I used to have what in my experience was a pretty effective back and neck massager (effective meaning it worked a knot out of somewhere that I was otherwise going to have to go to my sports massage therapist lady for a deep tissue massage to get things in order).
It was one that had what felt like little balls rolling either in place in one of several positions or it could go the full length of your back and neck. You just strapped it to a chair you were sitting in and let it do its thing.
I loaned it to someone, blah, blah, blah, it’s gone, I’m in the market for another one. Does anyone have any experience with these to have any recommendations on a model they’ve used and like?
*Yes, I could go get the same one that I was given as a gift. The only thing keeping me from doing that is I didn’t have mine long enough to know how durable it would have been long term, so I’m hoping to hear anything someone might have to say regarding how rugged any given model might be, providing it otherwise was an effective unit.
As a word of advice for other people, wait until after christmas is over. Stores like walmart load up on massage implements, then after christmas they go on sale for 50% off or more. I’ve seen shaitsu chair massagers for sale pretty cheap during after christmas sales.
To my knowledge my brother has had a shiatsu chair pad massager for years and it still works fine. His is like the one you describe, it has circular pads on each side of your spine that go up and down while spinning and knead your back.
If you have knots, you may also want to look into a percussive wand massager. The purewave or theragun make some.
I have one that has worked well – didn’t realize how old it was so looked up my Amazon order – bought it for $110 in 2007. The model number has changed and it is out of stock at Amazon right now but you can try looking around. I have been happy with it.