Neck King

I had an amazing massage at a resort in New Jersey, by the therapist who invented this device. He did such a great job on my neck, that I asked him if he had any advice for how I might proceed to live with less (or no!) neck pain. Only then did he tell me about his invention. I ordered it right away and have used it daily for several minutes. It's been less than a week, and I already have much less pain more range of motion, and am sleeping better. I really can't believe it, because I have had chronic neck pain for years. It feels strange at first. It seems too big, and it hurts a little. But I believe that using it for a few minutes at a time, and gradually increasing, will really be helpful. The You Tube instructional video was also very helpful. Thank you, Glenn!

This product is simple yet ingenious! I have used many things to alleviate neck pain including a tens unit, a decompression device, a shiatsu massager and tennis balls...this is similar to a tennis ball but gets right to where the pain is without slipping and having to re-adjust your body so it doesn't slip out from the area. This is also great just to lean against while watching t.v. if you have any muscles spasms between the shoulder blades. I love how you can lay on your side and allow it to put pressure on muscles on the side of the neck without it putting pressure on the brachial nerves. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has muscles spasms or tightness anywhere in the body. It even helps with sciatic pain and the muscles knots that occur down the back of the leg. Absolutely wonderful and well worth the investment!

Got this thing while I was on bed rest, hoping that it would help release the tension building up in my neck. It's super hard and I can't get it in a position where it's comfortable. I shouldn't say that it makes me uncomfortable, it's more like down-right excruciating pain. I've had trigger point therapy before, and it is key to be able to control pressure. If it is too deep, it can actually cause the muscle to lock up and create more problems. This product isn't at all what I thought it would be, but that's what I get for purchasing a product like this sight-unseen. I would suggest looking into a softer product with more "give", like a still point inducer. Something that won't leave you with a headache and tender, sore muscles for days. Maybe it's not made for a woman, because it seems to be too big?

I've tried my share of manual and electric back/neck trigger massagers for trigger points and knots. This one is... ok. Just ok. It works, just not really well. You will never have a massager that caters to everyone as some people want firm and pointed pressure, while others can only tolerate something softer and more diffuse. I'm in the former category, and I'm more than willing to put up with a alot of pain if it means getting out a knot.This one tries to do both in a way. It's hard plastic styrene vacuum formed, not hard foam as I was expecting. The surface is very smooth, which is ok, but the bottom edge is sharp. Not knife-sharp, but hard abrupt transition in the plastic that might tear fabric if you tried using it in bed or on a massage table. So ground-only unless you put something underneath, which is kind of dumb that they didn't include a cover.The bumps are round and smooth, which can provide a deep massage if the thing only had 1 pair of bumps. But since it has two pairs, I could never position it without the second pair propping up the rest of my neck, reducing the pressure. I tried every angle and shifted my neck up and down, and there were simply areas I couldn't reach well without having one pair under my skull or shoulderblades. Not pleasant.When it works, it works well enough, but two tennis balls taped together work "well enough". For $25, I was underwhelmed.

This is a formed piece of plastic. It looks rather unassuming but the design elements are configured in such a way that I found it quite effective at helping me manage the trigger point therapy I self-manage. It takes some practice but once mastered it does help me apply the pressure required to obtain relief from hyper-irritable muscle knots.One star penalty for the high price. Perhaps that price is required for higher upfront costs to build molds/prototypes and only selling small runs of this product means the manufacturer has to spread those costs over low numbers of product sales. I don't know that but they have commented and provided some explanation...see comments.I can afford it but for someone on a tighter budget might get by with a lacrosse ball and a couple of square pieces of 1 inch plywood glued together to create some height. Place that under you and use it to apply the ball to your muscle knots on your lower back, butt muscles and other large muscle groups. Or just use a lacrosse ball on a yoga pad (hardwood floor) or carpet to control the ball's movement and you can get an effective release. This Neck King is a good addition to your myofascial release toolkit (look at the Back Buddy as well Body Back Buddy). Neck King is also very good for precise pressure placement on the neck and other smaller more sensitive muscles.