For whatever reason, I have multiple back and leg muscles that develop "knots" (regions of muscle that want to stay permanently contracted). 6 years ago I was in a condition where I had so many of these "knots" that the resulting shortened muscles were causing abnormal joint/bone motions and extensive pain. I am a fairly active person and I was becoming an invalid due to muscle-pain and muscle-spasms.
I spent about 9 months (about 12 treatment visits and 6 educational sessions, IIRC) working with doctors at a pain clinic where they did a combination of educational sessions helping us understand how muscles work with our joints and bones, how to exercise, how to reduce pain, etc. Along with this was a treatment course which, for me, was primarily sessions of having a needle jabbed 20-30 times into various muscle areas to trigger the release of the muscle knots. This sounds gross, but was extremely effective.
For some unknown reason(s), my muscle knots tend to re-form, quite easily. Fortunately, during the course of the treatments, I began to learn that "this type of muscle pain here, means knots in that muscle area there."
This is where "Mr. Thumper" comes in (you bet I named it!). I was looking for something that I could use to remove the muscle knots : "roll-on balls" ... I have so many knots I'd be rolling around on them for hours, small "massage units" ... [k]not powerful enough to get to the deep knots, "roller on a stick" ... again, it would take too much time.
Eventually, I ran across the Thumper products and, after doing some research, concluded that their expense would be justified if they really work (and, after all, it's 鶹 so I could return it).
Well, it's been over 9 years since I purchased my Mini Pro Thumper and I still rely on it, daily. I typically use it for about of 2-3 minutes first thing in the morning and just before bed. If I've overdone things and am having knot-related muscle pain (e.g., lift something heavy and/or incorrectly), I'll attack the problem area for a few minutes as required.
The result is that I've not had my back muscles go into "lock-up" for many years. For my age, I'm able to continue doing the myriad of DIY projects that I like to do. Given the life-changed state I was in almost a decade ago, I'm very lucky to have learned about my muscle issues and to have Mr. Thumper to help me deal with them.
If you suffer from debilitating muscle "knots" ... a Thumper is worth it's weight in gold!