The explosion of new massagers in the percussion massage industry has been dramatic. Scroll your Instagram and Facebook feeds and you will discover dozens of new companies that have created copies of one another’s machines, all with the hope you will invest in their massagers. Promises of quick recovery, improved athletic performance, and pain relief are part of their strategy, showing muscles being pummelled by the knobs on the heads that reciprocate up and down simillar to a hammer. Fit models, rippling muscles, and undulating fascia are used to provoke your visual senses, hoping you’ll click on the Buy Now button and purchase the reciprocating machine advertised.
In some unique and limited circumstances, deep penetrating force like the type created by reciprocating massagers provides therapeutic value. However, the scope and value for this type of massage is small. Generating simple up and down motions, the various heads of the reciprocating type machines essentially operates like a HAMMER. A HAMMER is a very effective tool if you have a nail and need to POUND a NAIL into a board. However, as anyone who has ever built a home or seen construction, there are many other tools required to properly build a home. Having a hammer and nails, while important in the construction, would only offer help during the framing of the home and for some delicate detail work, would be highly destructive.
Similarly, the vast majority of people who have a reciprocating massager used on them repel their body away from the modality in fear. The strong pounding motions are painful and create a FIGHT OR FLIGHT response, releasing CORTISOL into the blood stream. CORTISOL is an adrenal horomone released during stress that increases heart rate, elevates blood sugar, and stimulates inflammation. Chronic elevated CORTISOL contributes to weakening of muscle tissue and in some cases may lead to tendon or soft tissue injury. If you use a reciprocating massager on yourself or someone else and there is already pain in a muscle, there is a guarding response. Using the strong pounding actions of the reciprocating massager will aggravate this condition and stimulate a NEGATIVE FEEDBACK loop. The pounding may feel painful and good simultaneously but ultimately, the desired effect to encourage muscle healing and recovery will be subverted. Increased blood flow does occurr with these massagers but it is limited and the violent penetrating motions are highly disruptive to the intricate muscle fiber systems within the muscles.
The only way to properly administer a reciprocating massager is when it follows the use of an OSCILLATORY PERCUSSION MASSAGER like the BUFFENUFF® POWER MASSAGER. The gentle oscillatory actions of the BUFFENUFF® are safe and comforting to the body. When using a FLAT® or slight TILT® contact for two to three minutes prior to applying a reciprocating massager, the body is less tense and CORTISOL release is reduced. People have less fear and relax into the deeper pounding reciprocating motions. Then, all massage treatments should conclude with the BUFFENUFF® to remind the body and the tissue it is safe, thereby reducing the negative potential that could be created by the hard and possibly painful massage. We call it NICE - MEAN - NICE!
Athletes should use NICE FIRST! Use the BuffEnuff® Power Massager for a couple of minutes first. Then use the hard and intense reciprocating massager next for 1-2 minutes. Finish your massage with the BuffEnuff® to remind your body it’s safe and everything is okay. When using the NICE - MEAN - NICE concept you’ll notice you have better results and feel more energized from the massagers. BuffEnuff® offers far more versatility than any reciprocating massager on the market and can be used by elederly, children, and people with various types of medical conditions. Now in use by doctors, therapists, and athletes around the world, BuffEnuff® is the worlds most powerful cordless oscillatory percussion massager. BE FIT, BE FLEXIBLE, BE READY!