What is a 3D Massage Chair?
2D is what you picture as your traditional back roller massage. The massage rollers move in two dimensions, up and down from your neck to your lower back, and they can also move side to side. This basic movement is effective, feels great and provides much of the benefits of massage, including alleviating back pain, easing sore muscles, to relieving stress and improving natural health and wellness.3D massage feels much more like a human masseuse caring hands than 2D massage. Not only can it move up and down and side to side, the rollers can also push out further into your back as well.
3D massage chairs are very popular nowadays because of this additional dimension where the rollers can push much further out to provide extra intensity on the massage. Most high quality ideal massage chairs offer up to 5 inches of additional intensity range, meaning the rollers can push further into your back 5 inches further than a traditional 2D massage chair.
Another benefit to 3D massage is that you can also reduce the intensity to make it very, very gentle. This wide range of adjustable intensity is very popular in households where more than one user will be using the chair. This is because every user can find the appropriate intensity level to be comfortable for them.This is where you can determine the best deep tissue massager in the market.
4D massage chairs do everything that 3D massage chairs do in terms of motion. The rollers will also go up and down, side to side and back and forth. 4D takes this a step further, by adding a 4th dimension to its massage movement technology which is that it also adjusts speed. With guidance from professional holistic massage therapists, 4D massage movements were crafted to add variations of speed to each style of massage. Much like the time-tested traditions of Japanese massage, the hands of the masseurs slow down or speed up, even pause to apply attention and pressure to tight muscles, into the areas of your back that need it the most.
4D vs 3D + Things to Consider when Buying a Massage Chair
If you've been searching for a massage chair at all lately, you would have come across a few terms that might seem confusing. We're here to break it all down for you in a very easy to understand manner.
One of the first things to consider when thinking about a massage chair is what type roller you would like. 2D rollers were the standard among massage chairs until 3D rollers a few years ago. 4D rollers have more recently become popular. Here's a good tutorial on what it all means.
2D | 3D | 4D Roller Technology
Perhaps one of the most important advancements to the industry is the 3D roller. 2D rollers move back and forth along the X-Y plane (back and forth + up and down) while the 3D roller actually protrudes intothe body from 2.2 inches to 5 inches closely mimicking the feel of human hands. With a 3D roller, you are able to enjoy a much deeper tissue massage than ever before possible from a massage chair. 4D massage chairs take this experience to an entirely new level with speed variation and more control.
2D Rollers
Until recently, almost all massage chairs were 2D. With this type of roller, you cannot adjust the intensity of the massage very well as the rollers are just able to move back and forth + up and down because the rollers remain on a flat plane in two dimensions.
3D Rollers
3D rollers allow you to access the Z-plane and 3rd dimension of a massage creating the most realistic experience possible. The depth of the rollers can be adjusted forward or backward to increase/decrease the intensity of the massage. This flexibility allows each user of the chair to create and customize the intensity to their liking. if you prefer a very deep massage and your significant other wants gentle, you have the flexibility in this chair to cater to both of you in the manual mode! The 3D Roller Technology found in premium massage chairs and provide outstanding deep tissue massage to the upper / lower back and neck area.
4D Rollers
4D massage chairs are not really all that different from 3D massage chairs exceptthe user has a lot more control over the depth and rhythm of the massage. There are often more strength adjustments with 4D chairs as well as the ability to adjust roller speed. The original technology was developed in Japan by taking the algorithm of 1000s of massage therapists in order to create the 4D massage chair which speeds up and slows down at different points during a given automatic program. With this option, you have much more control over the speed and intensity of the rollers.
Here’s a little secret: most, if not all, massage chairs have a button that can be pressed on the remote to speed up or slow down the roller function in play. For example, if you are enjoying a kneading and tapping mode in your chair, press the speed button and the speed of the kneading and tapping increases oftentimes increasing the intensity of the massage. With 4D, the speed changes are built into any given program and allow for much more control of the rollers.
