Muscles can get just as achy from old injuries, stress or even poor posture. Kneading them deeply breaks down the lactic acid that builds up when muscles get stressed and promotes blood flow for rapid healing. Once upon a time, you had to rely on a masseuse for this kind of relief, but massage guns are portable devices that can be the next best thing. They’re typically shaped like a bulky pistol, with a padded “barrel” that oscillates or thumps rapidly as you hold it against problem spots on your own body. After testing 18 massage guns, the Achedaway Pro was an obvious choice for our best overall pick—it’s easy to use, highly portable, and extremely effective, our tester said. The device comes with four massage heads and five easily adjustable speed levels, making it great for all users.
It has a safe and battery save feature that shuts off the device after 10 minutes. In our opinion, this may be an unnecessary disruption especially when a massage session takes longer than 10 minutes. On other hand, as some may notice, it prevents the device from overheating, and saves the battery, which is a good thing. It takes 3 hours to fully charge it, which is good enough in our opinion. Once fully charged, it can last for up to 80 minutes of continuous use.
The Theragun Mini second generation maintains the same solid ergonomic handle that the original Mini has to make up its compact shape. The Mini’s power button also controls the speed and uses lights to indicate the speed level. Another plus is that it’s Bluetooth enabled, so you can connect it to the Therabody app.
It is, however, not the best device for demanding users primarily because it lacks in important parameters like amplitude and stall force. If you are an athlete or bodybuilder,
you may want to get something that gives you at least 12-16mm amplitude and 40-50lbs. It’s a very quiet device, probably because of the small amplitude, but very impressive.
Choosing a high-quality massage gun is essential—not just for performance and safety but for your budget, too. These devices are more cost-effective than booking regular massages, but only if you make a smart, well-vetted purchase. To find the best massage guns, the Health team tested 18 products at home, following usage guidance from our experts.