here's how to use a pulsating massage gun on your own neck and shoulders where to focus the areas to avoid when it's a bad idea to be using it at all and some important tips so let's go these massage guns can be great if you feel stiff and tight in your shoulders but don't use them if your neck is painful particularly sharply painful because they can increase inflammation the vibration increases blood flow which is great for muscles but that extra blood and fluid can increase inflammation here's a basic test you can do to see if
your neck is inflamed if you extend your neck and it hurts or you tilt your neck to the side and it hurts on the same side that you bend to you have inflamed spinal joints in both these cases you're better off icing your neck to decrease the inflammation not using a massage machine as it could make the pain worse never use the massage gun on the side or the front of your neck because there's all kinds of nerves sensitive arteries and blood pressure sensors there avoid bones too don't use it over the ac joint the
spinous processes of the vertebra or the bony ridge of your shoulder blade i'd recommend keeping to the lower part of your neck too because using the massager in the upper part of the neck tends to cause too much head vibration the most important place to focus on is here because this is where the knots tend to form in the neck and shoulders using the massager on this next zone can also loosen restricted spinal joints and rib joints which is very handy because joint restriction is a very common cause of shoulder tension but in general work
this whole area to cover all the important muscles tips i find the foam ball the best for the neck and shoulder area if you're more sensitive though you can use the hollow head because this will dampen the vibration a bit to lighten the effect you can reduce the speed but you can also use the foam ball on the side don't press too hard just the weight of the machine is usually enough keep your head and chin up not forward this will soften the muscles so it doesn't vibrate your brain too much use your opposite hand
so that the side that you're working on is relaxed or support your elbow with your opposite hand which is the way i prefer to do it the first time you use a pulsating massager in an area just use it for 30 seconds to one minute on each side just in case it's more inflamed than you think or your head is sensitive to the vibration the next day you can increase the time to a few minutes on each side if you want the speed settings are pretty much up to you these massage guns can get a
little bit loud sometimes so make sure you check out the decibel rating before you buy this one's rated at 42 decibels and i wouldn't recommend going much past that also try to get a massage gun with a long handle because if you're reaching right around and doing it on yourself it can really help now don't forget to avoid the four main causes of neck and shoulder stiffness in the first place and be aware that poor posture can cause a lot of shoulder tightness so i have videos on the full causes and posture and i'll put
them in the description below but that's it for today hope you liked the video have fun [Music]
