Like a lot of folks, sometimes I work out and sometimes I don’t. But regardless of whether I just ran a mile on a treadmill or not, my muscles still get sore on a fairly regular basis, especially along my lower back and on my right forearm. Because I work from home and spend most of my time sitting at a desk, those dull pangs tend to feel significantly worse as the week goes on, too. 

When I first heard about Therabody’s top-rated massage guns, my initial thought was that they probably weren’t built with someone like me in mind. Celebrated for their app-friendly functionality and ability to pound away at tight tissue for rapid muscle recovery, these elite-level devices seemed specifically designed for high-performance athletes.

Would a person like me, who exercises casually but also deals with recurring body aches and pain, get any real benefit from this, or was it just another overhyped gadget with a high price tag? I wasn’t sure—that is, until I tried out one of Therabody’s most popular models, the Theragun Prime, for myself.

The Theragun Prime ($299) is a smart device that’s designed to deliver percussive massages, a type of stimulation that involves rapidly striking tender muscle tissue to increase blood flow to the targeted area. Experts claim this can be good for pre-exercise warm-ups, as the vibrations help to loosen up stiff limbs before physical activity; it can also be useful for accelerating the post-workout recovery process.

Think of it as a souped-up version of a foam roller, only this handheld device gives…