When you first look at a massage chair, you’ve probably wondered how a massage chair massages you. The simple answer is that a massage chair has rollers inside which press against your body.
However, no two rollers are made the same, because the differences in materials, functions and build can make the difference in your massage chair experience.
Knowing the difference can help you make a better decision when it comes to choosing a massage chair, or knowing if a massage chair is right for you.
This blog is going to explain how these massage chair rollers massage you, and how the differences in these massage chair rollers determine the quality and strength of your massage.
TLDR: Massage chair rollers are responsible for the styles of massage, the firmness, and motion of massage you experience. Firmer materials result in firmer massages, smaller surface areas also result in firmer massages and vice versa. The more functionality a massage chair roller has, the more ways it can massage you.
That’s a bit too concise though, let me go more in depth on how the massage chair rollers make the difference in your massage chair experience.
This doesn’t need to much explanation, so it’ll be short. There are two main types of massage chair rollers, dual roller and quad roller massage chair rollers.
The main difference is that dual rollers only have two rollers while quad rollers have four. In a full body massage chair, you will always get a quad roller, while in smaller massage chairs or massage sofas, you will get a dual roller.
This section deserves a little more attention, as this directly correlates to how a massage chair can massage you. Within the quad roller set up, there is a lot of opportunity for what the quad rollers can do. Here’s an example with a kneading massage mode.
As my visualization shows, the point at where these massage chair rollers meet shows how they pinch and push together, which is done in the kneading massage mode.
This is simply one of the many massage styles for which you can experience in a massage chair. While massage chairs have many massage programs, these are different from the massage styles they can perform, which is defined by the way the massage chair rollers move.
To list a few, full body massage chairs with quad massage chair rollers tend to have the following massage styles in them:
If you want to learn more about massage styles, then this might be a great blog to check out to further touch on this.
Massage chairs which have 4D massage roller capabilities tend to have more functions to them, and thus have more massage styles in the massage chair.
Knowing this is important because the type of massage style you like is entirely up to individual preference, meaning that regardless of firmness, your body prefers specific massage movement over others. Because of this, it’s best to know if the massage chair has rollers that can do the specific motion you’re looking for.
If you have already gone for massages before, then you might be familiar with some of these styles. However if you have not gone for many massages before, then the best way to become familiar with them is to try a massage chair, and see what suits you best.
Some massage programs tend to mix all of these massage styles into a unique massage experience, while others try to use only a few, but apply it across your entire body. As a result, the massage roller uses more of its functionality in some modes over others.
Firmer materials, such as metal and plastic, tend to give a much firmer massage, as it is much more solid, and less flexible than materials such as silicon and rubber, which are relatively softer.
Most high end massage chairs use silicon or metal massage chair rollers to press against your body while value range massage chairs tend to use plastic.
This isn’t to say that one massage chair roller material is inherently better than the other, however the feeling and versatility that each carries is different. Metal and silicon are better for heat massages as they can conduct more heat, which often makes them a preferred choice.
However, some people like the feeling of plastic as it can achieve that poking feeling just as well.
Just to throw in one more extra consideration of massage chair rollers and how it can affect your massage, let me draw an analogy to something very similar.
Massage gun heads make a perfect reference for how the design can affect the way you feel the massage. Some massage rollers have heads which are round, and thus have a larger surface area and feel softer. Others are sharper, and feel more like a knuckle rubbing along your bag.
That’s not all though, this is also combined with the actual massage chair cushioning itself, and how it dampens the pressure of a massage chair roller against your back.
Here’s a reference image to showcase what I mean.
When you consider a massage chair, and want to understand how it presses against you, you need to also consider how much cushioning there is against the massage roller to determine its precision and firmness capacity.
With all this information, its often very hard to tell what makes a massage chair press against you, as there are many variables in a massage chair roller which can impact the way you feel your massage.
In future, I plan to make a video which will hopefully describe this better, but until then, if you’re still looking to understand more about massage chairs, then I hope this blog on what to look for in a massage chair can help you!
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