This article is a transcribed edited summary of a video Bob and Brad recorded in November of 2021. For the original video go to https://youtu.be/3B79sz7C13k
Bob: You know, Brad there are times that a massage gun is the perfect gift, but there are times where you should not use it.
Brad: Right. They could cause some problems, even some injury. There are not a lot of them, but there are some things you need to be aware of. Before you purchase one for yourself, or if you want to get one for someone else, be aware of these things. It may be a game-changer, most people are fine with them. There are certain areas even on the healthiest body you do not want to use these on.
Bob: Let’s start with number one, Brad.
Brad: Okay. Let’s say you have one of these, your nephew is a football player, and he wants one of these. You’re going to give him the nice one, the biggest one they have. We have our line, we have our name on them. We know this works well. The X6 has a lot of power, but even the largest, muscly, beefy football player, if they put this on their neck, there is potential to cause serious problems.
Bob: It’s going to rattle your cage. There’s not a lot of soft tissue there. You’re going right into the bones and it’s uncomfortable.
Brad: So, depending on where you go, I don’t even like to get close. You can go down into the shoulders or on the traps.
Bob: Right, you get up to your upper trap.
Brad: Especially like this one, it has a steel head that could get aggressive and deep. If you go over a bone with that, it’s going to hurt. It’s not going to be fun. You do not want to use it.
Bob: I wouldn't even go it into the suboccipital area. I would not do that. It might feel good but it's not good.
Brad: Yeah, no. Do not use it on the neck or any part of the head. Not on the jaws, some people are like “oh, TMJ, it might be good for that.” No. Do not use it from the neck up, it’s completely out of question. Number two, over an artery or a nerve. Often arteries and nerve bundles are in the same area. Like in your armpit.
Bob: Well, there’s a neck one too. The carotid artery right there.
Brad: Yep.
Bob: You want to avoid a pulse to a large extent.
Brad: There’s a pulse right in the bend of your arm you can feel. Anytime where you can feel a pulse, you’re going to stay away from that. Again, in the axillary or the armpit, there’s an artery vein and a nerve bundle in there. Femoral crease, or groin, you never want to go on there. There’s a nerve bundle in there. Plus, there are also lymph nodes. You don’t want to massage a lymph node.
Bob: Not that aggressively.
Brad: Right, stay away from those areas. You want to stay on the muscle belly.
Bob: Right.
Brad: There are a few exceptions where you can get to a bone, but then you must use a special head. The next one, varicose veins.
Bob: Brad, you want to show yours.
Brad: Yeah, I just had someone ask this and I thought this is a good question because I’m very active for my age. I do have varicose veins. It’s getting to the point where I better go to the doctor.
Bob: They’re they are, in all their glory.
Brad: Yeah, they’re not pretty, but I do not want to use a massage gun on those veins. Those veins have valves that are not working properly.
Bob: Right and it’s not going to help them to work any better by massaging them.
Brad: Beating them up, right. So, stay away from varicose veins. If you have an open wound, it might be a cut, it might be a burn.
Bob: Fragile skin.
Brad: Fragile skin, right. You stay away from that. Only on healthy skin.
Bob: Fragile skin shouldn’t be massaged because you can break skin down.
Brad: Yeah, and when you have a skin tear, they don’t heal up fast, very miserable. Boney areas, stay away from boney areas. Here are the heads that you can get on all of these. They all have five heads each. One is an air cushion head. This is the one, if you want to get close to the bone, on the muscle close to the bone, this is the one you would use. The air cushion head has some give to it.
Bob: You can get right to the bone.
Brad: But there’s no reason to massage a bone. You can get close to it, there’s no reason to massage a bone. Infected area, that’s common sense. Some people may think, oh, I have a red, infected area, maybe the massage is going to increase circulation.
Bob: I think obviously cancer would fit in that area too.
Brad: If you have a recent hip or a joint replacement, stay away from that. Maybe after it’s all healed in a year or so, you’re going to have to talk to your surgeon.
Bob: You could do below it or above it, but not on it.
Brad: Not close to it, yes, be safe with that. Manual massage is going to be better for that. Abdominal area, you know, you’re not going to massage that with a massage gun. You’re just asking for problems.
Bob: Not a big fan.
Brad: No, I always stay away from that.
Bob: A numb area.
Brad: Yeah, for example, if you have diabetes and you have neuropathy, a lot of people have that where kind of below the knee is very common where they don’t have sensation. You’re not going to massage your calf if you don’t have good sensation there because you might be creating some damage and you don’t feel it.
Bob: You want the feedback.
Brad: Yeah, you must have feedback. You don’t want to massage any part of the body that creates pain.
Bob: It’s not going to help with the sensation either.
Brad: Right.
Bob: It’s not going to help you regain it or anything like that.
Brad: So, for most people, you can easily avoid this. So, massage guns are good for most people, but these are some red flags.
Bob: They are good for a lot of problems. I just did a podcast on fascia and the guy there felt like it was one of the top things you could do for fascia.
Brad: Oh, really?
Bob: Yeah.
Brad: So, this fascia thing has been out for a while, but now they’re starting to recognize more widely how important it can be.
Bob: How important it is, it can be a source of pain.
Brad: Right, exactly. How to relieve it through massage and stretching and other things.
Brad: Yeah. Okay, good luck.
Bob: Thanks.
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