’t boast as much scientific evidence as foam rolling or vibration therapy, yet studies have demonstrated their benefits to improving muscle performance and flexibility. One study conducted in 2020 discovered that using handheld percussive massage devices increased range of motion (ROM) of calf muscles without having any detrimental impact on strength or muscle performance.
Improved Sleep
There’s no denying the advantages of percussive therapy can enhance both recovery and performance, although research into it remains limited and these devices do not boast large peer-reviewed studies. Many athletes and physical therapists use them for various reasons.
A theragun massage gun is an electronic tool, similar to a power drill, used for applying vibratory and pulsing movements to muscles and soft tissues. The action resembles that of a jackhammer hitting concrete but instead helps break down muscle knots by compressing them like loosening asphalt tarmac would. Furthermore, these motions help move lactic acid out of fatigued muscles post workout, thus helping reduce post workout soreness.
Sports therapy professionals like those at MSK Sports Injury Clinic suggest that percussive massage guns can help reduce scar tissue and enhance flexibility for their patients, making physical therapists’ jobs easier as this technique is less taxing on their hands than manual techniques.
Percussive therapy can also be effective at improving sleep quality by inducing the release of melatonin, which has been associated with better rest. Furthermore, as muscle contractions stimulated by this device are important in combating sarcopenia – an age-related condition in which muscle mass declines with age.
Note that percussive massage guns should not replace proper workout form, stretching and nutrition/hydration/sleep. Instead, they serve as complementary tools in creating effective training and recovery plans to make life better in many ways.
Recovery after exercise can often be the toughest part. While massage therapists and chiropractors may offer relief, having a regular plan in your own home may provide greater long-term success. Percussive therapy devices offer this solution: you just have to find your perfect one among our selection of percussive massage guns – each designed specifically to prepare, relieve, and recover for workouts or everyday life!