If you've never had a massage and struggle with the idea, a percussive massage device, even a cheap one, could be a good place to start improving your range of motion. The brushless motor is surprisingly quiet, and the battery lasts an impressive five hours on a single charge. The MyoLite comes with four different heads, and we found them all effective after an achy work-out - or even after a long day crunched over our desks.

Its five power settings are simple to control, and range from a gentle massage to a vigorous pummelling that's suited to large, particularly tight muscles. Anyone fretting about cellulite issues will also get some comfort from the dedicated Cellulite head, which on the medium intensity setting can tackle quads, hamstring muscles, upper arms and glutes. Some of the bulkier options on this list may be too cumbersome to take with you on the go, but there was no such problem with this pocket-sized model from Hyperice. Though it’s not the lightest device we tested, we found it easy to hold the tilted matte handle without it slipping, even when we were using it on our back, and it’s not too noisy either. Although this massage gun has a hefty stall force of 50 pounds, it's still quite lightweight, only weighing 2.

We also tested the same massage guns at home for several weeks, for more than 840 total hours of testing.

The Shavron Massage Gun requires a two-handed control for more accurate percussive therapy - since it goes up to 3,200RPM (one of the highest on this list) it can sound like a plane taking off. The device is small and portable so that you won’t feel any burden while taking it with you to the gym. With enhanced muscle recovery, release stress and tension, and the ability to soothe discomfort with a percussive therapy device in a league of its own. So look for a battery life of two or more hours, so you can leave the massage gun in your gym bag or locker without having to worry that it may run dry on you.The Cool Gel head, with its distinctive blue tip, can apply low intensity massage to the IT band, shins and hip flexor. Then once your workout is done, you can go at it a bit more, spending up to two minutes on each muscle group. Us neither - mini massage guns can be amazing for those niggling aches and pains in your shoulders, neck, back and thighs when you're working from home or at your office. Jen Zeltwanger is an exercise physiologist and runner with 26 years of experience in the health and fitness industry.

Most of all, we noted if the gun made a real difference to our sore and tight muscles and if it would become the essential gadget we couldn’t live without. After many years running races and marathons, she now trains and competes in CrossFit and Olympic lifting. Athletes on a budget looking for more intense massage gun therapy and people who want and can tolerate deep tissue massage. At first, we found the Theragun Elite a little intimidating and powerful - and always used the lowest setting to test it out.There’s no need to press down while using it and you should stop using the gun or decrease pressure if you feel any pain during use. It wasn’t immediately obvious how you get the heads in and back out again, although the action seems to be twist and push/pull now we’ve been using it for a while.