Who doesn’t like a pair of hands giving his or her back a good rub every now and then? Who doesn’t enjoy an hour-long oily massage at the spa, in a room with only you and the masseur or masseuse inside, enjoying being faraway from the noise of the city and smelling the aroma of essential oils in the air at the end of a busy work week? You like the sound of that, right? Well, take away the oils both applied on your back and lingering in the air and you can actually have the same experience with a robotic massage chair.

Surely you’ve encountered one in the mall, although that may have been of the cheaper kind. If you want quality massages, however, you need the real thing. Here are some tips on how to look for the perfect robotic massage chair for you:

First of all, your massage chair must have a wide variety of massage styles. Compression is equivalent to a professional therapist pushing his or her hands firmly to your back and in towards the direction of the spine itself. The muscles around the spine are targeted, and this massage style helps improve posture and mobility. Kneading is the equivalent of thumbs pressing firmly on both sides of your spine, moving in circular motions much like what is done by a baker kneading dough. This massage style targets your deep muscles, stretching lifting them to improve blood circulation. Rolling replicates a gentle massage therapist’s hands pressing firmly on one side of your spine and then on the other, relieving tension and loosening your muscles in preparation for a deeper massage. Percussion simulates fists or the edge of a therapist’s hands tapping rapidly on your back muscles. Popular in sports medicine, this massage style flexes your spinal joints, relieves pressure, and overall invigorates your entire back. Calf massage obviously targets your calf muscles but also includes your knees and ankles. Comforting for sore legs, this improves your circulation by directing blood flow upwards. Foot massage replicates soft hands squeezing your feet gently, relieving them of discomfort and also promoting better blood circulation.

Mimicking a professional therapist’s hands and the various massage styles done in spas is easy enough, but making sure that your whole back can actually be “covered” by your massage chair is a different thing. It must have a good contoured tracking system which has been designed to follow your spine’s S-curve. This is to ensure that every muscle group on your back and even calves and feet will be touched by the chair and therefore will receive that massage that they need.

Finally, there is the issue of computer controls. Of course you will want to be able to vary the intensity of your massages, from soft to hard, or target only specific areas such as your upper right shoulder, or set your massage chair on timer, say, for an hour but not more so you don’t wake up bruised when you drift off to sleep.

For more than a couple of decades the robotic massage chair has existed in the market, available to anyone who can afford the price. Yes, there’s the issue of costliness, but if you’ll be able to enjoy countless minutes of massages for a countless number of times in the convenience of home or the office, it’s pretty much worth it.

{ Comments on this entry are closed }