Parkland wrote:
I'm a practicing therapist and I just make sure I explain to people that massage guns are an adjunctive treatment technique. They are a tool in the toolbox that have a place in treatment, but shouldn't be your only option. If you're having chronic issues with certain muscles, you need to look at either what is going with biomechanics or you need to take a step back and look at what you're doing in your training. I don't have any issue with massage guns other than some of the marketing claims I read around them, but that's kind of par for the course with gizmos and gadgets that come out in the fitness world.
An example is that I could see a massage gun being great for hitting the upper traps if they're sore after getting back into the aero position after riding your road bike in the offseason. What would be concerning though is if that soreness and stiffness of the upper traps doesn't get better after weeks of riding in aero. At that point, the massage gun is a bandaid to get you from session to session when what is really needed is a good bike fit as something has changed and is leading to poor head and neck position.
Being a CSCS I'm sure you probably agree with all that, it's just that I find that a lot of my patients want a quick fix for their pain and discomfort instead of really wanting to dig for the underlying issues. I honestly think it's because it's a lot easier to buy a product and try to use it here and there than it is to do the proper exercises to correct muscle imbalances or lack of mobility.
I 100% agree with all of this. I certainly don’t think they’re a quick fix for anything, nor do I think they replace proper stability and mobility. What it’s been able to do for me personally, is remove the $ and time of repeated dry needling and soft tissue work done by my PT - the other work to gain proper range of motion, etc is still there - as it likely should be for anyone. For me, it’ll likely be there for life as I have to work around slight scoliosis in the C spine that filters down the chain. My PT actually had a hypervolt plus in the office and asked if I wanted to take it home for a 2 weeks, and gave me the specific work to do (and time for each spot) that could mimic what I was getting in the office. It seemed to be a good replacement, so I bought the Theragun and am glad I did.
I haven’t read the specific marketing claims, but what I did notice when I downloaded the Therabody app is that the 30s brief massages to each spot they recommend in their built in programs are likely way to little to do anything of major benefit. But if you do a proper 5-10 minute beating of the glute medius every day then things stay every bit as loose as they do if you do needling in the same spot a few times a week.
According to some though, that’s apparently all placebo - which is comical. If that’s the case, then needling, scraping, ART work, and other techniques must also be placebo because they’ve been replaced just fine. Maybe I’m diligent about it and others that receive no benefit are not? I don’t know.