What is percussion massage (massage guns)

Comparing vibration and percussion

How percussion massager marketers mislead you

Percussion massager or massage gun marketers make a host of claims about the therapeutic benefits of their products. These are generally highly misleading. We will summarise the claims here, and discuss them in more detail in the video below.

Percussion massagers give the benefits of vibration

The marketers claim that percussion massagers give the benefits of vibration. They are not lying, but the amount of vibration benefit is only a small fraction of that delivered by a genuine vibration massager.

• As you have seen above percussion massagers deliver far less therapeutic vibrations than a genuine vibration massage.
• Also, and discussed in the video powerful massage guns cannot be operated in the best therapeutic vibration frequency range or they would do great damage (1,2)⁠.

Percussion helps penetration

The marketers claim that driving the head in increases penetration. Their heads do penetrate further than the pad of a vibration massager so technically this is not a lie. However, it is the vibrations that have the therapeutic effects and the vibrations from a professional standard vibration massager penetrate much further than the head of any massage gun.

Percussion adds the benefit of conventional massage

Technically percussion massage does add some elements of conventional massage, but to our knowledge there is no scientific evidence that this has any significant benefits at all, let alone be comparable to a professional therapist.

Video about how marketers mislead you

What else you need to know about percussion massage (massage guns)

Safety concerns

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:

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

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.

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”

A 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 vibration massagers that will be very safe and do a great job. We will paste links to further information below.

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

Our machines

With massage guns being a fad supported by volumes of misleading marketing most massagers on the market will be percussion. Because this, as a chiropractor looking for something our patients could safely use and get excellent results we built our own. These are used, recommended and sold by thousands of professionals, or can be brought directly from us. For more info:
General Purpose Massager

Ultimate Quad Head Massager

References

1. Michal.L. Comparison of changes in muscle contraction speed using the " TheraGun " massage gun and sports massage. 2021.
2. 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.
3. 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.
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.
5. 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
6. Godemeche N. Efficacy of localized vibration massage on the flexibility of the posterior chain muscles in active adults and athletes 2020.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. Chen J, Zhang F, Chen H, Pan H. habdomyolysis After the Use of Percussion Massage Gun : A Case Report. 2021;1–5.
10. Masters A, Duarte R, Chiang B, Sarvottam K, Patel K. Hemothorax After Use of Percussion Massage Gun: A Case Report. 2022;A4172–A4172.