What is Stall Force?

Stall force (or stall torgue) is a term that is mentioned often on Best Massage Tech in both our articles and videos. It is a term closely associated with massage guns on our site, but can be relevant for many other massage devices that involve utilizing some sort of direct pressure on a target area of the body. It is also applicable to any machine with a motor.

Stall torque is the torque produced by a mechanical device whose output rotational speed is zero. It may also mean the torque load that causes the output rotational speed of a device to become zero, i.e., to cause stalling

Wikipedia: Stall Torque

In the massage tech space, stall force is the amount of pressure or force that can be applied to a device before the motor stalls. It is typically defined using pounds as the unit. The higher the stall force, the more aggressively you can massage and the more force you an put on the motor before it stops or stalls.

TheraGun really brought the term to light in the massage gun space when they started including it in some of their early marketing and now list it in the specifications for each device. Not all massage guns include this information in their descriptions, but through use of many different devices, we’ve become pretty good at estimating these forces on the ones that don’t provide it.

Why is Stall Force Important?

Stall force is important in massage devices because everyone’s tolerance for pressure is different. Not everyone likes an aggressive massage and not everyone likes a light massage. If you are looking to purchase a massage gun, or any massage device, and you know what type of massage you enjoy, than stall force is something you’ll want to consider in your device. As a vague generalization, devices with higher stall forces are typically more expensive because they need to have more powerful motors, batteries, etc.

So, if you are someone that enjoys more of a vibrational or light massage, it may not be in your best interest to purchase a device with a high stall force as you’ll never utilize it at full capacity and don’t need a device with a high stall force.

On the other hand, if you are someone who thoroughly enjoys deep tissue, aggressive massages, you don’t want to purchase a device with a low stall force that won’t allow you to apply as much pressure as you need for your desired relief.

What Impacts Stall Force?

The stall force of a device is largely dependent upon the type of motor in the device and the power of the battery. Most of these devices are powered by lithium-ion batteries. If you want a device with a higher stall force, pay attention to the number of cells listed in their lithium-ion battery (Ex. 2-cell, 3-cell, 4-cell). The more cells, the higher the power output in volts.

Ranking Popular Percussion Massage Guns and Devices by Stall Force

Highest Stall Force to Lowest

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