The Thumper Sport Percussive is a versatile gadget that delivers an effective at-home massage to quickly relieve your muscle aches and pains. It features in our best handheld massagers guide, and can be used either side of exercise to help warm up or warm down your muscles to aid faster recovery. Fitness aside, it's just as great to use everyday, if you’ve been hard at work in the garden or sat for hours at your home office desk.
While at-home massaging tools provide effective relief for aches and pains, if you have any persistent or ongoing problem, it's always a good idea to check with your doctor or physical therapist before using your new device.
If however, you’ve been noticing aches and pains creeping up as you’ve been desk-bound working from home, the Thumper Sport Percussive can offer fast and effective relief. And if you want to get to the root of the problem and improve your desk posture, you might also benefit from one of the best standing desks. For now, in our Thumper Sport Percussive review we look at what it has to offer in terms of design, features, specs, customer experiences and more.
Thumper Sport Percussive Massager review: Spec
- Type: Body massager
- Pulses per second: 20 to 40
- Warranty: two years
- Dimensions: 16 x 6 x 5 inches
- Weight: 3lbs
- Power: Mains
Thumper Sport Percussive Massager review: Design
The Thumper Sport Percussive has a distinctive design, and while it’s quite bulky, it’s precisely this quality that makes it effective when it comes to soothing your aches and pains, massaging muscles in a way that’s close to the real thing.
The Thumper Sport has a long ergonomic handle that makes it easy to get to muscles, including hard-to-reach areas such as shoulders, legs and your back. It comes with a 12-foot cord length, which should be plenty, although this does limit where you can use it. For something compact and simple to use, read our Therabody Theragun Mini review.
Despite its bulkiness though, it’s relatively lightweight at 3lbs, making it easy to carry around if you need to. When it comes to robustness, the Thumper Sport Percussive is a great-quality product that's hand manufactured in Canada. It’s easy to clean too – simply wipe it with a damp cloth and you're done.
Thumper Sport Percussive Massager review: Features
The Thumper Sport Percussive is easy to hold and maneuver, although it often requires both hands to keep it steady, especially if you are using it on your back. The controls are straightforward, and the intensity of the massage can be controlled with a variable five-speed setting to deliver between 20 and 40 pulses per second. This is in line with your muscles' natural healing frequency.
The Thumper Sport will then maintain this speed no matter how much pressure you apply, with the device's “True Speed” feedback system also preventing low speed stalls. A patented drive system technology transmits energy deep into the muscle tissue, ensuring you get the best levels of massage from the comfort of your home.
You can also use the Thumper Sport Percussive without any messy or inconvenient massage oils or creams (so it's ok on dry skin), and it’s just as effective when used through clothing, making this device super-convenient and versatile. We'd also recommend reading our Mighty Bliss Back and Body Massager review for a device that can be placed right between your shoulders for spot therapy.
Thumper Sport Percussive Massager review: Performance
If you need to tackle tight muscles and knots in your back, then the Thumper Sport Percussive is a great tool for the job. It’s not just for gym-goers either, as there’s plenty on offer for everyday aches and pains too, including soreness after a day working in the garden or doing DIY for example.
The Thumper Sport uses a 'tapotement' action – a rhythmic tapping motion – to ease your muscles, with the device providing the minimum of kickback into the handle, making it even more pleasant to use. You can also customize the massage with interchangeable spheres (choose between firm or soft) to give you different types and levels of massage therapy at home.
Sadly there's no heat therapy function here, so if you want a device that combines both, take a look at our HoMedics Percussion Pro Massager With Heat review instead.
Thumper Sport Percussive Massager review: User reviews
Over on Amazon, the Thumper Sport gets an Amazon Choice award, as well more than 1,100 reviews, 76% of which are 5 out of 5 stars. There’s plenty of great customer feedback including, “It can be a bit unwieldy at first, but is well worth it. The grey [attachments] are slightly spongier and give a bit less jarring massage, but we stick with the black ones most of the time – pretty good if you're working on a bony area, like the front of the calf or shoulder.”
Another comment on Amazon, reads: “I work at a chiropractic office and we use these on the patients as a complementary benefit after their adjustment. Great to work out hard muscles without straining you or a friend's thumb muscles in the process!”
Negative comments focused on the robustness of the device, while there were also complaints that the Thumper Sport occasionally lacked power.
Should you buy the Thumper Sport Percussive Massager?
With plenty of positive feedback from online reviews, there’s no doubt that the Thumper Sport Percussive is an excellent choice if you are looking for an effective massager. However if you need something nimble and cordless, look elsewhere.
There is good flexibility when it comes to pressure and speed, and the design is ideal for larger areas such as the back and thighs. While it works great on smaller areas such as the neck, it might not be as easy to maneuver, and so a smaller or cordless massaging device might be better suited.
Looking for extra fitness content? Try our guides to the best home gyms and elliptical machines for full body workouts, and the best fitness trackers for monitoring it all.
