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Pummel the pain away (trust us, it’s more enjoyable than it sounds)

While the latest season of Sex Education might suggest a different method of pain relief (come on, you know the song), a massage gun comes in at a close second when it comes to soothing aching muscles.

Whether your back’s giving you grief after an awkward sleep or your legs feel like jelly after hitting a few too many HIIT classes, these powerful bits of kit can help you recover by pummelling your muscles.

Now, we realise that doesn’t sound particularly appealing, but it can actually be oddly relaxing (you’re just going to have to trust us on this one). And, by pounding and jiggling your limbs, massage guns encourage blood flow to the impacted area, helping reduce soreness. Not bad, eh?

If you’ve ever looked into buying one of these handheld masseurs, you’ll know they can be pricey — like, eye-watering, £500+ pricey. Fortunately for you lucky lot, we’ve made it our mission to track down the best cut-price guns on the market.

AND, if that’s not enough, we also asked our resident health expert to put each one to the test, making sure they met our stringent soothing standards. Not to toot our own horn, but we’ve really gone the extra mile for you this time (you’re welcome).

Here are our seven favourite affordable massage guns:

Our expert fitness tester used each massage gun for three weeks to recover from their ridiculously active schedule of HIIT, gym-trips, yoga, running and much, much more (total honesty, we get tired just writing about it).

The best ones were easy and comfortable to use, moved smoothly over skin, soothed our muscles effectively and served up a few fancy features to keep us entertained.

These are the select few that made the cut:

Unfortunately, hiring a personal masseuse is slightly out of our price range. Thankfully, our budget can stretch to this nifty bit of kit from RENPHO (muscles, you owe us one).

A smooth operator, it’ll leave your muscles feeling fresh after a thorough massage and comes with five swappable massage heads to target all manner of aches. The handle vibrated quite a lot when we cranked the speed to the max, but it still does everything you’d expect of a top massage gun for a more than fair fee.

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 2 Weight: 0.68kg Amplitude: 9mm Speed settings: 5, from 1800 to 3200ppm Battery life: Up to 6 hours Warranty: None Included accessories: 5 massage heads, USB charging cable, carry case

We’re not sure about you, but when someone says massage, we start to dream up the ultimate relaxing scene: think candles, oils, soothing music...you get the picture. And, while stronger massage guns are great at untying knotted muscles, many of us won’t want our bones rattled in the name of recovery.

This HoMedics model offers a lighter tough, better suited to less intense recovery sessions after a long walk or day on your feet. We found the ball massage head dragged on our skin slightly, causing some discomfort, but the lightweight design and easy-to-use controls helped us re-find our zen.

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 1 Weight: Not given Amplitude: Not given Speed settings: Variable, up to 3300ppm Battery life: Up to 3hrs 20mins Warranty: 2 years Included accessories: 5 massage heads, charge

It might be the priciest massage gun on our list, but we think this one’s worth splurging on. The cute, compact design is easy to pop into your gym bag, but don’t underestimate this pocket rocket. It’s got three speed settings, and the top one is hella-powerful (great if you’ve got any stubborn aches and pains that just won’t go away).

It’s a bit noisy, so you might have to have a slightly awkward conversation with neighbours/housemates to explain what you’ve been up to, but it scored top marks with our tester for relieving soreness and relaxation. Don’t be surprised if you quickly find yourself hooked on this mini masseuse.

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 3 Weight: 0.65g Amplitude: 12mm Speed settings: 3, from 1750 to 2400rpm Battery life: Up to 2.5 hours Warranty: 1 year Included accessories: Charger, carry case

From our priciest pick to one of the cheapest on our list, you get plenty of bang for your buck with this massage gun. For less than 55 quid, it’ll effectively judder your muscles back to their non-painful prime, and it comes with a choice of four different massage heads too, so you can switch up the experience.

It’s a bit bulky, and our tester said it felt a little cheap in their hand. It still did the job though, helping us get rid of our jelly legs after a brutal bedroom HIIT workout.

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 1 Weight: 0.77kg Amplitude: Unavailable Speed settings: 5, range unavailable Battery life: Up to 1hr 40mins Warranty: 2 years Included accessories: 4 massage heads, charger, carry case

The hefty massage guns you see athletes and influencers using on Instagram are all well and good, but if you’re not gunning for the 2024 Olympics then a mini model will probably be up to the job. They’re also way more portable (perfect for a post-gym recovery sesh) and less heavy too, so your arm won’t ache after a few minutes of massaging.

The Pulseroll Mini was surprisingly powerful for its size, and easily fitted in our bag when we wanted to use it on the go. The massage heads felt a tad tacky, but the six hour battery life was the highest on test (perfect for a forgetful lot like us).

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 1 Weight: 0.6kg Amplitude: 8mm Speed settings: 4, from 1500 to 3000rpm Battery life: Up to 6 hours Warranty: 1 year Included accessories: 4 massage heads, USB charging cable, carry case

Wahl has interpreted the massage gun brief completely differently here, but we kinda like it. It might look more like a shoehorn (remember those?) than the traditional pistol design, but this has its pluses. The long handle made it easy to reach those irritating tight spots on our back, and a massage head shaped like four fingers (sounds gross, but don’t knock it 'til you try it) actually did wonders on our sore spots.

It hasn’t quite got the oomph seriously sporty types are after, but if you just want to enjoy a relaxing massage, it’ll do a bang up job.

Key specs Sizes: 1 Colours: 1 Weight: Not given Amplitude: Not given Speed settings: Variable, up to 3300ppm Battery life: Up to 3hrs 20mins Warranty: 2 years Included accessories: 5 massage heads, charger