Thera Cane Massager
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List Price: Our Price: $27.99 You Save: $19.01 (40%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Thera Cane Massager
Customer Review: Access those hard-to reach places to release pain
Summary: 5 Stars
The Thera Cane Massager was recommended by a friend in my yoga class. At first glance, it appears kind of weird, but be assured that it works wonders on sore muscles by giving you access to those "knots" or trigger points that you cannot easily reach unless you are a contortionist. To see it in use, search for Thera Cane in YouTube; there are several good video presentations there, including a few from massage therapists. I have had it for less than a week, and I have already released pain over my right shoulder and under my left shoulder blade, and I have substantially released pain in my left thigh-outer-hip area (by today, it is almost gone).
Amazon also offers some helpful books on deep muscle (myofascial) massage and trigger point release, e.g., Trigger Point Therapy for Myofascial Pain: The Practice of Informed Touch that might help you understand what this is all about, but you needn't get all that deeply into things unless you are a stickler for detail. The brief, well-illustrated owner's manual that ships with the Thera Cane is all you really need to get started at relieving aches and pains. A word of warning: avoid lingering pain from use by heeding the caveat not to press too hard at first until you learn your tolerance levels--easy does it!
I sent a note about this product to a few on-line health-related lists to which I subscribe, and quickly received confirmations of its efficacy from a few massage practitioners as well as a testimonial from a subscriber who ordered one based on my note and almost immediately got headache relief by releasing a trigger point at the base of her neck in back. One of the massage therapists wrote that the Thera Cane provides her with health and sanity. This is a rather amazing statement from a person whose income derives from providing services that a person could provide for him/herself with the Thera Cane. Personally, I was paying $80 per session for a deep tissue/trigger point release massage, so I knew where to find most of my trigger points. And, I went right to them with the Thera Cane. So, now I do not need to go to the masseur, at least not until something might crop up that I cannot solve with the Thera Cane (none so far).
Buying advice: way too effective to pass up, and reasonably priced. Used on themselves by massage professionals, so how can you go wrong?
Customer Review: Like Having Very Long Arms
Summary: 5 Stars
I most highly recommend this tremendous product. When you are trying to message away trigger point pain (knots) in hard to reach areas of your back, it is like having very long, totally mobile arms. It is well designed and made to last. I also highly recommend "The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" by Clair and Amber Davies. I found out about the Thera Cane from that book. While giving you several different message tool options, the author's favorite one is the Thera Cane, which they most highly recommend.
"The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook" is a tremendous resource for people in pain. After having tried many natural remedies for my shoulder pain, this program is the best. Glucosamine while it helped, did not totally alleviate the pain. Magnet therapy helped for awhile, but eventually made the pain worse. Chiropractic treatments, which used trigger point therapy worked for a time, but then my knots would return and cause pain. I didn't know the importance of at least six times a day massaging your central trigger points until the knots are gone.
"The Trigger Point Therapy Wookbook" has excellent information on the muscles. It also has excellent charts which help you locate specific trigger points (knots in your muscles) which cause pain. It tells you how to message those painful areas to get rid of the knots in your muscles. While the information is thorough, it is written for the lay person in an understandable way.
You can have central trigger points, which are located in the belly of the muscle that hurts. You can also have satellite trigger points in the pain referral zone of another muscle and attachment trigger points in your tendons where your muscles connect to your bones. While your trigger points will never be on opposite sides of your body, they can travel the length of one side of the body. Satellite and attachemnt trigger points are secondary trigger points. Even though they can be very painful, especially attachment trigger points, they can right themselves. Not so with central trigger points. You can get the secondary trigger points out, but not deal with the pain unless you deal with the central trigger points.
While the book and Thera cane may at first glance seem expensive, they are far cheaper than repeated Chiropractic visits. I most highly recommend this unbeatable pair for relieving pain.
Customer Review: Theracane from HEAVEN!!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the last year 2009, I started getting strong headaches and chronic upper back and neck pain, my pain was starting to ruin my life... after several neurologist, chiropractors, changing mattresses, memory foam pillows etc. etc. I found theracane on youtube!
at first I thought it was just another tool out there created by somebody in order to make some cash.... however I thought it was neat because people around me were sick of me asking them to press spots on my back and neck, so I looked into it.... learned a bit about trigger points etc.
Though the pain was there I still didn't buy it, the pain was there EVERYDAY... I order a book on trigger point therapy from amazon and mentioned the theracane several times so I ordered it!
the shipment arrived in two days and tried it after reading a bit about it I tried it and PFFFFF THERE WAS A SPOT ON MY BACK THAT ALMOST PUT ME DOWN ON MY KNEES!!! I pressed on it like 1 minute and believe it or not, the pain on that specific spot ceased immeadiately.
Eventually it came back after two days (since my pain started I was pain free in that spot in over one year!!!), and I did it again and it went away.... Im doing it regularly on several trigger points I have and I notice the pain is vanishing, trigger points are becoming active with less frecuency and the more I do it the less pain is manifesting each time.... I am myself again!!
on my neck its doing wonders, my headaches were coming from there!!! there are certain trigger points on my neck that are hesitant and painful but it's making them stop, stopping my headaches!!! I am feeling less neck pain and I couldn't turn my head to the left after using it on that trigger point (next to the shoulder) for less than a minute I can now look left!!!
I would love to meet the person who created this simple amazing tool! I would invite her/him to dinner to the most expensive restaurant in town and it's all on me!!!!
don't waste your time if you are in pain like me, this tool is Godsend!!!
Customer Review: Works Great! Looks...uhh, weird.
Summary: 5 Stars
Right now, I've got five self massage tools, four of them recommended by therapists: a foam roller, various rubbery balls from sports that I don't play, a plastic roller encased in a handy grip, a vibrating heat pad for car/chairs (not recommended by anybody including me) and the theracane. The theracane is the most effective, period. It is easy to use. The foam roller is an OK. The roller is good for large areas like my back but awkward for many other areas. Unfortunately, it takes such a long time to roll out cramps in my back that I start to pick up cramps in my arms and legs from supporting myself. I compromise by loosening up with a bit of rolling and using the cane for the heavy duty work. The cane lets you really use your muscles to hit spots, even the ones you can reach with your hands, so it is much more effective plus it saves wear and tear on your hands.
I received the theracane and started using it immediately with the help of the enclosed booklet. My stiff knee started to loosen with the first session and six days later I noticed I had stopped limping. I had ordered the Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clare and Amber Davies to go with the cane. It arrived 3 days later because of a long weekend. The book was very helpful. I had a vague idea of which points to start with because I could feel the knot in the big muscle in the calf but the workbook is very precise and now I'm working on some of the smaller hidden muscles.
I also tried some of the other sections in the workbook. I have TMJ but it's not really a problem. My jaw gives the occasional click with no pain. I tried some of the trigger points and after one session, one side of my jaw is click free! The other side still clicks slightly. Sigh, there is no magic bullet. I guess I'll have to repeat that section.
Overall, the theracane massager with the workbook is better than the run-of-the-mill masseuse. You'll need someone very well-trained to do a better job.
Customer Review: Some issues worth calling attention to
Summary: 3 Stars
The TheraCane massager certainly comes highly recommended, so I had lofty expectations for this device. But after living with it and trying it for several weeks, I'm not sold on the promises and testimonials. Hence my take is somewhat contrarian to the majority of the reviews here.
Yes, it does allow one to attack knots of tension, trigger points, and sore muscles to some degree. It is possible to zero in pretty well on a trigger point and gain some measure of short-term relief. But the Theracane massager has some issues worth calling attention to for those wanting to make a fair appraisal.
First, it is simply ugly and cheap looking, formed from extruded hard plastic or rubber. It does not fit comfortably in one's palms, and the effort required to contort and attack trigger points should not be underestimated. I've gone after some particularly knotty spots in my shoulders with only OK results.
Plus, the Theracane itself is very uncomfortable on my palms and fingers. Worse my arm muscles ache after just a few minutes of digging into trigger points. Could the one-size fits all design be the culprit? Maybe a three-inch longer version would be a better ergonomic fit for me.
The knobs on the ends seem just a bit too large for deep tissue work, and with all the appendages no this thing, it seems like its maker could have offered a bit more variety.
The instructions, such as they are, are OK unless, like I tend to do, you have trouble with viewing an image that says right/left but requires one to realize that you have to view the illustrations as stage right/left.
So, long term verdict is still out, but if there were a wooden version available, I would opt for that. I think it would be easier on the hands and feel better on the skin. I've used a wooden Ma Roller since 1977, and I suspect I will still have it when this device is repurposed perhaps as a perch between the birdfeeders out back.