Buy Now...

click image to enlarge

An often neglected part of the body is the foot.  Yet this pair of body parts has a vital role to play in most aspects of modern day living as we sometimes discover when their develop problems.  Offering to help provide a degree of relief to overworked and tired feet is the Deluxe Shiatsu Full Foot Massager from HoMedics.  As well as providing a deep kneading massage to the feet, this piece of kit also has a relaxing Heat feature for an extra soothing experience.

See also: Health and Fitness

more

This Shiatsu massager is a one-piece unit with dimensions of 34 x 36 x 8cm (W x D x H).  It has a permanently attached power lead with an appropriate three-pin plug.  Featuring on top of this solid dark grey unit are two giant-sized foot prints cut out areas.  Measuring 30cm in length, which I think more than qualifies them for the giant-size description, these foot prints are covering with a black material.

In the massager’s dormant state, you can easily feel the nodules jutting up through the black covering material.  These nodules are the elements which will apply the massaging to the feet when they are placed on the appropriate sections of the unit.  Each of the two foot print areas contains three distinct triangular arrangements of the hard nodules.  Some of the nodules will turn in a clockwise direction and some will turn in the opposite direction once power has been delivered to the unit.

As the person who will be receiving the massager will undoubtedly be seated (there is a strong recommendation not to use this product when standing), both the chair and Shiatsu device will need to be placed in close proximity to each other and, due to the 188cm length of the attached lead, reasonably near to a power source.  Of course you could attach an extension lead but this could cause problems with leads being tripped over by those wanting to see what is going on or waiting their turn for this experience.

Positioned on a slightly raised area, between the two foot prints, is the unit’s power switch.  To save the patient the bother of leaning over from the comfort of their chair, this power switch can easily be accessed by applying pressure with a foot.  A single press of the switch will cause a blue light to surround the switch while the nodules being their massaging rotations. 

A second press of the power switch turns on the Heat feature which works in conjunction with the massager.  The blue light changes to a red colour and the various nodule arrangements are also surrounded by a red glow.  A third press on the switch turns off the device.  There seems to be no way of totally avoiding the Heat feature when you wish to turn off this device.

According to the brief Instruction Manual you should limit yourself to sessions of no longer than 20 minutes so try to avoid falling asleep when using this device.  I did come across one issue of confusion between the packaging for this product and the advice mentioned in the Instruction Manual.  The packaging clearly displays four images (admittedly the same image) of the device being used by somebody with bare feet.  However the Instruction Manual states it is “highly recommended that the appliance is used with socked feet”.  There are also recommendations that this massager should not be used by Diabetics or those with insensitive skin.

Covered by a two-year warranty, the Deluxe Shiatsu Foot Massager with Heat is priced at £64.99.  It should be available from Boots for those looking to give their feet a treat.

http://www.homedics.co.uk/deluxe-shiatsu-foot-massager.html