Massage has long been used by sports clubs and professional athletes to help prepare and recover after. There are huge benefits to be had in this field. Please check out our science Based Guide To Sports Massages .
More recently massage guns and foam rollers have been marketed as self massage alternatives. The problem is that massage guns and foam rollers not very effective. On the other hand genuine vibration massagers deliver everything they promise and more. Lets look at why.
Vibrating massagers
As discussed in our Sports and exercise guide to vibration massage , therapeutic vibration has a host of excellent benefits. As discussed in our summary of the evidence , genuine vibration massagers are designed to deliver copious amounts of this vibration at the optimum therapeutic frequencies, while percussion massagers (massage guns) are designed to drive their heads in like jackhammers. Any vibration they deliver will be limited and not at the optimum frequency.
Further, strenuous exercise causes microscopic damage to muscle fibres (causing soreness, but stimulating growth). Therapeutic vibrations assist healing whereas “jack hammering” will disrupt the healing fibres.