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Massage Chairs

Furniture For Life simplifies the often-confusing process of choosing a massage chair by carefully curating The World’s Best Massage Chairs®: a selection of best-in-class chairs from only the most reputable global brands.

The World’s Best Massage Chairs® collection encompasses a comprehensive range of therapeutic features and innovative technologies, with multiple massage intensities, styles, and aesthetic designs. We are confident that our expert Comfort Consultants can assist you in finding the perfect chair to enhance your overall comfort and well-being.

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You’ll rest easy knowing that this significant purchase is backed by an established and reputable massage chair brand offering the best factory warranties in the massage chair market, professional in-home repair services, and the industry’s most knowledgeable and dedicated customer service team.

The newest 2023 massage chair models offer a variety of innovative functions. Many of these new and updated features include body scanning, zero gravity, wall-hugging/space-saving, reclining, heat, full-body, 4D, and multiple therapeutic massage modalities. The seamless union of this multitude of features inside a single gloriously designed machine will make you feel fantastic—more relaxed, rejuvenated, and impressively mobile overall.

The most recent models from the best massage chair brands offer a mix of designs, technology, massage style options, and programs. The right massage chair can provide a professional and therapeutic massage experience in the comfort of your own home. No need to make an appointment a few days in advance and drive to a massage therapist’s office.

Personal Massage Therapy: Massage Chairs for Home

A premium massage chair provides an excellent massage while saving you time and money by making treatment available 24/7/365 without you ever having to leave your home. Massage chairs also make it possible for people that may be uncomfortable with getting therapy from a massage therapist to receive the benefits of massage in a 100% comfortable, stranger-free setting.

The best massage chair brands are attractive, capable, and long-lasting. The perfect chair will provide long-term health benefits to the whole family for years to come.

Massage Chair Features and Functions

Massage chairs offer a variety of functions, and no one chair can “do it all” for everyone. But as you continue to explore the market, you’ll find some features that stand out.

Furniture For Life Comfort Consultants can assist you in selecting a massage chair based on the chair features that will get you the results you crave. Whether you’ll use it for pain relief or deep meditation, the perfect chair for you is waiting.

Reach out to chat with our Comfort Consultants or contact us if you would like help finding the best office massage chair, a compact massage chair, a full-body massage chair, or any type.

Here are some things to consider in the meantime:

Massage Therapy Functions:

High-end massage chairs present a wide variety of techniques that mimic sensations you would expect to feel from a professional masseuse. These include touch, tapping, rolling, kneading, stretching, reflexology, and acupressure. The goal is to imitate Shiatsu, Swedish, deep-tissue, and other massage styles. Many massaging chairs offer pre-programmed options for these therapeutic massage experiences.

Massage Chair Mechanics & Mechanisms:

Massage chairs today do more than just work on your back. You can find a chair that provides leg & foot massage, neck traction, hip and iliotibial band massage, forearm, hand, and even fingertip massage.

Motors for Massage Chairs:

The massage therapy provided by a chairis delivered by synchronized motor-driven back massage assemblies (often called “massage engines” or “massage mechs”), as well as a system of air cells and actuators. These are responsible for the massaging movements of the backrest and footrest of the massage chair. Recent innovations include additional mechanical massagers focusing on the neck and occiput (the back section of the skull) and mechanical roller arrays targeting the forearms.

Massaging Rollers & Air Bags:

Mechanical rollers can operate at different speeds and different intensities, allowing the user to control and tailor the massage experience. Air cells—inflatable bladders located strategically in different parts of the chair—inflate and deflate, simulating the compressing touch of an expert masseuse or body technician. When air cells and rollers are properly programmed to work in tandem, you experience the height of what is possible from a massage chair.

Heat Therapy:

Notably, most high-quality massage chairs offer the option of heat applied to the low back, and in some cases, the cervical spine or the seat, and even fingers, soles, and calves. The heated massage chairs we offer generate heat through infrared warming elements installed either in chair padding, massage rollers, or both.

The addition of infrared heat makes your massage significantly more effective by helping your muscles relax. Your body also generates heat as blood moves toward the skin’s surface with a well-choreographed heated massage session. This is a virtuous circle! The infrared heat provided by your massage chair enhances the effects of the natural heat that you feel on the surface of your skin while the mechanical action of massage stimulates circulation.

Recliner Function:

Sitting upright during a massage is typical of a chair you might find in a shopping mall. Even though that no doubt feels good, studies have shown that a recliner option available in most contemporary massage chairs boosts the health benefits that a chair can provide and your own sense of relaxation.

High-end massage chairs feature a variety of recline options, including zero gravity. The concept of zero-gravity derives from NASA Skylab missions, during which the “neutral posture” of the human body in microgravity— the weightlessness that astronauts feel in space—was a subject of research.

A True Zero-Gravity® massage chair places your body in a gravity-neutral position, which helps in lowering your heart rate, reducing tension, promoting healthy circulation, and lowering blood pressure.

The benefits of a massage chair’s reclining position differ for L-Track, S-track, and what the engineers at OHCO have trademarked as “MaxTrack” designs. An L-Track massage chair achieves zero gravity with the benefits described above. An S-Track massage chair cannot offer zero gravity recline, but it can lie flat (or nearly flat) and provide superior stretching for the user. A MaxTrack chair can do it all: stretch you, place your body in zero gravity, and recline you to a nearly flat position.

Attractive Design:

You might think that attractive design and an effective massage are mutually exclusive. And you wouldn’t be alone. But we challenge you to think again and take a look at the chairs on our website.

The industry has changed, and OHCO, in particular, offers a chair lineup crafted by one of the greatest designers in the world. “The times they are a-changin’” and we think you’ll LOVE what you see!

You’ll want something attractive if you are shopping for a massage chair that will double as a lounger in your living room or den—not a vintage Buick or Barcalounger with some extra, protruding ugly bits, that you park in the corner.

Today’s massage chairs are designed by engineers with the eyes of artists like Ken Okuyama—the creative genius behind the world’s most iconic automotive styles for Ferrari and Pininfarina. Some chairs are even touted as “works of art,” and indeed, they are beautiful. Many feature genuine top-grain leather upholstery, some with real black walnut trim.

The exceptional craftsmanship in premium massage chairs helps ensure they’ll last a lifetime. Best of all, you can find something that looks as beautiful as it feels.

Massage Choreography: Seldom Mentioned, Incredibly Important

It takes a long time to design a full-body massage chair. All the internal mechanisms and supporting frameworks are the domain of engineers in Japan and China. Circuit boards have to be developed. And the massage mechanism—the very heart of the chair’s functionality—is an extremely technically complicated piece of machinery.

The better-run factories are good at hardware design. They see this as the most significant challenge of bringing a massage chair to market. But the best massage chair brands know that hardware is only 50% of the challenge of building one.

Where does the other half of the effort go? It’s allocated to planning, programming, and testing how a chair FEELS and to getting the most from the hardware and feature sets created by mechanical engineers.

How much does it matter? If you ask us, it’s as important as any other aspect of a massage chair—maybe more! We’ll need you to trust us here, but we make this claim with full confidence:

There are massage chairs that were built before 2010 that are better at massage than many of the “high-tech” models you find on the market today.

Why? Because some older models were more carefully programmed. Thoughtful program design more than makes up for a feature set that might not look as sexy on a comparison chart.

We operate under the assumption that of all the things a massage chair does, the most important to you is the quality of the massage. Are we onto something here?

The choreography is the “secret sauce.” The very best massage chair brands understand this and invest a significant amount of time, energy, and money in this crucial step of the chair’s development.

Our Comfort Consultants are experts at guiding you in this area, which is the least mentioned and most important factor you should consider when purchasing a massage chair.

Benefits of Massage Chairs

Massage chairs are designed to provide a whole-body wellness experience. The best ones faithfully mimic the massages offered by professionally certified massage therapists.

Owning the right chair will make its health benefits available to you 24/7 for years to come. If you think carefully about the math, amortized over years of service, the upfront massage chair cost results in highly economical convenience. (And that’s before you add the gas money to and from a massage clinic and the time you waste sitting in a car getting there.) We recommend that you turn that drive time into massage time!

The primary benefit of a massage chair is that it induces relaxation. Throughout the days and weeks, with the stress of our daily lives, our bodies accumulate significant tension and soreness. Often, we feel tired and stiff, which can lead to irritability and added stress.

A massage chair can provide immediate relief and more subtle, long-lasting health benefits. We’ll also mention that a relaxed body and mind will most likely make a much happier person, and there’s nothing more valuable than being happier and healthier!

A capable, high-quality therapeutic chair will work muscle tissue and fascia, improving flexibility and mobility when used consistently over time. Reclining functions help improve circulation (both vascular and lymphatic), lower blood pressure, reduce pressure on the lumbar spine, reduce back pain, and even potentially relieve sciatica symptoms. Massage chairs have also been proven to help alleviate depression, chronic pain, and joint issues, as well as manage type II diabetes symptoms. They can even alleviate headaches and migraines.

Massage Chair Research

As you do your research, think about what you need. You’ll find 4D, L-Track, heated, zero gravity, and full-body. And extras such as body scanning, chromotherapy, air ionization, and blue-tooth music support may be just what your mind and body have been telling you they need.

A massage chair is a significant investment in your overall health that can deliver incredible life-enhancing benefits to you and your family.

Where Was the Massage Chair Manufactured?

Let’s break this question down into three more revealing questions that offer more informative answers:

Where was the chair designed?
Who wrote the massage programs?
What is the country of origin?

There’s a large difference between chairs designed in Chinese factories and those designed in Japanese or American factories. Not to knock them, but Chinese engineers and factory operators lack insight into the U.S. market and what our customers demand. As a result, these chairs tend to miss the mark in many ways.

Massage Chairs Made-In-China

Most companies locate the entire process—design, engineering, and assembly of their chairs —in China. Production costs are lowest there.

Additionally, their manufacturing standards have significantly improved over the years. This is why 90% of the industry’s products are made in China. Regarding basic quality and reliability, “made-in-China” should no longer be seen as a negative. It’s actually more important to understand the brand’s commitment to after-sale service.

Manufacturing Quality Control in Full-Body Massage Chairs

True luxury massage chair brands do most of their work (design, engineering, and assembly) in Japan or the U.S. They primarily outsource less critical decisions to Chinese manufacturing partners.

Quality control is essential in the making of a high-end chair. Chinese manufacturing and production can be done very well, but only if the manufacturer is committed to quality control for each part and mechanical component. Unfortunately, there are low-cost (and low-QC) factories that ship many products worldwide.

So, buyers need to be careful when making an expensive purchase. If you see a chair price that’s too good to be true, just know that it probably is.

Moreover, Japanese products have enjoyed a very good reputation for quality. Some brands with the best reputations complete their manufacturing processes in Japan. It’s no surprise that massage chairs made in Japan tend to cost more. But this higher initial investment will generally pay off in better-quality massage therapy and a longer period of trouble-free service.

Massage Chair Questions? Ask Us.

If you have other questions about the features or benefits of specific massage chairs, contact Furniture For Life. Please also explore our Massage Chair Deals promotion page and Factory Certified Used Massage Chairs page.

We’re here to support you in your due diligence and research as you assess the best massage chairs. Our Comfort Consultants are committed to your satisfaction. They’ll be patient and attentive throughout your buying journey.

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"This newest "family member" is PERFECT for us, and we really appreciated the accurate advice and coaching from this store. We even named our chair Ray, which is short for Ray O. Sunshine. Thanks for the super advice and great product. Going to see Ray now"

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