I Tried InstaShiatsu, and I No Longer Want to Hit the Spa

Putting my feet up at the end of a long day is something I look forward to every night after work. It's a small pleasure, but it's one that I find fits in perfectly with my routine. I have high arches, and walking around the office all day, going from meeting to meeting, usually puts me out by the end of the day.

Spa treatments were just getting too pricey for me, too. A day at the spa is an excellent way to treat yourself, but going every other week because my feet hurt... I couldn't rationalize spending that kind of money. So I did what any other millennial would do and turned to the internet for answers, quickly finding a solution that would change how I lounge about the house after dinner, on weekends, and pretty much whenever I felt like it: the InstaShiatsu.

TruMedic’s InstaShiatsu products have garnered the appreciation of pregnant mothers, chronic pain sufferers, and impulse buyers alike. Consumers have tried out the foot massager in particular, for reasons ranging from desperation to curiosity, from the occasional ache or pain to the fact that Oprah endorsed the product in the December 2018 issue of O Magazine by saying, “When I tried this foot massager, I swear fireworks lit the sky, waves pounded against the shore, and a choir of angels sang. This is some powerful pampering.” If you head over to the product page for the InstaShiatsu Foot Massager by TruMedic, too, you’ll find pages of reviews filled with pleasantly surprised consumers who heard the hype, but kept their expectations low at a first glance. Little did they know that their minds were about to be blown!

Here's why you should look no further than Oprah's seal of approval.

With Oprah justifying my purchase, I eagerly awaited the arrival of my own InstaShiatsu Foot Massager to see if the experience provided by this machine would be as transcendental as everyone claims it to be.

While I waited for my two-day shipping time to end and knowing that some people question whether or not massages are helpful or detrimental, I looked up some of the benefits of the foot massages that I would get at the spa near my apartment. As it turns out, foot massage and reflexology were originally ancient Chinese practices, and foot massages, in particular, have been known to aid in issues with blood pressure, sleep, arthritis, depression, and even symptoms of PMS. I also looked up to find that the “Shiatsu” part of InstaShiatsu means that the machine uses acupressure, which is similar to acupuncture in that both work with pressure points to rebalance the yin and yang energies in the body, and bring relief to a variety of physical ailments.

When my package arrived, I pulled out my foot massager (and its A/C adaptor), and immediately plugged it in.

You may be asking, "Does it live up to the hype?"

I loved the combination of heat and air pressure that this thing could provide. I noticed the aches and pains in my feet and ankles that started to bother me by the end of the day start to fade as the massager got to work loosening up the muscles in my lower legs.

I read that some massagers don’t get warm enough to satisfactorily heat up your muscles before they’ll be stretched, and others heat up your muscles, but leave your skin red and blotchy as a result of this process. I think it was the combination of the air pressure with heat that made the InstaShiatsu Foot Massager avoid both of these pitfalls. The heat was isolated within the areas of air pressure, without burning my skin, and the heat was so pleasant that I wished I had a heated blanket on too, or at least a bathtub in my NYC apartment, in order to cozy up to the feeling that currently wrapped around my feet.

If you head to a spa for a foot massage, you will notice rather quickly that your foot massage will induce a sense of relaxation; however, once it’s finished, you might feel a bit more energized than when you entered the massage. In comparing my InstaShiatsu experience with the experience of a traditional foot massage, I paid special attention to how I felt before and after using the foot massager—and like many of those who left reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I felt the same, if not better, than when I paid for a traditional foot massage at a spa.

This is how the InstaShiatsu works.

The massager combines rolling movements along your feet with heat and pressure in order to mold and support your foot type and shape—whatever that may be. By doing so, it heals a variety of ailments. Reviewers have mentioned that their foot massagers helped with ankles swollen due to pregnancy, with foot pain due to careers that require you to be up and moving all day, or hobbies like running, hiking, and weight lifting. While it can be inconvenient, expensive, and time consuming to book appointments for a foot massage, for those living with chronic pain or other issues, these foot massages can be critical to general comfort and strength in their feet and legs. With the InstaShiatsu foot massager though, you can get a comparable foot massage experience inside your own home, whenever you want. If Oprah didn't convince you and you haven't scoped out the reviews yet, let me be the first to tell you that, so far, it’s well worth the investment.

TruMedic’s InstaShiatsu products offer more than just a foot massager with heat, too. They have designed the foot massager with heat, the head and neck massager, the foot and calf massager, and the neck and back massager with heat, among other, similar products. Each of their products is created with ease of use in mind, and the neck and back massagers in particular were created to be lightweight and portable. This just means that you can be the envy of the office, as you can bring that professional-level massage with you wherever you go.

I know, it seems impossible that a portable foot massager with heat could match, or even get close to, the level of quality that you can expect when you pay for a foot massage at a spa. These InstaShiatsu products are incredibly versatile though. The three different intensity settings that you can tailor to your needs with the foot massager will leave you feeling pampered, seemingly on any regular, old day. With the pressure settings, you can guarantee that the experience will support your foot no matter the shape or issue you may be having. The machine completely envelops your feet and molds around them to begin the massage, so your entire foot is massaged and warmed at the same time.

InstaShiatsu is the perfect alternative to going to the spa.

As forms of alternative medicine, reflexology, acupuncture, and acupressure have yet to be entirely embraced by traditional medicine, these alternative medicine practices; including meditation, Ayurveda, and chiropractic medicine, among others; have been embraced in recent years as solutions to try to help patients in pain. For those without easy access to these kinds of alternative medicines though, TruMedic’s InstaShiatsu products can be incredibly useful, bringing them things like acupressure and a professional-level massage, in order to help their pain.

I will be cancelling my future spa appointments after investing in the InstaShiatsu Foot Massager with heat because the convenience of getting that same experience I want, without having to leave my apartment (or my pajamas), is just that much better in almost every conceivable way. It's the perfect addition to any DIY spa day at home, and something that I will shamelessly be using every night from here on out.