The words “back massage” conjures images of ultimate relaxation, and sure that’s what you experience with a professional massage, but the benefits of massage therapy are much more than that!
Back massages are a great way get relief from postural stress, sooth anxiety and depression, improve sleep, and ease the pain from several back ailments.
But getting a professional back massage is not everyone’s cup of tea, owing to the fact that they may be expensive, especially for those who require more than one session.
Back massagers are a great way to mimic a professional massage right in the comfort of your home. However, a lot of people still have doubts and wonder do back massagers work effectively? The short answer is “absolutely yes”, and here’s why!
How Does a Back Massager Work?
Before getting into do back massagers work, it’s a good idea to understand how back massagers work to provide an effective massage. Back massagers are for the most part portable devices equipped with nodes, which work collectively to provide a massage on your back.
The best back massagers come with a long list of features such as timer functionality, and auto shutoff, which shuts the device off automatically after a preconfigured period of time. Additionally, a few top rated back massagers can also provide several different styles of back massages including the world renowned shiatsu massage.
Zyllion Shiatsu Back and Neck Massager
Cordless state-of-the-art percussion massage device that helps relax sore and stiff muscles to improve mobility.
Do Back Massagers Work?
A back massager can perform one or more back massage techniques to relieve pain, tightness, and muscle tension in your body. This results in improved blood circulation in your body, which consequently provides your muscles with essential nutrients.
Acupuncture is considered as one of the most important techniques of a back massage, and is usually performed by a massage therapist on trigger points and muscle knots using the thumbs or fingertips. Back massagers replicate the acupuncture technique with a feature known as pinpoint relaxation.
Pinpoint relaxation allows you to target specific areas of your body, and while it may not work exactly as fingertips, it is as close and effective as you can get to the real deal. back massagers that offers pinpoint relaxation are a great choice if you’re one of the millions who suffer from muscle knots, as it can break them down, and decrease the pain.
Back massagers also perform frictions, which is a technique quite similar to acupuncture, and is done by a massage therapist using thumbs. Hence, back massagers with pinpoint relaxation feature can apply moderate pressure on specific muscle fibers, resulting in increased blood flow around the body.
Frictions provided by back massagers cause your restrictive muscles to relax, and also increase the temperature of the muscles, which together help improve muscle elasticity. Myofascial release is another technique performed by back massagers, and is done as the massagers is placed flat across your back.
Myofascial release loosens and relaxes tight muscles, and improves tissue elasticity and flexibility. Further, this massage technique also improves blood circulation, and helps maintain healthy muscles.
Do Back Massagers Work for Postural Stress?
Postural stress to explain briefly is stress resulting from repetitive movements, and inefficient posture. In most cases, this stress affects the shoulders, neck, and the lower back in worse cases. Back massagers can greatly help provide relief from postural stress, and best of all can be used even at work, so you feel good around the clock.
Do Back Massagers Work to Ease Muscle Pain?
If you suffer from sore muscle be it from exercising or lack thereof, back massagers can help by increasing blood circulation. Back massagers can also help sooth pain in the three deep muscles in your back, and other types of chronic back pain.
RENPHO Handheld Deep Tissue Massager
Powerful motor, long-lasting Li-ion battery, and made out of high-quality ABS plastic. It can effectively help you relieve aches and discomforts. Also useful if you need to speed up muscle recovery or simply wish to relax.
Can Back Massagers Improve Sleep?
When it comes to sleep, back massagers offer twofold benefits — encourage a restful sleep and help those who have a hard time falling asleep. Back massagers are also a great choice for those undergoing chemo or radiation therapy, and can even help infants sleep more and better.
Can Back Massagers Boost Immunity?
Back massagers play a pivotal role in boosting white blood cell count, which consequently protects the body from disease and boosts overall immunity. Adding to this, getting a back massage also considerably improves immune function in certain disease such as HIV.
Do Back Massagers Work to Get Relief from Headaches?
The next time you’re dealing with a headache, look no further than your back massager. Back massagers can almost immediately provide immediate effects towards perceived pain for people suffering from constant headaches.
What Types of Massages do Back Massagers Provide?
The best back massagers can provide myriad different types of massages, most notably:
Swedish massage – this is a great massage if you suffer from muscle knots, and is a combination of kneading, vibrating, and deep circular motions.
Deep pressure massage – this type of massage applies more pressure than a Swedish massage, and is a great choice if you suffer from chronic muscle problems caused by injury, soreness or imbalance.
Sports massage – if you’re an avid sports or fitness enthusiast, getting a back massage can improve blood circulation, and provide great relief for your sore muscles. Sports massages are typically full body massages, but you can use a back massager to focus on specific parts of your body. Sports massages not only relieve pain, muscle tension and anxiety, but can also increase flexibility and performance.
Shiatsu massage – shiatsu is perhaps the most common type of massage offered by back massagers, and helps in a plethora of different ways including relieving headaches, stress, anxiety and depression, and reducing muscle tension.
Final Thoughts
Coming back to the big question — do back massagers work? Yes, they absolutely work miraculously to treat back pains in the back and several other areas of your body.
Back massagers can also help treat headaches, boost immunity, and help you rest and sleep like a baby. They are available wide range of options, and with a rich set of features such as adjustable intensity to provide a customized massage.
Further, they can be used at your home, office or even in the car, so you can get a relaxing massage where ever you may be and with utmost discretion.
