Are massage guns scientifically proven, or an ineffective gimmick?

As this diagram shows massage gun marketers have modified the vibration massagers professionals have been using for decades, calling it “percussion” and claiming that their products increase penetration and add the benefits of conventional massage.

It this article we look at whether these changes provide worthwhile benefits, or whether they are gimmick that reduces their effectiveness and makes these machines unsafe.

Understanding the difference

The easiest way to understand the difference between massage guns and vibration massagers is to use the analogy of the two machines pictured. Vibration massagers are designed to sit on the surface and penetrate deeply with vibrations, while massage guns are designed to drive their heads in like the jackhammer. Both vibrate, but the results are completely different.

What science says about massage guns

Massage gun marketers claim that their machines give all the benefits of vibrations, while driving their heads in like jackhammers increases penetration and adding the benefits of conventional massage. As we will see these claims are highly misleading and deceptive.

Do massage guns deliver worthwhile therapeutic vibrations

As discussed in The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage- with clinical applications , vibration has excellent therapeutic benefits. Professionals have been using genuine vibration massagers to deliver these for decades. While massage guns do give some vibrations, as we will see they give far less vibrations than a proper vibration massager, and these are at the wrong frequency to have the therapeutic effects.

Massage guns deliver less therapeutic vibrations

Looking at our two machines above, while a jackhammer does vibrate the ground it sends in far less vibrations than the purpose built yellow machine. Likewise, massage guns send in far less therapeutic vibrations than a genuine vibration massager.

Massage guns are unsafe to use at the best therapeutic frequencies

As discussed in The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage- with clinical applications the best therapeutic vibration frequencies are from 30-60 Hz (cycles per second) with about 50 Hz being optimum. High powered massage guns usually cannot be used at anywhere near that speed because they would be very uncomfortable or hurt you.

As an example a Theragun (high powered massage gun) drives it’s head in 16 mm. Driving something into your muscles 16 mm 50 times a second could do tremendous damage, so Theraguns have a maximum speed of 40 Hz (2), while a survey found that most professional therapists use high powered massage guns at much slower speeds (2)⁠.

Earthquake- vibrations can penetrate 10s of km

Does percussion massage penetrate further?

While the heads of massage guns penetrate it is the vibrations that have the therapeutic effects. It is a basic law of physics that vibrations penetrate much better than physical penetration. That is why ultrasound (vibrations at a different frequency) can go right through you while the head sits on the surface. The vibrations from a genuine vibration massager penetrate much further than the head of any massage gun.

Does percussion massage add the benefit of conventional massage?

We know of no scientific evidence that percussion adds any worthwhile conventional massage benefits. The marketers say it does, but only the only evidence they provide relates to vibration.

What the researchers think about percussion massage

The most compelling evidence that massage gun marketers are making false claims comes from the scientists they get to do clinical trials. While marketers tell you that it is good to have heads that drive into your muscles and give you an assortment of hard plastic “jackhammer” heads, when the scientists do clinical trials they modify the machines to do the opposite.

Damper head used in trial — Researchers used damper head 1. which "gives" to stop the head driving in

Example one: using a damper head

This picture from a trial report shows that the massage gun came with an assortment of plastic heads. For the trial they used head one which as you can see is designed to spread the contact over a larger area and “gives” rather than push into the muscles (3)⁠.

Holding massage gun at an angle — Not that a large ball attachment is being used, and held at an angle so the head does not drive into the muscle.

Example two: using soft ball heads at an angle

Most of the rest of the trials used the softer round heads, and as you can see from this picture taken from one of the trial reports if you hold the machine at an angle it stops the head driving into the muscle (4–9)⁠.

Using misleading clinical trial results to deceive you

In the trials the scientists do their best to undo all the things massage gun marketers tell you are good, and make their machines behave like a genuine vibration massager. However, massage gun marketers do not tell you this. They deceive you that the trial results were from using massage guns the way they advocate.

Another way marketers “rig” trials to deceive you

In one trail I read the researchers were clearly biased towards Theraguns. It was to compare a Theragun to vibration massage, conventional massages and foam rollers for post exercise recovery. This is how they “rigged” the trial.

The "vibration" they used was a vibrating pad rather than a proper massager,
they only they used the vibration for only one minute whereas the Theragun was used for a lot longer.

Even with this handicap the vibration still got better results (4)⁠. Despite this the report conclusion was basically praise for the Theragun. I’ll discuss the details in this short video.

Are massage guns safe

Genuine vibration massagers have a pad that sits on the surface and just sends in vibrations, so they are very safe. However, is modifying a massager so it hammers it’s head into your muscles safe? For this we need to look at:

the hard plastic heads, and
driving the heads in in general.

Using the hard plastic head of a massage gun — There can be no doubt that "jack-hammering" hard plastic heads can be dangerous

The hard plastic heads

There can be no question that driving a hard plastic head that would look at home on a jackhammer is potentially dangerous, especially if the user did not know anatomy and drove the head into something like a nerve or blood vessel

Driving the heads in general

As previously mentioned driving anything up to 16mm into your muscles very fast is a dangerous idea. There is even a journal report of a person nearly dying from internal bleeding after using a massage gun to recover after riding an exercise bike (9)⁠. In another case a massage gun user suffered hemothorax, which is a collection of blood around the lungs that usually results from blunt force trauma (10)⁠. This is why a survey found that most professionals with massage guns used them on slow or medium speed (2)⁠, which as previously mentioned makes any vibrations well outside the optimal therapeutic vibration frequencies.

Ease of use of massage guns

The pros

A few years ago the decent massagers were for professional use while the ones for personal use tended to be non-serious machines targeted more as mothers day presents (11)⁠. This is why we built our own . As a positive massage guns are portable and targeted for self use.

The cons

Like a real gun massage guns need to be pointed into the muscles to get the intended effects. However, as this diagram shows with their gimmick shape and aerosol can shaped handles you cannot do this for a lot of your body.

Are massage gun makers even trying to make serious therapeutic devices?

You need to ask the question: ”Would someone making serious therapeutic devices make one that you could not use effectively on a large part of your body”

look at genuine vibration massagers

As you have seen massage gun makers have taken genuine therapeutic devices and modified them making them less effective and dangerous. Moreover, they spend huge amounts on advertising, endorsements, commissions to persuade you that this is a good idea. That is why they are so expensive.

You will find that because they are a fad with so much (misleading) marketing promoting them most massagers available are percussion. However, there are decent genuine (unmodified) vibration massagers that will be very safe and do a great job. We’ll paste links below.

The scientifically proven effects of vibration massage- with clinical applications
How to choose a massager

The personal use vibration massagers we built because there was nothing decent on the market.

References

Michal.L. Comparison of changes in muscle contraction speed using the " TheraGun " massage gun and sports massage. 2021.
Cheatham SW, Baker RT, Behm DG, Stull K, Kolber MJ. Mechanical percussion devices: A survey of practice patterns among healthcare professionals. Int J Sports Phys Ther. 2021;16(3):766–77.
Konrad A, Glashüttner C, Reiner MM, Bernsteiner D, Tilp M. The acute effects of a percussive massage treatment with a hypervolt device on plantar flexor muscles’ range of motion and performance. J Sport Sci Med. 2020;19(4):690–4.
García-Sillero M, Benítez-Porres J, García-Romero J, Bonilla DA, Petro JL, Vargas-Molina S. Comparison of interventional strategies to improve recovery after eccentric exercise-induced muscle fatigue. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021;18(2):1–11.
Mansuri U, Patel S. Effectiveness of Theragun and Ergonomic Advice in Patients with Low Back Pain among Bus Drivers-A Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Sci Res 2021;10(4):50–3
Godemeche N. Efficacy of localized vibration massage on the flexibility of the posterior chain muscles in active adults and athletes 2020.
Ateş R, Yaşar P, Başkurt F, Başkurt Z, Ercan S. A Comparison of the Acute Effects of Percussion Massage Therapy and Static Stretching on Hamstring Elasticity. Ethiop J Health Sci. 2023;33(4):695.
Seju Y, Rajput V. Efficacy of Theragun and Surge Faradic Stimulation in Subjects with Trapezitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Int J Sci Res . 2021;10(4):46–9.
Chen J, Zhang F, Chen H, Pan H. habdomyolysis After the Use of Percussion Massage Gun : A Case Report. 2021;1–5.
Masters A, Duarte R, Chiang B, Sarvottam K, Patel K. Hemothorax After Use of Percussion Massage Gun: A Case Report. 2022;A4172–A4172.
McDonagh D, Wilson L, Haslam C, Weightman D. Good vibrations: Do electrical therapeutic massagers work? Ergonomics. 2005;