About a month or so ago I had the incredibly bright idea of turning my queen-sized mattress all by myself while my partner was out. I also didn’t do any form of stretching beforehand, choosing to blindly jump into the task at hand instead.
At the time, things felt alright but as the day went on I could slowly feel a knot in my lower back getting tighter and tighter, like a tiny little fist that knocked me on my arse for the rest of the weekend.
I needed a good massage to loosen up that knot, but luckily I didn’t have to stray from my couch to get one.
Boriwat Back and Neck Massager
What is it?
A massager pillow for your back and neck.
Price
$58.99
Like
Easy to use, multiple speed options, the heated setting is great during winter.
No Like
Its bulkiness makes sitting a bit awkward.
How does this massager work?
This Boriwat back and neck massager is pretty simple to use. Just place it behind your lower back, or lay down with your neck in-between the rotating massage heads. If you’re setting it up on an office chair, the pillow has an adjustable strap that you can use to secure it at the desired height.
The massager has three adjustable speeds – slow, medium and fast – along with the option to change direction from clockwise to anti-clockwise. This variability lets you find a more comfortable speed, as not every muscle pain needs an absolute pounding to be fixed.
It also has a heat mode, which can reach a temperature of around 42-degrees, to help warm up your muscles while they’re being worked on (the massage heads will glow bright red when this mode is enabled). It does take a minute or two to reach this maximum temperature.
How does a massage feel?
After hurting my back when moving my mattress, I found it really helped to speed up recovery, compared to other lower back knots I’ve had in the past. I don’t suffer from any pre-existing back or neck conditions, but if you’re someone who does, you’re best consulting with a doctor as to whether or not this massager is suitable for you to use.
Due to the size of the pillow’s massager heads, this thing is quite chunky. So getting it into the right position was a bit awkward at times. While positioning it on my lower back while sitting at my desk or on the couch wasn’t much of an issue, I found the only way to comfortably use it on my neck was while laying down (I did try to use it on my neck while using my couch back to support it, but I never felt right).
While working from home over the past few months, I’ve done my best to make my office setup as ergonomic as possible. I do still find myself leaning forward a fair bit while working, so when I do straighten myself up, my lower back and shoulders definitely feel a little stiff. While this massager has been helpful to alleviate that stiffness, depending on when and where I used it, the results have varied.
Due to the massager pillow being a bit bulky, when running it on my lower back I find myself constantly leaning forward to feel comfortable. I’ve used it a few times while working at my desk and while it did a good job of massaging the lower part of my back, the upper part definitely suffered a little bit due to my posture. I also found it hard to focus on what I was doing when running the massager.
This problem does have an easy fix of “Don’t use it while working” – but if that’s the reason you’re interested in buying a massager, you’re best looking elsewhere.
It did come with a charging cable that can be plugged into your car’s lighter port, but considering how I felt while sitting in an office chair, I can’t imagine how awkward it’d feel while in a car seat – not to mention if you were running it while driving.
All of that said, I was really satisfied with how good my lower back felt after using this massager on it. When running it on the highest speed setting and with heat enabled, I could feel that pesky knot soften up.
The same can be said for when I used it on my neck. I found that the slow and medium settings were more comfortable than the highest one, but the amount of stiffness and tension it removed was noticeable.
I did predominately use in 15-minute bursts, on both my neck and back, as I found anything beyond that time limit would start to feel a bit uncomfortable.
Is it worth it?
With a price tag of under $60, I think this Boriwat massage pillow is good value. It’s nothing I can see myself needing to use every day, but it’s definitely loosened me up when I’ve got a small knot in my back or a stiff neck.
While its size definitely affects its comfortability, I was willing to compromise on how and where I used it. If you want something to give your back a massage while sitting at a desk, there are better options out there.
If you want something that you can use to casually massage your neck and back, this pillow is a decent option. I found it most fulfilling when used in 15-minute sessions while I’m winding down after work or just chilling out on the couch. It’s the massager you buy if just want one around just in case.