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Massage Gun Tips: Dos & Don'ts
- chelsie462
- Jan 15
- 9 min read
This article is a transcribed, edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in November 2024. For the original video, go to https://youtu.be/fK0NjPuCTgk
Brad: Alright, today we're going to talk about massage guns because they're so very, very popular, and if you're interested in getting one or maybe getting one for a gift, you really need to know the best things and the best uses for them, as well as...
Mike: The five body parts or areas you want to avoid.
Brad: That's right—definitely things you need to know so you don't injure yourself or irritate someone's body. Alright, we're going to go through the five best uses for these, which are what they really do well with the human body, and that is increase circulation, which is one of the big ones. We're going to demonstrate with these larger guns. I have the X6 massager gun, and Mike has the D6 Pro massage gun. And if you're a larger person, typically more muscular, the larger gun's more appropriate. Mike is working his quadriceps, and you want to get that. What happens is the gun actually gets deep and gets the knots out of the muscles, and while it pulses and works deep into the muscle, circulation increases as a result of it. You just have to make sure you stay on the muscle and don't go off the muscle into a bony area. We'll talk more about that later. So any muscular area that's going to work well, and you're going to work it for about three to five minutes to really get those muscles relaxed.
Brad: When you're done with it, you're going to feel the muscle tingle. It feels good, and you know you've done it right. Let's go on to number two.
Mike: The next benefit of using a massage gun is to release a trigger point or a knot in your muscles. Now, for this, you can use a round head, depending upon how sensitive it is. I'm going to use a bullet head on the Q2 massage gun here. You may want to make sure this is a very muscular area, not too bony, because this bullet head can be kind of sensitive if you happen to hit a bone. So all you're going to do is turn it on, find the trigger point you have, maybe it's in your quad, and then you can just kind of focus on that area. If it's not too tender, you can even try pressing in there and can really get that trigger point to release. And something interesting I found out doing a continuing ed course is try having your muscle in a contracted state and a relaxed state and see how it feels because it can massage differently between each.
Brad: Very good. Now this is the C2 Pro Massage Gun. It's a smaller gun here, but this head in particular is a hot or cold head. In other words, it's got a little battery in it, and you can adjust the surface to become warm or cold, and it really works well. It's one of the latest things in massage gun heads for sure. You want to bring it out to everyone, and you're going to feel that warmth. In this case, you'll probably want to use the warm one to get that knot out, but you could certainly go to the cold or to the hot setting, whatever works best for you.
Mike: Now, the third benefit of using a massage gun is that you can help break up any scar tissue you may have. Now, if you recently had some surgery and it's not fully healed yet, do not go on that scar. We're talking about older scars that are healed up, and maybe there's some restriction in that area.
Brad: For example, I'm working with a woman now, she just fell, broke her arm, had surgery and her bicep, as a result of surgery, has massive scar tissue in there. Massage was working well for her. She started using a small massage gun, and she actually changed her need to go to therapy from three times a week down to one time a week because the massage gun is working so well with her, and she's just very happy with it. So that's a good example of what you can do with these in that situation with scar tissue.
Mike: Now, the fourth benefit of a massage gun is that you can help loosen up joints or ligaments. Now obviously you're not going to put it right on your kneecap even though that's a joint that's kind of sensitive. We're talking about areas like maybe the bottom of your foot or even your SI joint. You can just kind of massage in an area. I personally have a little bit of plantar fasciitis right now, so it's a little tender there, but that's a tendon ligament region there, and I'm going to massage that, and it actually feels pretty good as long as I'm not too aggressive.
Brad: Right, I do want to mention that if you're doing that kind of thing, you're going to want that airhead. We'll talk a little bit more about this, but this airhead works really well when you're working a tendon, and you're getting, say, your quad here, and you're getting close to your knee cap. If you overdo it with this head, it's not going to hurt. You just come back, and it works out very well.
Mike: Now, if you have some SI joint discomfort, which is in your low back, typically one side or another, you can kind of work around that area. Most of the time, it's not going to feel too good to press directly on it hard. I do have this soft ball on it for a massage head, so it actually doesn't hurt to go over right now, but typically, you're going to want to loosen up the muscles around that joint.
Brad: Right. I actually use it, use it on my outside joint, my right side when it's out, and if you use the airhead, that precaution Mike talked about is definitely something that works well. So again, let's go over muscle recovery after a workout, and you want to just massage muscles afterwards, so you don't have those sore muscles the day or the next day. That's DOMS, delayed onset muscle soreness. You can work this over the muscles, and it also works with an increase in circulation. Point number one, all works together. Mike is doing his hamstrings, which you have problems with.
Mike: I have a little tightness in my hamstrings. So yeah, I'm working on extending out, straightening my hamstring while massaging it. I've even done this lying down at home sometimes. It oftentimes has gotten it to relax for me if I'm kind of tightened up. If I do this for five minutes or so, lying on my back, I'm not going to lie down right now.
Mike: It loosens up my hammies pretty well. So try just moving different stretches, different motions. You can do different positions. It's going to feel a lot different if your muscle is relaxed like it is now versus tight. So mess around with it and see how it feels.
Brad: Alright, very good. That's five ways that you could really use massage guns well to help your body heal, reduce pain, increase circulation, etc. Now, the danger zones that we talked about, number one, this is a big one, you're not going to take a massage gun as we have here. They all reciprocate to get in deep and use it on your neck. Definitely a no-no. You're not going to do that at all. Whoa. Even... Yeah, and if you got a mic on, you're really not going to use one.
Brad: Number two is the lymph nodes. You have lymph nodes in your femoral crease right here. You have them in your armpit or the axillary region.
Brad: And what brought my attention to this is I saw a thumbnail with someone with one of these guns. The woman had her arm up, and they're going deep into her armpit. That's where your brachial plexus is, a nerve bundle. If you hit that nerve bundle with one of these guns, it's going to hurt. You'll probably feel that tingling, the electrical feeling going down your arm. And it's not just going to hurt while it's on there. It's going to continue to hurt. I know because I've done it for minutes afterwards. Keep it away from the nerve bundle there and the one in your femoral crease. That's really important. How are you doing?
Mike: I'm doing my lat here.
Brad: Oh, good.
Mike: I'm avoiding my armpit there. I'm okay.
Brad: Great. Okay.
Mike: I'm just imagining you shoving things and hurting yourself, anyway.
Brad: You have to be careful.
Mike: The next danger zone is anywhere on your face, obviously, head or jaw; massage guns are not made for that. Even if you have TMJ syndrome, use your hands. There are too many bony landmarks, too many sensitive areas you could hit. Do not use a massage gun there.
Brad: There you go. And then of course, on any bone, there's no advantage to massage a bone that doesn't have any muscle over it or not. The only thing that can get, like I mentioned before, that kind of gets close to it, is if you're trying to do a tendon like on your kneecap, which gets close to the bone. You can use an airhead if you, as I said before, if you do hit the bone, it's not going to hurt, but you're not going to just keep it on the bone there on your shin, on your elbow. Any bony area is off limits.
Mike: And the fifth area to avoid is any area that is more fragile or sensitive, or maybe you have an infection, open wound or scar, you do not want to massage those areas. It's just going to cause more problems.
Brad: Right. If you're an older adult and you just have, your skin is reasonably healthy, but it's fragile. If you're prone to skin tears, you're not gonna want to use a massage gun like this because you could have a problem with that. So we went over a number of things. Keep them all in mind. You know, there are all kinds of massage guns out there available. We have a number of massage guns that we have complete confidence in the quality and how they work. So, how can they learn more about or find these if they want to?
Mike: You can go to our store section on our website, and they're all there. Or you can go to Amazon, search Bob and Brad, massage guns. You can find a whole plethora. The biggest difference between a normal model and the pro model is that the pro model comes with a hot and cold head. That's the big difference there.
Brad: Right. And there's no extra charge for an additional year. It's just a matter of registering.
Mike: Yes.
Brad: There you go.
Mike: And if you want to find more information on which massage gun head is best for you, you can check the video "Top 5 Massage Gun Heads For Pain-All Ages."
Brad: There you go. Check it out. And good luck with your massage shopping.
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