.jpg "The Best Theraguns in 2025 and How to Use Them")
Ask any variety of health consultants, and most will let you know that one of the best Theraguns actually are a lower above the remainder. “I’ve used them since they hit the market years in the past,” Darleen Marshall, CPT, a NASM-certified private coach, tells SELF. “I’ve had different manufacturers they usually’re simply not nearly as good. The standard of the instrument, the depth and energy of the motion, are all superior.”
If you happen to’re in search of a splurge-worthy therapeutic massage instrument so as to add to your restoration routine, Theragun looks as if the apparent selection. However when you think about simply how a lot the model’s choice has expanded just lately, making your choose could also be a bit tougher than anticipated. With fashions that include plenty of attachments, travel-friendly massagers, and gadgets that focus on exact areas of the physique, Theragun has a ton of high-quality choices—and we’ve narrowed them right down to the easiest right here. Learn on for our picks and to listen to from consultants about what makes these instruments—and percussive massagers generally—so widespread.
Our prime picks
On this article
Store one of the best Theraguns
Sore calves? Tender shoulders? Knotty again? The answer to the aches and pains awaits.
Greatest General: Theragun Prime
The Prime is strictly what we consider once we consider a Theragun: highly effective, easy to make use of, and extremely efficient. “My neck and shoulders are continually tense—one fast session with the Prime can unravel per week’s price of knots in minutes,” Sarah Felbin, SELF’s senior commerce editor, says. “I all the time really feel refreshed and relaxed after utilizing it.”
Skilled therapeutic massage gun customers will respect the Prime’s triangular form, which is much simpler to maneuver than historically formed fashions (“I can goal my higher again with out doing my finest contortionist impression,” Felbin says). And folk who need extra steerage round utilizing their Prime can discover its capabilities by way of Therabody’s app, which seamlessly connects to the gadget.
Weight: 2.18 kilos | Battery life: 120 minutes | Attachments: Ball, dampener, micro-point, thumb
Greatest for Theragun Newbies: Theragun Reduction
If you happen to don’t want all of the bells and whistles however nonetheless need the complete Theragun expertise, go together with the Reduction. It has the identical user-friendly form, however much less energy—excellent for newcomers who would possibly discover the Prime overwhelming on the utmost setting.
“My dad is a licensed therapeutic massage therapist and swears by the OG Theragun Reduction for myofascial launch after understanding, lengthy days the place you are feeling a bit sore, or simply recreationally while you really feel such as you want a therapeutic massage,” Paige Levinson, SELF’s particular initiatives coordinator, says.
Weight: 1.37 kilos | Battery life: 120 minutes | Attachments: Ball, dampener, thumb
Greatest for Journey: Theragun Mini
A number of SELF staffers, in addition to SELF Dwelling Health Award testers, contemplate the Mini their holy grail for on-the-go muscle aid. Clocking in at lower than a pound and operable with one hand, it gained’t overwhelm your health club bag or really feel exhausting to make use of for various minutes. “The gadget makes it simple to work on cussed tight or achy areas whilst you’re simply sitting round,” considered one of our Award testers mentioned. “No must get on the ground and struggle with a foam curler.”
Just like the Reduction, the Mini is one other nice possibility in the event you’ve tried standard-sized therapeutic massage weapons and located their settings to be too intense. “[The Mini could] do every thing the bigger model did, but it surely was extra compact and felt a bit gentler,” Christa Sgobba, SELF’s director of health and meals, says.
Weight: 14.10 ounces | Battery life: 150 minutes | Attachments: Ball, dampener, thumb
Greatest for Unwinding: TheraBody SmartGoggles
We tried the SmartGoggles once they first got here out in 2022—our tester discovered them severely smooth, simple to make use of, and genuinely soothing. Worn like a daily sleep masks, they comprise internal massaging nodes that focus on your temples, forehead bones, and in between the eyebrows. In addition they present vibration, compression, and warmth remedy throughout.
“I discovered the therapeutic massage nodes to be simply agency sufficient to ease pressure with out creating extra ache factors, and the addition of warmth felt so soothing—particularly after a protracted day,” our tester wrote in her evaluate.
Weight: 14.80 ounces | Battery life: 150 minutes | Attachments: N/A
Greatest for Facial Massages: TheraFace Professional
Half crimson gentle remedy gadget, half microcurrent instrument, half massager, all-around luxe private gadget, the TheraFace Professional is an actual deal with in your self-care routine. It gained a 2023 Wholesome Magnificence Award for simply how a lot it might do for our tester in a single fell swoop. They famous its smoothing and depuffing results, in addition to its light massaging energy.
“The percussive attachment actually helped relieve some TMJ ache I used to be having,” they mentioned. “It was tremendous simple to make use of and comes with a high-quality organizing pouch that makes it excellent for each storage or journey. It’s so versatile—I like it!”
Weight: 3.95 ounces | Battery life: 38 minutes | Attachments: Cleaning ring, LED gentle remedy ring, microcurrent ring, three percussive attachments (cone, flat, micro-point)
Incessantly requested questions on Theraguns
What are the advantages of percussive therapeutic massage?
Percussive therapeutic massage is notably completely different from different therapeutic massage instruments within the sense that it looks like one thing is quickly hammering into your muscular tissues. “In contrast to foam rollers or primary vibration instruments, percussive massagers supply deeper muscle activation and extra exact concentrating on,” Ben LaNeve, a private coach at Life Time Annapolis in Maryland, tells SELF. You’re feeling an precise affect from the gadget because it pulls away and punches again into your muscular tissues, quite than sustaining fixed contact with them, Marshall notes.
The results of this propulsive therapeutic massage is extra relaxed, broken-up scar tissue in our muscular tissues and elevated blood to the realm that’s being massaged, Eric Busi, DPT, an orthopedic bodily therapist at Maven Bodily Remedy & Efficiency in Santa Monica, California, tells SELF. That’s why consultants contemplate therapeutic massage weapons to be so helpful for warm-ups and restoration routines: Earlier than your exercise, they will stimulate circulation and assist your muscular tissues loosen up. Afterward, they will break down set off factors and ease soreness, Dr. Busi says.
What makes Theragun so particular?
Theragun was one of many very first names in therapeutic massage weapons—they did it early, they did it nicely, they usually work with consultants on an ongoing foundation to vet and refine their expertise.
“Theragun is the gold normal on the subject of being the lead innovator of therapeutic massage weapons and different wellness merchandise,” Dr. Busy says. “They had been the primary firm to introduce the sort of product and have continued to evolve their line, repeatedly bettering by way of the event of recent attachments, vibration modes, and mannequin sizes.”
In fact, their worth level can’t be ignored. There are many different, inexpensive therapeutic massage weapons on the market that’ll get the job accomplished. However in the event you’re firmly set on shopping for a Theragun, Therabody gives licensed refurbished fashions at diminished costs.
Your Theragun can be handiest on knots in your higher again and shoulders, in addition to massive muscle teams vulnerable to soreness like your quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves, and forearms, LaNeve says.
Fashions that include a number of therapeutic massage heads can present completely different sensations and ranges of depth. Rounded heads work nicely for common muscle teams; thumb- or bullet-shaped heads goal knots; and cushioned or dampened heads work nicely with extra delicate or tender areas, LaNeve explains. “Match the instrument to your wants: softer heads for restoration, firmer ones for tight spots,” he says.
On the entire, therapeutic massage weapons are thought of secure for most individuals to make use of—simply don’t use one straight in your neck or over your bones, Marshall says. And in the event you’re at the moment bruised or coping with an harm, keep away from utilizing your massager in these affected areas too.
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