Do you want a leg massage and want to know how to use massage gun on legs properly and effectively? A massage gun is a revolutionary tool for self-therapy, offering benefits similar to traditional massages.
Massage guns are the best alternative to massage therapists. Yes! They cannot replace the experience you get from SPA massage, but you cannot carry SPA with you while you can carry massage guns easily.
We are sure you need a good leg massage at some point. Yes, leg massage feels excellent, and there is a good reason for that feeling. The therapist and medical personnel (chiropractor) support the value of massage therapy on tired muscles.
This article will focus on how to use massage guns on leg muscles for optimal results. For further knowledge of massage guns, you can see our article about how to use massage gun.
Choose the power setting and attachment head which feels more comfortable to you. You can try different options and apply which suits you more.
Lower leg
Cross one of your legs over the other
Move the massage gun slowly all over the calf and Achilles tendon in the direction of the muscle fibres, knee to foot.
Do the same practice with shin muscle and shin bone
Upper leg
You can apply different techniques to the upper leg, depending on whether you intend to activate the muscles before a workout or treat tired legs as therapy.
Pre-workout
Stand on your feet
Apply massage gun back and forth across the muscle fibre
Do the same on the lower part, above the knee
Then apply a massage gun along with muscle fibre at different spots
Do it all in 30 seconds
To Recover and Relax
To use the massage gun for leg pain and tired muscles, move the device freely on your thigh, try different movements, and explore what feels best. Try to hit as many fibres as possible. Keep doing this for 2 minutes.
The flat head is recommended to target specifically quads and calves on legs and be in one place for about 30 seconds.
Benefit Of Massaging Calf Muscles
Calf massage has many benefits, some of which are
Improved Circulation
Calf massage manipulates and loosens the muscles as well as the surrounding tissues. This leads to an increase the blood circulation and helps maintain normal blood flow, which leads to improved circulation overall.
Continued blood flow helps prevent muscle deterioration by supplying oxygen and other vital nutrients to the muscles and simultaneously carrying metabolic waste materials away.
Pain Reduction
After you have given a few days for an injury to heal, a calf massage can help to reduce pain by loosening up any potential muscle knots and releasing muscle tension.
You can also get help from a massage therapist specializing in trigger point massages. Using this technique has also proven beneficial in more stubborn cases of muscle pain.
Improved Flexibility
Many people have problems with calf muscle tightening up, so they become stiff and restricted in that position. If muscles are relaxed, you can move them quickly. It helps your muscles to stay more flexible for many upcoming years.
During massage temperature of muscles increases which leads to an increase in elasticity. This combines the loosening and stretching of the tissues, which help to improve flexibility.
Injury Prevention
Increased blood circulation and the healthy flow of oxygen and nutrients to muscles lead to a healthier, strong, and flexible calf. This will result in better recovery after exercise and a better chance of preventing future injury.
Scar Tissue Reduction
In case of injury, if some muscle tear has happened, the body’s healing process includes the creation of tissue. The scar tissue attaches to the surrounding fascia and muscles, leading to a range of motion.
How To Massage Inner Thigh Muscle?
Muscle massage after a hard workout, deep muscle relaxation physiotherapy
If you want to massage your inner thigh muscle first, turn your chest towards the roof so you lean more into your inner thigh. Put pressure on your thigh. Press until you feel a comfortable amount of pressure.
Slowly work your way from your inner knee towards your groin, getting as close as possible to your pelvis. For this, you should know how to use massage gun on the legs.
Massaging Legs for Circulation
Poor blood circulation has been blamed for several conditions affecting the legs, like leg cramps, leg fatigue, shin splints, and varicose veins; if you are suffering from chronic leg pains, it is likely your problem is attributable to any of these causes.
When you feel pain in your legs and feet, your first attempt is to try and touch the area to soothe the discomfort. Leg massage stimulates blood vessels to dilate and warms the surrounding tissue, and blood vessels are viscous.
By massage, you can improve blood circulation, which helps speed up muscle healing.
Step.1: Lubricate the Target Area with Oil
Leg massage works with the proper amount of lubrication. You can use your favourite oil for this. It will help your figures and hands to glide effortlessly and feel your skin smooth, preventing you from being pinched in certain positions.
Legs are prone to circulation problems. That is because nutrient and oxygen-carrying blood has a much greater distance to travel going to your lower extremities and back to the heart. It is crucial to employ a strategy to get a full benefit and relaxing experience from massage.
Step 2: Use an Upward Stroke
The stroke of massage must, for the most part, be directed upward. This will lead blood vessels to channel blood back to the heart. Use a good amount of pressure to encourage blood to flow upward back to the heart.
Step 3: Alternate Between Short and Long Stroke
Long and gentle strokes are used to create friction to raise the temperature in the target area. This prepares tissue for massage and helps release dopamine, a natural pain killer produced by the human body.
Vice versa with shorter but deeper strokes to help blood circulation better. This alteration of long and short strokes gives an immediate feeling of relaxation.
Start with your thigh from below your pelvis. Move your hands gently and smoothly circularly and work your way down until massaging the entire thigh.
Step 4: Do It to the Back of The Legs
The back of the legs needs special attention as this area is often compressed and deprived of circulation when working for long hours. The purpose is to encourage blood circulation. Warm up the targeted area with long and short kneading action.
Increase kneading pressure slowly as your tissue warms up. Adding a slight circular motion is good to relax tiring leg muscles.
Step 5: Thumb Kneading
This is the most effective massage technique for helping tired aching leg muscles. Thumb kneading is a great relaxing technique for massaging calves. If you feel a leg cramp, thumb kneading must be applied with a swirling circulation motion.
Put the pressure with your thumb on the broadest part of the calf. Do it gently. Employing a circulation motion slowly increases the pressure. Make sure you don’t press too hard to feel pain. Do this for up to 3 minutes, and finish the leg massage by alternating long and short strokes.
To use the muscle gun effectively, first, find the area of your legs that feels tight and start by moving the gun over the bulk of the muscles. Add pressure as tolerated but not too aggressively. There’s a button on the gun to increase the pressure.
The muscles in the calf and shin are very typical. Move the massage gun backwards and forward over the calf and Achilles tendon in the direction of the muscle fibres, that is, along the leg, from the knee to the foot. Do the same for shin bone and shin muscle.
If you want to massage your own legs and feet, follow the below points
Step.1: sit on a comfortable chair. Bend your legs and rest your left foot gently on your right thigh.
Step.2: pour some skin lotion or oil into your hand.
Step.3: do a deeper massage
Step.4: use your hands and gently pull the toes back and forth or apart. Repeat the same on the other foot.
Conclusion:
This article tells you how to use massage gun on legs. It’s essential to know learn how to use it properly. However, do not neglect other good training and recovery principles like healthy eating, proper technique, and enough sleep.
Choose the power setting and attachment heads that feel more comfortable to you. You can try different options and apply which suits you more. Keep in mind that always apply gentle pressure and avoid than aggressively.
That’s all you need to know about how to use massage gun on legs. After reading this article, I hope you feel more comfortable and expert while using a massage gun.