Massage Therapy

Having a professional massage is a terrific luxury, but it’s not always available when you need it and it’s expensive. Home massagers can bring you soothing relief at any time of day or night.

Home massagers can be simple, low-tech hand tools or sophisticated electric or battery-operated seat cushions, with a great product available for every budget—and they make perfect gifts.

Manual Gadgets
Held firmly in the palm of the hand, these massagers feature one or more knobby ends that massage tense, tired or sore muscles anywhere on the body—the arms, leg, back, neck and shoulders. The Knobble is a classic, all-wood massage tool, and a traditional favorite of people who prefer the look and feel of natural, smooth, turned wood. The large part is held in the palm of the hand and the smoothly rounded small end is used to apply pressure to trigger points in soft tissue.  The Jacknobber II Massager has four knobs—smaller knobs that provide deeper, more intense pressure and the larger ones give a broad, gentler pressure. For hard to reach areas, there’s the Backnobber II Massager, a polymer resin oversized S-shape that lets you hook it over a shoulder or under an arm and use its leverage to apply deep pressure to trigger points.

Handheld Electronic Massagers
These small wand-like units have a variety of features in many categories—various speeds, deep heat options and interchangeable attachments for different types of massage targeted to different areas. For instance, the 8-Way Massage Kit With Heat And Deep Tissue Massager has eight attachments: a general body attachment, deep muscle stimulator, scalp stimulator, spot applicator, ripple-effect stimulator, knuckle joint attachment, facial vitalizer and deep heat attachment.

Many people find relief with infrared heat, which can relieve muscular tension, reduce inflammation and provide pain relief without medication. The Infrared Deep Heat Wand lets you deliver that heat to areas of the body with your choice of three heat settings.

Always look for an ergonomic handle design to make holding the unit more comfortable and a cord that’s long enough to reach a convenient outlet.

Pillow Massagers
These are pillows with a massage unit under their plush coverings. Many have various levels of massage function and are contoured to certain bodyparts—turn on the unit and it does all the manipulation work for you. Many run on both batteries and an AC adaptor for home and on the go use. Choices include the Body Benefits Massaging Neck Rest With Heat from Conair with an easy-to-use control panel that lets you select a combination of heat and/or variable speed vibration. The Homedics Therapist Select Shiatsu Massage Ultra Plush Pillow has a rotating massage mechanism and spot shiatsu for targeted massage relief. The soft plush pillow kneads away muscle tension, pain and fatigue, and you can choose massage with or without heat.

Massaging Mats & Cushions
Massaging seats and mats work in most chairs and recliners and some can even be placed in over your car seat for use on long drives. Covered in comfortable sturdy fabric these pads provide vibrating motors to soothe neck, shoulders, back and thighs and have straps that easily fasten to most any chair. The Homedics Therapist Select Shiatsu Massaging Cushion With Heat converts a regular chair into a massage chair for deep kneading Shiatsu massager action. Customized massage selection is controlled with the programmable touch pad’s three programs: full back, lower back and upper back. The Shiatsu massage mechanism goes up and down your back to knead away deep aches and tight muscles.

Foot Massagers
After a long day, there’s nothing quite like slipping your feet into a plush foot massager. Look for a product like the Percussion Foot Massager  with pulsating nodes that move up and down and a removable hood that makes it possible to use this unit on almost any part of your body.