Product test
Battle of the three foot massagers
by Natalie Hemengül
Relaxed neck and shoulder muscles thanks to the Shoulder Massager H7 from SKG? Unfortunately not
19.12.2023
Translation: machine translated
While working from home, cooking or hoovering, knead your shoulders and neck and have those niggling tensions massaged out. Sounds pretty good. That's what the SKG Shoulder Massager H7 promises. A promise that the device unfortunately does not fulfil.
A hardened neck. Tense shoulders. Pain that travels up into the head or down the back. Tense neck and shoulder muscles are one of the most widespread common ailments in a service society in which a large proportion of the working population sits in front of computer screens day in, day out. My own are no exception, ergonomic chair and height-adjustable desk or not.
A nice neck massage in the evening, warming creams or plasters can help. Unfortunately, not all options are always readily available or can be quite expensive over time.
So a neck massager that you can strap to your body and wear at all times in your home office and use without outside help is just the thing. I thought so and had the SKG Shoulder Massager H7 delivered to my home.
Unpacking
The scope of delivery of the device is pleasingly straightforward:
- Massage device
- USB-C charging cable
- ready
The device also comes with a certain base charge, so you could strap it to your neck as soon as you unpack it. However, I didn't do this, but first read the product description and instructions. Unfortunately, this is where the first disappointment lurks. The information on the packaging is rather meagre. There is nothing more than the product description, which you can also find online, and an illustration of the device with its buttons and heads.
The manufacturer promises four different massage modes. Two of the four massage heads can heat up and warm your muscles to four additional temperature levels during the treatment. You can switch the device on and off, change the massage modes and set the temperature using three buttons. So far so simple.
Attention, ready, fiddling around
If the massage doesn't relax
Unfortunately, I can't say much more positive about the massage function than I can about the heating function. Yes, my neck is massaged. Yes, I can feel that there are different massage rhythms and intensities at work when I select the four different modes. But no, none of them live up to my expectations. My muscles are not relaxed afterwards, nor do I feel any less pain in my neck, shoulders or back. Rather the opposite.
Because the massage heads are strapped tightly to my body, they always massage the same four areas. Regardless of whether they are the areas that hurt, pull and tense - or not. So I see very limited use for the device. In any case, I'm not at all sorry that I have to return it after testing it.
Conclusion: I'm sticking with my massage gun
The Shoulder Massager H7 from SKG does exactly what it says on the packaging, online and in the instructions. It kneads my neck and shoulder muscles in four positions with four different rhythms and just as many speeds. Two of the four massage heads also heat up my muscles on four levels. Thanks to the two elasticated straps with Velcro fasteners, I can attach the device to my shoulder and work, walk around or do household chores during the massage.
And yet the device is still no good. For all the setting options it actually offers, it still lacks the flexibility I need for a massage. The same four points are always kneaded with the same intensity (per level). However, if I wanted to be massaged just a few centimetres or even millimetres further to the left, right, top or bottom, neither the mode nor the speed change would do me any good.
It also seems rather strange that long after the launch of the device, which is explicitly called the Shoulder Massager, SKG is now also advertising the fact that you can use it to massage your stomach, back, thighs, lower legs or upper arms just as well. SKG also recommends massage positions for my shoulders and back where I can't strap the device on, but have to hold the elasticated straps in my hands and pull them tight to keep the massager in place.
I can do all of this with a completely normal, cheaper and more handy massage gun much more easily and, above all, much more flexibly. Although I also have to hold it by hand to the area to be massaged, I can use it to massage the tense muscle area that needs it precisely to the square centimetre.
Cover photo: Oliver Fischer
Oliver Fischer
Teamleader Editorial
Oliver.Fischer@digitecgalaxus.chGlobetrotter, hiker, wok world champion (not in the ice channel), word acrobat and photo enthusiast.
