I'm not only an editor at Tom's Guide, but also a homeowner and a parent. I've been testing smart home devices in and around my house for years. I'm the guy with the 20-foot inflatable skeleton at Halloween, the guy with the robot lawnmower prowling his yard, and the guy who made a lightsaber out of hardware store parts.
This column is going to take a look at tech, tools, and tips for your kids, your pets, and anything else that could make your house more fun and functional.
Age comes for us all. In my case, it came in the form of a very active 7-year-old, who insisted that I lift her up by her arms each time a wave rolled in at the beach. As I lifted her up, she would jump and raise her legs in the air, so the water would flow safely beneath, and only then would she splash down into the sea.
It was all part of a delightful few days at the Jersey shore in the waning days of August. The sun wasn’t too hot, the water was warm, and the wind was gentle. However, those hours spent lifting my daughter up above the waves came with a price.
Age comes for us all. In my case, it came in the form of a very active 7-year-old, who insisted that I lift her up by her arms each time a wave rolled in at the beach.
Back at the house, I bent down to pick up my beach towel, and that’s when everything went to hell. My lower left back suddenly gave out, and I felt pain like I hadn’t felt since I smashed my foot against my dresser in the middle of the night.
I had a hard time straightening my back, and any time I tried to move from sitting to standing, my muscles just wouldn’t cooperate. I didn’t walk so much as shuffle, and my back felt like it was bent more than an elderly grandmother with a walker.
Over the following days, I did a number of back stretches to alleviate the pain, and they helped somewhat. It wasn’t until I got back home that I found the real answer.
A year or two ago, I picked up the Theragun Prime Plus massage gun, but hadn’t really used it much. I know massage guns work well, but I always considered them an extravagance and never incorporated them into my post-workout routines. But, in my desperation, I pulled it out of its dust-flecked case and trained it on my back.
Friends, I tell you that it delivered instant relief. On its lowest setting, the Prime Plus went to work on my back, and immediately, I started to feel things loosen up. I then switched to the Prime Plus heated head, which made things oh so much better. It was like getting a massage and a heating pad in one. I made some pretty weird sounds as the pain in my back magically dissolved.
Because of the location of my aches and pains, it was a bit tricky for me to reach my lower back myself. I ultimately asked my spouse for help while I lay on my stomach, and she ran the massage gun over the affected areas. A few sessions over the next day or so, the pain in my back was completely gone. I can now see why Theragun's devices rank well on our list of the best massage guns.
The Theragun Prime Plus is the company's mid-tier full-body massage gun. If you can live without the heated bit, the Theragun Prime is on sale as of this writing for $249, down from its regular price of $329. At the higher end is the Pro Plus, which not only has a heated percussive head but also has a near-infrared LED light to really get your healing on. However, it costs $599 (regularly $649), so it's a bit more of a spend.
Yes, I need to follow the advice of our wonderful fitness team and do more core exercises to strengthen my lower back, plus there's this 90-second stretch recommended by physical therapists. Still, it’s good to know I have an option if things go awry again.
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