I’ve been dying to get a massage chair for a couple decades. I love massages and my back, neck and glutes are almost always tight. Our local Costco has a roadshow for Infinity massage chairs. Their ‘special’ price is around $6700. It is hard to spend that much money on something like that. Especially after reading customer reviews where it is a hassle to get Costco to pick the chair up for a return if there is a problem.
Anyone have a massage chair to share their opinions about? I believe I would use it frequently, so it wouldn’t be a waste. Still, it’s very expensive and I’ve lived this long without one.
But with a chair I can do it every day! Multiple times!
I do enjoy them a lot when I test them out. I’d feel better about getting one if someone here had a good experience buying one. If someone could suggest one that is cheaper, even better.
I dont have one - but where I used to work we had one, and from what i understand of it, it was a very expensive one. At first, i enjoyed it, but i did notice that over time its performance declined and the last time i chose to use it, it was particularly uncomfortable, and caused me to stop the machine immediately and get off (it was kneading my back in a particularly uncomfortable way).
The thing is, it’s a mechanical device made of gears, cogs, pneumatics and whatever else. It doesn’t know where your muscles/joints are, only where they’re supposed to be, and those parts - the rollers, gears and maybe more importantly, the padding covering those hard plastic and metal parts, are prone to break down.
Sorry, i’m just not a big fan. My advice is do your research, and pay particular attention to reviews and people who have owned it for a while. My guess is maintenance is key, but i’d also pay attention to how/if your physical profile differs from typical. My guess is they’d build the machine for the bell curve of humanity, so the further you are from the bell, the more problems you’re apt to have.
Just a quick look, and i’d say this was either the chair or its descendant. It’s funny, but looking further down on the descriptions, and the chair says its for people 5’2-6’3 max weight 260…and i just have some difficulty believing the 5’2 and the 6’3 person are going to have the same experience a 5’10 person is going to have…
I had a massage and heat chair for a while. When I was having major pain issues it was the best. I couldn’t sleep in a bed or sit in a normal chair. But reclined in that sucker, heavy massage and heat, I could sleep for a while.
I would have gone with “licensed massage therapist” there. If you have an acute problem or a chronic issue that can be addressed by a PT, then go to the PT. Seems like chiropractors are more of a “Need a rubdown to feel better for a little while.” solution. If you have tennis elbow, something I’m far too familiar with, then a PT lives in a different realm from chiros or massage therapists. They actually fix things rather than just make them feel better. To be clear, I’m saying that PTs as far as I’m concerned live on a higher tier than chiros, and that massage therapists and chiros are roughly the same when it comes to outcomes.
I decided to hold off on the message chair. I’ll wait until I can try out something cheaper in person. Maybe prices will come down over time after they get all the big spenders :-) If people here were gung-ho over them I’d probably have jumped in.
A couple of weeks of drugs and a couple of months of PT (twice a week) fixed my hernia. I am a believer. I was in so much pain I couldn’t go to the bathroom, or drink water without a straw.
edit: I have to stress that the PT was mostly exercise, I understand some PTs don’t do that, that would be quackish.
I had a 6 month adventure seeing a PT every week. She was absolutely fantastic. Also, she seemed to know how to do all sorts of other stuff that I would have put in the massage or chiropractor areas. Mostly, though, she taught me how to do exercises / stretches / use devices like foam rollers to help me help myself.
My wife had a massage chair that we finally let go of. It sorta did the job for a few areas of her back, but inevitably I always did a far better job. I looked at getting her a replacement, but massage chairs can be pretty crazy expensive - and by that I mean there are $13,500 chairs out there.
Point taken. I typically categorize legit massage therapy as a subset of PT which I guess anyone outside of healthcare is unlikely to do.
Chiro is a combination of some manipulations that work (which PT/massage also does), a bunch of manipulations that are potentially very harmful and of limited value (vertebral artery dissections are no joke), and hawking vitamins and other supplements which mostly serve to make your urine full of expensive stuff.
I think you should try a handheld massager first before buying an entire chair. They can be directed to specific body areas and much cheaper. Though I agree with the folks above that a monthly membership to a professional maybe worth the time and effort and overall the best use of your budget for value.
