The Benefits of Percussive Therapy to Your Health: Our Guide
Getting active is generally beneficial for the whole body. However, since you likely move around a lot, sustaining injuries, chronic muscle tightness, and other forms of body pain can sometimes become inevitable. Fortunately, there have been many latest discoveries for muscle recovery for athletes and other active individuals — one of which is percussive therapy. This treatment uses a massage gun to provide rapid bursts of pressure into the body's tissues to release muscular knots, which are the most common causes of back and shoulder discomfort.
This treatment, unlike typical massage, desensitizes the region around your hurting muscle. It then alleviates the excruciating pain you often feel when the therapist applies too much pressure to a strained muscle. Sounds interesting?
Here are more science-backed reasons you should try it:
It Relieves Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS)
Starting a new fitness program or increasing the time or intensity of your usual workout can cause DOMS. It is that annoying muscle pain that can last from 24 to 72 hours.
Fortunately, vibration therapy "improves muscular strength, power development, and kinesthetic awareness,” according to a 2014 study published in the Journal of Clinical & Diagnostic Research. It also adds that it “effectively improves muscle performance which may prevent DOMS.”
While vibration therapy and percussive therapy are two distinct treatments, their processes are similar. Percussive therapy can help as it lowers pain perception by interfering with the pain signals sent by the brain to the body.
It Increases Flexibility
According to the same study, vibration not only relieves pain but also synchronizes your muscle spindles, resulting in improved flexibility. Once your body has a greater range of motion, it is less prone to injuries and aches. As a result, your posture and balance will also improve!
It Improves Blood Flow
Overtraining leads to excruciating muscular discomfort, and this is mostly because your muscles accumulate lactic acid during an intense workout. Improving blood circulation is one way to lessen this effect.
Based on two separate studies published in 2011 and 2014, vibration treatment has been shown to help improve blood flow. Treating circulation issues can also reduce muscular stress and inflammation during sports recovery.
It Enhances the Lymphatic System
At this point, you may not realize the importance of the lymphatic system to the body, but percussive therapy will allow them to function even better. The body can properly eliminate poisons and waste when the lymph flows freely. This can be achieved if there are fewer muscular knots and stiffness. Aside from that, a stronger immune system and greater metabolism will result from a better lymphatic system.
It Treats Muscle Soreness
Did you know that percussive therapy also offers fast and effective relief to muscle soreness? The 2014 study in the first point suggests that “The difference in time taken for the execution of the treatment can play a pivotal role. [In] situations where time is [of] the essence, vibration can be used.”
Conclusion
All in all, percussive therapy is safe, non-invasive, and risk-free. As you continue playing sports or working out, it can keep your body in top shape and prevent you from sustaining any serious muscle damage. The best part of it is that you can do it yourself at home. You can simply plug the massage gun and point it towards the part of your body that needs treatment!
To give percussive therapy a try, you can get one of the best massage guns in Canada from Gravity. Visit our website today to purchase the Gravity One™ and Gravity Pro™!