Massage Chairs

Who doesn’t enjoy a good massage? Well, to be honest, your scribe would beg to differ. You see, most massages involve touching. And your scribe’s feet are not only a bit ticklish, but also sweat more than the average bear. While a professional masseuse typically understands the ticklish part and can massage accordingly, keeping his or her hands from getting drenched from the sweat is a nasty side-effect of feet rubbing in a humid room with little circulation.

Ok, so that had never been written before, but we’re a close-knit bunch by this time, so sweaty feet and all, don’t judge! For the other 99.99999 percent of the population, massages, we imagine, are to die for. The benefits of having your back, shoulders, neck, legs, arms or feet massaged are plenty. For example, did you know that a massage is an effective treatment for reducing stress? Massages can also help with anxiety, headaches, digestive disorders, fibromyalgia, soft tissue strains or injuries, sports injuries and much more.

While this all sounds great, we’re positive you’re screaming at your screen, “I would love, love, love a massage every day, but where do I come up with the MONEY!!!” Er, good point. Shelling out $100 per day to reduce your stress would put more stress on your family after two weeks. How come the refrigerator is empty? The cable bill is due, they’re kicking little Suzy out of day-care because we haven’t paid. To be clear, we don’t want you to go out and begin dropping big money on massages. But there is an alternative, and that’s the massage chair.

Massage chairs are ever-present. You can find some real cheapies at stores we’d rather not name here, up to some bad boys that will be the centerpiece of your home. Top of the line is the Kahuna Massage Chair Space-Saving Zero-Gravity Full-Body Recliner. Yes, that’s its name. We would rather refer to it as simply, the Big Kahuna. While big and certainly complete, the Kahuna is also surprisingly quiet. Equipped with a mind-boggling array of settings, the Kahuna will suck you in and leave you as relaxed as Tom Hanks should have been in that movie when he was stranded on a beautiful deserted island.

Another solid option is the Snailax Shiatsu Massage Cushion with Heat. A terrible name, granted, but the Snailax does deliver. Moreover, this chair right here is cheap - $150. It is compact, can be installed anywhere, and one person even left a review stating, “for the last 50 years, had many chiropractic and acupuncture treatments for my lower back and shoulder areas. This massager has taken the place of those treatments!” Reviews like that should say it all.

And we’ll leave you now with where we started – at the feet. You can be sure your scribe has his eye on this one, the Relaxonchair Full Body Zero Gravity Shiatsu Massage Chair. Geared at folks with feet issues, the Relaxonchair grabs on to your doggies and the massage is rumored to be intense. Folks do point to an acclimation period as having your feet so thoroughly rubbed and worked on can be a bit discomforting at first. But walking pain-free has its cost, and apparently this chair addresses all issues.

For the new year, forego that expensive masseuse and get one of these chairs. Your pocketbook won’t suffer, and you’ll still live relatively stress free.