Shocking myself into relaxation
Sep 7, 2008 Product Review
So I’m sitting here on the couch with electrodes strapped to my back. No, wait, that’s not quite right. I have sticky gel pads stuck to my upper back, and electrical pulses are running through them, contracting the muscles. And it feels sooooo good.
A few weeks ago I went to a RoleMommy PR party, and got to try a really interesting device called Slendertone EnerVive. The party itself was great: food, drinks, massages, and manicures! Want me to think nice things about your product? It really can’t hurt to feed me, massage me, and make my hands look pretty. It’s probably a very good thing that I’m not a politician. I think I’d be a lobbyist’s wet dream
Anyway, at the party a rep from Slendertone gave us a demonstration. She put the sticky pads of the Slendertone unit on a willing party-goer and turned it on, gradually ratcheting up the intensity. You can see a video of the party here. The Slendertone stuff starts around 1:20.
We each got to take a unit home, which was really cool because these sell for $150 on HSN. So, on a day when I was really beat, with nobody around wanting to rub my shoulders, I unpacked the EnerVive unit and read the instructions. I was a little bit afraid that I would electrocute myself to death with a nine volt battery, so I wanted to read all of the warnings and guidelines. After reading the instructions, as much as I wanted to get right to it, I went upstairs and took a quick shower so that the pads would stick right. I had been for a long bike ride in the humid late summer heat, and was really gross. I think under normal circumstances I probably could have just cleaned whatever body part I wanted to massage with a washcloth.
Positioning the pads on the backs of my shoulders where my tension was was not easy, but I did the best I could. I chose a 20 minute program and turned the unit on, starting the intensity low and then gradually raising it. It felt good – for about 10 seconds. Then the unit started to beep and gave me the exclamation point warning, which meant that some part of the gel pad wasn’t connecting to my skin. The instructions (that I had just read ten minutes before) say clearly to pause the program before repositioning the pads, so what do I do? I grab the pad while it’s still on. I have to say, something that feels great on your back does not necessarily feel good on your fingertips.
So after cursing to myself and pausing the unit, I tried to reposition the pad, and turned the unit back on. It was fine for a couple of minutes, but then it started beeping again. Basically, every time I moved even a tiny tiny bit, it beeped. Pretty much the opposite of relaxing.
I decided that it wasn’t a good idea to test this thing out on a part of my body I can’t really reach, so I decided to do my arms instead. I had been lifting some boxes earlier in the day and my arms were a little sore. Heeding the advice that I shouldn’t do both arms at one time (so that one is free to operate the unit), I put a pad on my right bicep, set the program, and sat back. This time, no beeping! It’s hard to describe what it felt like. The best I can do is thousands of tiny fingers tapping on my arm. The muscle would gently contract for a few seconds, and then release. Now, nobody is going to confuse this with a real massage, but I only get a real massage a few times a year. I can use the EnerVive any time I want!
It felt really good, but in order to pass the usability test, I had to be able to use my laptop while the unit was working. If I can breastfeed a baby while typing, then I should be able to use this while typing. And I can! Whoo-hoo!
Since then I’ve tried doing my back, with my husband attaching the gel pads for me, and it worked great. I haven’t done anything other than the relaxation programs yet. The unit claims that it can “condition” muscles, and someday I’ll test that out. I totally believe in the relaxing effects of the EnerVive unit, but I’m skeptical that it can actually tone my muscles in any way. We’ll see. Maybe I’ll try to do some kind of comparison, like using the unit on one arm for a couple of months and see if that arm is more toned than the other one.
Originally posted on Selfish Mom
Tags: EnerVive, massage, RoleMommy, Slendertone
