December 10, 2022

Massage gun for knee pain - how can it help?

Estimated read time 3 minutes.

Your knees take a beating every single day. Whether simply walking around or being put through their paces with a tough workout or intense exercise, they’re constantly absorbing impact.

Massage gun for knee pain - how can it help?

Fundamental to your movement and balance, the knee is also a key juncture in your body. Poor posture or a misalignment in the lower body can have a knock-on effect and it’s common for these issues to create knee pain.

Luckily, when you have issues with your knee massage guns can help.

Can you use a massage gun on your knee?

The answer to that question is yes and no. It’s important to remember that a massage gun is designed to work your muscles – including those around a painful joint such as the knee – and not the joint itself.

So, while the percussive massage that a massage gun delivers is great for increasing blood flow to the muscles that support and impact the knee area, you should never use it directly onto the bone.

What muscle groups can contribute to knee pain

Knee pain can be complex, and all of the following muscles can play their part in causing problems:

Your quads, which are the long muscles at the front of your thigh
Your adductors, which run down the inside of your thigh
Your hamstrings, which run down the back of your thigh
Your calves, which are at the back of your lower leg

Using a massage gun will activate all these muscle groups, increasing blood flow and oxygen circulation to the area. This not only helps reduce inflammation and the pain you feel, but also assists with better joint alignment and range of movement.

There are also benefits of using a massage gun after exercise. If you feel stiffness and swelling, promoting greater levels of oxygen and nutrients to flow to the muscle helps to drain lactic acid and other waste products. This means faster recovery and less chance of suffering from Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness (DOMS).

Using a muscle gun for other causes of knee pain

Aside from injury or joint misalignment, arthritis is another big cause of pain in the knees. The good news is that massage gun therapy is highly effective at helping to reduce inflammation and ease muscle soreness associated with arthritic pain.

Using a massage gun for knee pain

The beauty of a massage gun is that you can achieve the same results in just five minutes as a professional masseuse would in 20 minutes. Plus, you get almost instant relief to tight and painful muscles, whenever and wherever you need it.

On a practical level, massage guns couldn’t be easier to use:

Choose the right attachment to work each muscle group. Our own MuscleGun Carbon massage gun - which is up there amongst the best massage guns for knee pain – comes with a variety of head attachments.

For your hamstrings use the dampener attachment and for your quads and calves choose the ball attachment.
Using the control panel on the top of your device, choose your desired speed setting. We suggest starting on setting four for your calves and setting five for your hamstrings and quads.
Gently float the device across the muscles in a diagonal motions, from the top of the muscle working down.
Continue this for about two minutes until you feel the tension ease. Gradually apply more pressure, and adjust the speed setting, to the areas where you feel the muscles are particularly tight or sore.