Efficacy of Massage Guns

TLDR: Are massages/massage guns capable of releasing tension and lowering baseline tone in a muscle?

I’ve battled with my shoulder for years to try and maintain a balance to keep impingement type issues at bay with my rotator cuff. I’ve been through chiropractics and physical therapy ( I do not recall the specific muscle but it directly manfests as pain in the front of the shoulder just above the armpit where the pec meets the shoulder). Everything solution seemed to revolve back around to stretching. I work on a computer all day and excessive pec tightness as well, so stretching is an easy place to land. Still, stretching has done very little and the only saving grace I’ve found is to do an extreme amount of upper back volume to balance (facepulls, rows, etc) usually at least on a 3-1 ratio of reps of back to bench reps. I know most of that solution is hearsay and as much bro science as anything else but my shoulder is overall healthy despite being a pain. Massage always seemed to help but only for a few days. Is there any truth behind massage guns? I’d like to be more sure before spending $200 on a “sure if you think it will help” solution.

Thank you.

TLDR: Are massages/massage guns capable of releasing tension and lowering baseline tone in a muscle?

There is a bit of complexity here, perhaps more than initially appears, because we need to differentiate “subjective” tension/tone from “objective” tension/tone.

Lots of people report relaxation after using such modalities (including regular massage), whereas these sorts of subjective reports do not correlate well with objective muscle tone (e.g. on the spectrum of flacid/spastic) or muscular tension.

In general, we do not recommend these devices.

Massage gun feels nice.

It all depends on what purpose you want to buy the massage gun. If for a simple relaxing massage, it is effective, and it naturally helps to relax. But if you want a massage gun to get rid of cellulite, you better go to a massage master. Massage guns in such a situation are not so effective. Better read on ambrosae.com about types of anti-cellulite massage and choose one that you like the most and go to a massage salon. The massage made by a master is considerably more efficient and it will help get rid of cellulite considerably faster.