Are Massage Guns Safe for Use on Children?
A good massage is essential to relieve muscle tension and stress, and new technologies have made it easier than ever to work out knots and relax muscular tightness at home. Percussion massagers are an excellent tool for deep tissue massage. They are accommodating to decrease muscle soreness after a workout, improve your body’s circulation, aid in muscle recovery, and alleviate stress.
These massagers may be a terrific asset for many, but are these machines safe for everyone? While massages are something all people can benefit from, it’s essential to know how they affect children. Let’s look at whether percussion massager guns are healthy, safe, and appropriate for kids’ muscles and joints.
Considering Age of the kid
Everyone experiences stress and tension, even the smallest of children, and it’s tempting to pull out your percussion massager or massage gun and use it on an anxious, sore, or tense child. However, these guns are powerful massage tools and work by using rapid, relatively forceful thumping motions to stimulate muscle tissue, decreasing lactic acid buildup that contributes to muscle fatigue and soreness and increasing blood flow to the area which can speed up healing and relieve pain.
Thanks to adjustable speeds, pressures, and replaceable heads, your experience with a massage gun can be customizable to your pain and sensitivity level. Nevertheless, even at the lowest speeds and pressures, percussion massagers are not recommended for small children, and preteen or teenaged children should always have adult supervision when using a massager.
Take Caution with Some Medical Conditions
Percussion massagers are incredibly helpful for many medical ailments, from lumbar pain to muscle tremors associated with degenerative diseases. Though massage guns are generally considered safe for preteens and teenagers, they should not be used in some circumstances. If your child has an injury, including sprains, strains, swelling, or broken bones, it’s best to keep these machines tucked away. The pressure exerted by massagers will do more harm than good and can even delay your child’s recovery.
Percussion massager guns are great for those with osteoarthritis, scar tissue buildup, fibromyalgia, and sciatica. They’re best suited for those with those medical conditions, which are rare in young people.
These massagers, however, can be helpful for active, older children who are slowed down by muscle soreness or want to improve flexibility and performance in sports and other physical activities. They should never be used directly on bones, nerve bundles, internal organs, joints, or tendons, as their rapid and pulsations can cause injuries rather than relieve them.
Listen to the Professionals
Many medical professionals take issue with percussion massagers placed in unskilled hands. The use of these massagers, when applied to muscles incorrectly or too frequently, can exacerbate pain and soreness, even if it seems to help at first. Because the risk of worsened pain or inflammation is a concern even for adult users, medical professionals caution against the amateur use of these massagers on children whose bodies are still growing and developing. Manufacturers of these tools also include warning statements in their instructions and literature, often recommending they are not used on children.
Still, some children benefit from their use, especially with a doctor’s recommendation. If you believe your child is a good candidate for percussion massager use, speak with their pediatrician to determine if it’s safe. In many cases, medical professionals encourage this technology when the benefits outweigh the risks. If it’s approved, ask your child’s doctor to show you how to properly use the gun on your child to ensure you apply the percussion massager safely and effectively.
Interesting post. I have one but I only use it a couple of times a week.