Good Vibrations

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Stress grips every inch of your body. Your forehead is furrowed, your feet have gone pffffft and you yearn for something that will melt away your anxiety.

You are not alone. American Pain Foundation says pain affects 76 million Americans. You feel it most commonly in the form of backaches, headaches and neck pain—all of which can be triggered or exacerbated by stress.

Relax. Since we last reported on personal-therapy products in 2005, massage equipment gives you more ways than ever before to soothe those jangling nerves. Massage chairs now boast new motions and deep-tissue kneading, and more models use body scanning that customizes massage to an individual’s needs. The use of air-bag technology in chairs and foot-and-calf massagers has been improved and become more widespread. Massage cushions that you used to have to strap onto a chair have become more versatile too. You now can find cushions that double as floor massage mats.

If that sounds good for what ails you, you should know that the market also has changed in the past 5 years. Companies have consolidated or disappeared, which means fewer choices for you. But at least one manufacturer sees a silver lining: Cliff Levin, who is president of Inada Massage Chairs, says the recession has sunk many low-quality brands, which means that it’s harder to find bad equipment. And the fewer things that you have to worry about, the better.

More good news: Blair Hayes, who runs Elite Massage Chairs, says fewer choices haven’t led to higher prices for massage chairs. Prices are about the same as they were 3 years ago, and he expects that trend to continue at least through 2012.
 
ONLY HUMAN. Although massage-therapy experts with whom we spoke insist that no machine can replace the human touch, massage chairs, which are at the top of the massage-products food chain, better mimic human massage than did models from 5 years ago. The chairs’ improved touch, manufacturers say, is a result of research into the motions of professional massage therapists. Manufacturers even put sensors on therapists’ hands to track the moves that they make. The manufacturers then try to replicate those moves mechanically when they design the rollers, air bags and massage nodes that are in their chairs.

Massage therapists long have said the benefit that consumers gain from hands-on massage is about more than just soothing sore spots: Massages also provide relaxation and improved circulation. (University of Miami researchers report that a hand massage results in a 53 percent drop in levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which triggers the “fight-or-flight” response to stress that elevates blood pressure and sets the heart racing.)

Air-bag technology, in which motors inflate and deflate air bags to squeeze sore muscles, seeks to accomplish the same goals by using the air bags’ squeezing capability to imitate the kneading that is created by human hands. Air-bag technology now is found in chairs and foot-and-calf massagers that are in all price ranges.

Manufacturers say the number of air bags and their position determine how human your massage feels. “Add too few air bags or air cells, and you basically have a blood-pressure cuff,” Levin says. But there is no magic number of air bags that does the trick. How well the bags work also depends on your size, shape and weight.

Air-bag technology isn’t the only method that manufacturers use to give you a better massage. A few massage chairs include new motion patterns in their roller mechanisms. (In contrast to air bags, roller-style mechanisms rely on kneading and vibration.) The latest mechanisms move in figure-eight patterns or use swiveling motions instead of just moving up and down, as older models did. You’ll find this type of motion in products that are made by multiple manufacturers for as little as $60 in massage pillows or as little as $600 in massage chairs.