I've been a working journalist for 15 years, and my hands won't let me forget it.
I don't really blame them — I spend 8+ hours a day contorting my paws into claws over a keyboard, and since I'm on the larger side (6'4" ~195 pounds) I think my mitts are a bit bigger than most devices are designed to comfortably accommodate.
At least, that's how it feels when I walk away from my desk after a day of writing with my wrists, palms and fingers burning and cramping up. If you experience anything similar after a day at the PC, I think you can understand why I've developed a keen interest in sorting through the best massage guns on the market to find what works best for me.
I've also started checking out hand massagers after I used some FSA money to pick up this $200 palm therapy device and was impressed at how effectively it relieved some of my hand pain. That experience helped me appreciate what these therapy devices can do for pain relief, so when a representative reached out to offer us a Bob & Brad Hand Massager for review I was excited to check it out.
This little gadget weighs under three pounds and offers three different massage settings, three strength settings and optional heating. It's the smallest, most portable hand massager I've used yet, and after testing it for a couple of weeks I've found at least three things to appreciate about it — and one frustrating shortcoming.
If you're on the fence about whether to buy one, let me walk you through my experiences using the Bob & Brad Hand Massager for pain relief these past few weeks.
Great for wrist relief due to 3-bladder design
The Bob & Brad Hand Massager does a better job of specifically massaging my wrist than any hand massager I've tried to date."
If you're confused by that heading, let me explain: the Bob & Brad Hand Massager has three separate air bladders inside that expand and contract based on what mode and compression strength setting you engage.
So as you stick your hand inside the first bladder you pass your hand through should end up wrapping around your wrist, the second wraps roughly around your palm and the third is around your fingers.
I really appreciate this because I feel like the Bob & Brad Hand Massager does a better job of specifically massaging my wrist than any hand massager I've tried to date.
I'm used to having a machine that warms and massages my palm and fingers, but my wrist takes a lot of punishment too and until now I haven't tried a hand massager that specifically massages my wrist in such a pleasing way.
However, be aware that you can choose to engage only specific massage bladders by flipping between the massager's three modes. The first mode engages all three bladders at the same time, the second massages just your fingers and palm and the third mode massages just palm and wrist.
I've yet to encounter a scenario where I don't want all three bladders engaged at all times so I typically keep it set to the default mode, but folks who want more targeted relief have options.
Strong heat and massage
I haven't reviewed a ton of hand massagers to date, but I've tried a few and the Bob & Brad Hand Massager is the best yet when it comes to heat and massage strength.
For context, the $200 hand massager I tried recently gets neither as hot or as strong as this $79 Bob & Brad model, plus it's slightly louder and heavier.
In fact, the strength of the Bob & Brad Hand Massager at max power was slightly too much for me the first few times I tried it. I became accustomed to it and now I enjoy it, but it's a slightly scary feeling to have your hand in a device that's squeezing it so hard it starts to hurt. Luckily, you can turn off the massager or turn down the strength of the massage with the push of a button.
Nice accessories
The Bob & Brad Hand Massager arrives in a box with a few accessories included, and while they aren't critical to using the device (or even necessary) they are nice to have.
Inside the box you get the hand massager as well as a drawstring pouch to carry it in, plus an orange plastic finger massager and a pack of disposable gloves.
I never found the gloves very helpful, but they're pitched as something you can wear if you have lotion on your hands so it doesn't get on the inside of the hand massager. I never found this very helpful with just plain moisturizing lotion on my hands, but if you use pain relief gel or some other topical remedy on your hands these gloves might come in handy.
For me, the little finger massage tool is actually the most exciting packed-in freebie because using it on my sore fingers brought a little extra relief. It's a very minor effect, but putting my finger between the two prongs of the device and slowly moving the two rollers on the points up and down created a gentle, welcome massage effect.
Not every hand massager comes with these sorts of accessories, so it was a nice surprise to open the box and find a few extra tools inside that I could experiment with to try and relieve the pain in my aching hands.
I just wish it had cutouts for your thumb
As charmed as I am by the Bob & Brad Hand Massager, there's one potential deal-breaker that causes me to second-guess whether I actually want to use it when my hands are aching.
See, this portable hand massager doesn't have holes on either side of the device so your thumb can comfortably extend out and rest during the massage. Instead, you have to keep your thumb curled up inside the machine for the entire massage process, which I find uncomfortably constraining and a little painful at times.
Now again, I think my hands are bigger than most, so you may not feel as uncomfortable as I do curling a thumb up inside this thing for 15 minutes. But leaving a hole on either side of the device for your thumb seems like such a simple design feature that I'm a little dismayed the manufacturer chose not to bother.
Perhaps this design choice has something to do with the wiring or the desire to muffle noise from the massager, but in the end every time I use this thing I pine for the freedom to relax my thumb. So while I'm very happy with the massage and compression settings offered by the Bob & Brad Hand Massager, I think folks with big hands might feel a little cramped when using it.
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