That’s how you know the tool is working. Trigger Point therapy is inherently painful— sometimes very painful. Trigger points are the sensitive areas in muscles that cause painful knotted muscles. Keep in mind that the spots that hurt are not necessarily the trigger points.You can find pictures online that show where the trigger points are in relation to the pain. In Google Images, search for “Travell trigger point charts”.Here’s why the treatment is painful: When a trigger point is pressed on, it hurts. As you hold the pressure, the pain should increase. This pressure deprives the muscle of oxygen. If you can stand the pain long enough, the muscle will relax the knot. A few minutes later, after the superficial pain of the treatment is gone, you will feel relief from the pain caused by the knotted muscle.That is the beginning of treating trigger points because muscles have memory. The trigger points have to be repeatedly released, thus teaching the muscle a new position to exist in.The knots come back, let’s say 80%—I’m guessing at a number—after every treatment. With regular treatments, they will eventually be gone completely.At first, you might not be able to stand the pressure more than 5 seconds. That time will increase with each treatment. The tightest knots will not release with the first few treatments.This is a situation where less is more. Pressing too hard and/or too often will cause the pain to get worse the next day.With persistence, the knots WILL eventually go away.I know. I had a bad fall that twisted my pelvis and put all of my muscles into spasm. All of those knots are gone now except for the small ones on my cervical spine, at the base of the skull. This tool reaches those last few muscles. You might have to fiddle with the tool to find the right spots.You CAN do this!—It is life changing!Reference: Janet Travell and David Simons, Myofascial Pain and Dysfunction: The Trigger Point Manual. Read more

LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!! I cannot say enough good things about this. It is literally a lifesaver for me.This tool is for manual muscle releases but it's something that you can now do to yourself. I use it mainly for occipital and trapezius releases but you could probably use it anywhere. I have to warn you...it's very uncomfortable to do but you feel SOOOOOO much better afterwards. I usually lay on it anywhere from 10 minutes to a few hours (depending on how I'm feeling). I literally do not go anywhere without it.It has 2 different surfaces (I like the rounded one the best) and you simply just lay on it so the edges are pushing into the muscle and then try to relax the rest of your body so your body weight is the pressure that causes the release. again...it's uncomfortable but totally worth it.I struggle with migraines that have been diagnosed at "atypical" and while they rarely include nausea (thankfully) I pretty much always have neck pain and tightness. I've gotten MRIs and CT but so far the doctor's don't know if the neck soreness causes the migraine or migraine causes the neck pain. I was searching for something to help relieve my tension and stumbled upon the DaVinci tool. I am in sports medicine and loved it so much I bought one for each of our facilities. Now I have many athletes that love it also.If you have neck pain/tension and/or migraines...GET ONE! I cannot say enough good things about this. It has literally saved my life. Read more

I'm talking to the chronic pain sufferer here.. what could you possibly be waiting for? BUY THIS. Firstly, even before talking about chronic pain, it's GREAT for releasing the shoulders, and taking time to used this at the suboccipital area of your neck daily actually helps your gut motility, it helps with detox, and countless other benefits whether you are in pain or not.For my PAIN sufferers though..... YES, it may hurt at first especially if you have chronic pain and lack of mobility. I had to start with 2-4 minutes a day and I had to explore and find out which 3 points really seemed to RELEASE the pain and headaches for me. Once you figure that out though and work up to being able to lay on this for 5-15 minutes at a time in any one spot your life will CHANGE! TAKE THE TIME.. be in pain, or take the time. This tool in combination with the back buddy tool took me from a space of daily tearful pain in my jaw (TMD issues, galbladder issues which is connected to both TMD and subbocupital pain that leads to mid/lower back pain, headaches, etc.), having to get weeky massages just to keep the migraines back and get my pain down and mobility up to functional for months to only needing to use this tool if I have slept wrong or practiced bad posture a lot with a 3-10 day span.and ALL I have to do to get back to being fully functional and relatively pain free is use this tool 1-3 days in a row for 5-20 minutes. Read more

This device is intended to get at deep knots and therefore doesn't feel good most of the time. You need to understand that it is attempting to release tissue that has become stuck and that process just hurts. The results are worth it. It is best to add a little towel or something in the beginning to add padding that will help ease you into feel of this device. I am dealing with issues from a fractured neck and as part of my physical therapy, this device was used and my therapist encouraged me to have one for home use. Read more

It’s very helpful.Edit on June 2022: The first thing I do before I get up and before I go to sleep is putting this under my neck and head. Otherwise, life is not easy for me. Read more

I've been using this for months now and it is great for getting at those difficult to reach knots (unless you can afford a Physio). After a few minutes of use, the tension is relieved. Obviously, it won't reach all parts because of the shape but it's great. Just lie on the floor or bed and adjust your positioning and weight to suit. I will use this for a long time and was using it last night on my neck. Read more

Slightly hard but does relieve the tension base of skull Read more

Much harder plastic than I thought - more than firm!! Read more

Very good,it gets into them tight knotted spots. Read more