Massage chairs aren’t the basic leather chairs you may remember finding at the mall, with coin boxes next to them offering minimal functionality.
They’ve come a long way from what they were, functioning with a few basic patterns and targeting limited areas. They’re no longer chairs with simple rotating balls, directing pressure in a singular area with little or no variance in pressure, and with no way to adjust for different heights or builds, treating every body as if it were exactly the same.
Massage chairs have become high-tech devices, including options to adjust pressure, seating size, massage type and several others. Using pockets of air, heat, compression, and pressure bars inside to create a gentle but effective massage, these modern chairs offer a full body massage experience from head to toe.
A high-quality massage chair can offer a natural way to relieve pain and create an accessible way to minimize stress, especially when used in the workplace. It can provide your staff with a way to quickly relax and combat daily stressors when they need it most, instead of scheduling an in-person massage for some time in the future to manage the stress they’re experiencing in the present.
To better understand how massage chairs can help you, keep reading.
The Basics of Massage Chairs
A high-quality massage chair targets your body from head to toe, giving you a full-body massage that will promote both relaxation and healing.
You can now experience an easily accessible massage focusing on your whole body, including your:
- Neck
- Shoulders
- Upper & lower back
- Arms
- Hands
- Legs
- Feet
- Glutes
You can even purchase a full body massage chair with a helmet to help manage and ease a headache and minimize the occurrence of migraines.
Massage chairs use a combination of heat therapy and pressure massage, as well as modern technology to adjust the chair and personalize your massage, making it feel as if it was made specifically for you.
One of the most important features of a quality massage chair is the use of zero gravity positioning, allowing your body to have its weight evenly dispersed, reducing the pressure throughout your entire body.
These updated and complex machines now provide a wide range of benefits that can have long-lasting effects.
The Top 10 Benefits of Massage Chairs
Massage chairs have challenged how we can access natural pain relief and care for our bodies in everyday settings, which can have profound effects on the body.
Here are ten ways a massage chair can help you!
1. Increase Circulation
Massage chairs can promote better circulation through the pressure and movement of your muscles and the expansion of your blood vessels from the heat therapy they provide. This allows your blood to move throughout your system more easily and effectively targets the areas of the body that need it most, such as inflamed or tight muscles.
Increased circulation also helps oxygenate the body more effectively, while zero gravity makes it even easier for your body to circulate your blood. This happens when the body is positioned in a way to disburse your weight evenly and remove the pressure it experiences when standing upright.
Additionally, this allows your heart to pump blood through your body easier, allowing it to rest and work more efficiently!
2. Promote More Restful Sleep
Deep tissue massage promotes calm in the body and can help reduce stress. When this is paired with a reduction in muscle tension from the targeted massage and heat therapy, your body can rest more easily, helping you get a better quality of sleep.
Using a massage chair regularly helps your body produce feel-good hormones like serotonin. These hormones can strongly impact your sleep cycle by promoting relaxation. This will help you fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer, giving your body time to recharge more effectively.
3. Reduce Pain
A clinical study on massage chairs and their effect on lower back pain discovered that the use of massage chairs provided a cost-effective way to promote pain relief. Full body massage chairs provide targeted massage throughout the body, releasing tight muscles and allowing the body to recover faster from the effects of daily strain.
Many people spend their day sitting at a desk, which puts constant pressure on the joints of the body, such as the hips, knees, and wrists, while also causing the lower back to be compacted throughout the day, resulting in tightness and pain.
Incorporating regular massage into your schedule can help reduce the effects of this pressure and release the tight muscles – before they become a long-term problem!
4. Faster Recovery Time
This is especially helpful for those with rigorous exercise routines or for athletes. Massage chairs help improve blood flow, allowing the body to remove toxins from the muscles and provide better oxygenation. This promotes healing in over-exerted muscles and can increase the rate of recovery.
Incorporating zero gravity can also increase recovery time by removing the pressure on your joints. This will give them time to release the buildup of pressure they’re under throughout the day and reduce the inflammation it causes. This can be especially important following an intense workout to combat the added load it places on your joints.
5. Lower Blood Pressure
As mentioned above, with increased circulation, your body can reduce the demand on your heart by pumping your blood more effectively. This lowers your heart rate, which results in lower blood pressure.
This is also promoted through the relaxation properties of massage, helping you relax both mentally and physically.
6. Reduce Anxiety and Stress
A clinical study that focused on the effects massage had on stressed nurses discovered that massage therapy caused a significant stress reduction when used twice a week for 15 minutes each time. This is largely due to the relaxation of the muscles and the calming effects on the body however, there is another reason that massage chairs have a profound effect on stress and anxiety.
Massage chairs compress the body and provide a therapeutic level of pressure. Pressure can strongly affect the sympathetic nervous system, which promotes the release of dopamine and serotonin, creating a feeling of security and calm. This can be seen through the rising popularity of weighted blankets.
7. Supports the Lymphatic System
The lymphatic system protects the body from infection by removing toxins. This system works through the movement of the body, so those who are sedentary throughout the day, such as office workers, experience increased levels of inflammation as well as a lower immune system.
Regular massage can help improve the function of this system by moving your muscles, promoting the buildup of fluids to move more efficiently throughout the body. This will help strengthen your immune system, helping you fight off illnesses and reduce pain caused by inflammation.
8. Improve Posture
Tight muscles can pull your body out of alignment, especially when left untreated. Massage can help release these muscles and allow your posture to shift back into its proper position more easily.
A quality massage chair will help reduce that problematic tension, and the seat’s shape will help move your body into the correct position. This will not only help reduce the tightness you feel but also help retrain your body’s natural posture.
Massage chairs can be especially effective in supporting proper alignment and lower muscle tension in people who sit for most of their day because their posture places additional stress on their joints. This can cause chronic pain for people with poor posture or those who place more weight on one side of their body than the other.
9. Increase Energy
Stress often manifests as consistent tension throughout the body, which can significantly impact your energy levels. This causes your body to subconsciously direct energy towards the tight muscles, keeping them flexed throughout the day.
Using a massage chair to release those muscles regularly and support them in maintaining their relaxed state will allow your body to redirect your energy to more important areas. This release will help you improve your focus and feel refreshed and revitalized daily.
10. Joint Support
Many people go through repetitive motions throughout their day, leading to sore and inflamed joints and muscles. If left untreated, this can result in chronic pain and long-term damage. A massage chair is a great way to easily support those joints, promoting blood flow and relieving the pressure they’re under.
This can create a natural way to delay the development of common joint problems, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, and promote healing and pain management for those who already struggle with mobility issues.
Top-Rated Massage Chairs in Toronto and Beyond!
High-quality massage chairs can have powerful benefits in supporting and maintaining your health, and when used regularly, these benefits can have long-term effects on your life.
Massage chairs can be a welcome addition to any office setting or used at home to provide a natural way to manage pain and create a self-care routine to keep your body healthy and thriving.
If you’re ready to make relaxation easy and discover the lasting health benefits for yourself, contact or visit your local Wellness Shop today!
