Relaxed neck and shoulder muscles thanks to the Shoulder Massager H7 from SKG? Unfortunately not

A hardened neck. Tense shoulders. Pain that travels up into the head or down the back. Tense neck and shoulder muscles are one of the most widespread common ailments in a service society in which a large proportion of the working population sits in front of computer screens day in, day out. My own are no exception, ergonomic chair and height-adjustable desk or not.

A nice neck massage in the evening, warming creams or plasters can help. Unfortunately, not all options are always readily available or can be quite expensive over time.

So a neck massager that you can strap to your body and wear at all times in your home office and use without outside help is just the thing. I thought so and had the SKG Shoulder Massager H7 delivered to my home.

Massagers

199,– EUR

SKG H7

1

Massagers

199,– EUR

SKG H7

1

Unpacking

The scope of delivery of the device is pleasingly straightforward:

• Massage device
• USB-C charging cable
• ready

The device also comes with a certain base charge, so you could strap it to your neck as soon as you unpack it. However, I didn't do this, but first read the product description and instructions. Unfortunately, this is where the first disappointment lurks. The information on the packaging is rather meagre. There is nothing more than the product description, which you can also find online, and an illustration of the device with its buttons and heads.

The manufacturer promises four different massage modes. Two of the four massage heads can heat up and warm your muscles to four additional temperature levels during the treatment. You can switch the device on and off, change the massage modes and set the temperature using three buttons. So far so simple.

Attention, ready, fiddling around

However, strapping on the H7 to use the device hands-free is not quite as easy. Parents who wore their children in a wrap when they were babies are definitely at an advantage here, if it wasn't too long ago. For me, however, those days were 7-8 years ago, so my brain first got really tangled up with the two long elasticated straps that are attached to the side of the device and that I have to wrap around my stomach and back from the shoulders. Okay, I admit it, that's complaining at a high level. It's not that difficult after man I realise that I just have to bend my neck forward a little so that the machine doesn't thunder down on me while I'm working with the loops.

So, and now I'm sitting there with the H7 on my neck and want to activate the thing. Not so easy when you can't see the buttons, you can only feel them. But okay, I manage that too with the help of the graphic, thanks to which I can feel which button controls what. The power button activates the device and I can use it to switch between the massage modes. Next to it is the button for the four intensity levels. On the other side of the UBS-C socket is the button that regulates the temperature.

If the massage doesn't relax

In the end, the four heads massage and I also get the heat to work. However, I switch it off again pretty quickly. Even the lowest setting is quickly too hot for me. Especially as the heat radiates all the time on the same two small areas of skin. It's not a function that I would use for more than a minute or two on the lowest setting. To be honest, after the first unpleasant attempt, I didn't switch on the heating function again for a long time. A later second and final attempt didn't go any better.

Unfortunately, I can't say much more positive about the massage function than I can about the heating function. Yes, my neck is massaged. Yes, I can feel that there are different massage rhythms and intensities at work when I select the four different modes. But no, none of them live up to my expectations. My muscles are not relaxed afterwards, nor do I feel any less pain in my neck, shoulders or back. Rather the opposite.

Because the massage heads are strapped tightly to my body, they always massage the same four areas. Regardless of whether they are the areas that hurt, pull and tense - or not. So I see very limited use for the device. In any case, I'm not at all sorry that I have to return it after testing it.

Conclusion: I'm sticking with my massage gun

The Shoulder Massager H7 from SKG does exactly what it says on the packaging, online and in the instructions. It kneads my neck and shoulder muscles in four positions with four different rhythms and just as many speeds. Two of the four massage heads also heat up my muscles on four levels. Thanks to the two elasticated straps with Velcro fasteners, I can attach the device to my shoulder and work, walk around or do household chores during the massage.

And yet the device is still no good. For all the setting options it actually offers, it still lacks the flexibility I need for a massage. The same four points are always kneaded with the same intensity (per level). However, if I wanted to be massaged just a few centimetres or even millimetres further to the left, right, top or bottom, neither the mode nor the speed change would do me any good.

It also seems rather strange that long after the launch of the device, which is explicitly called the Shoulder Massager, SKG is now also advertising the fact that you can use it to massage your stomach, back, thighs, lower legs or upper arms just as well. SKG also recommends massage positions for my shoulders and back where I can't strap the device on, but have to hold the elasticated straps in my hands and pull them tight to keep the massager in place.

I can do all of this with a completely normal, cheaper and more handy massage gun much more easily and, above all, much more flexibly. Although I also have to hold it by hand to the area to be massaged, I can use it to massage the tense muscle area that needs it precisely to the square centimetre.