Stroke length is a term you’ll see when discussing motors or engines. In engines, stroke length is how far the piston travels in the cylinder, which is determined by the cranks on the crankshaft.

This is relevant on our site and mentioned often when discussing massage guns because their performance is based on a similar concept. Most of the motors on today’s massage guns are a simple form of a crankshaft with a massage attachment on the end. You may also hear or see the term interchanged with amplitude, which relates to a cyclical motion.

Stroke length is a term you may have also seen as part of the marketing of many of the popular massage guns, such as Theragun (they call it amplitude) and Hypervolt, on their own websites. These companies use the term as another attribute of which you can judge and compare among devices – and rightfully so because it can play an important factor in the performance (and personal preference) of devices.

Stroke length relates to the distance the massage head attachment is moving away from the motorized portion of the unit as the. As the motor rotates, the arm of the massage gun will cycle in and out of the device. With massage guns, the measurement is most often presented in millimeters and usually ranging between 10-16mm.

Why Does Stroke Length Matter?

Stroke length is important in massage guns because it relates to the sensation the device is able to deliver to the targeted area. In essence, the larger the stroke length, the more powerful the impact will feel (dependent on the strength of the motor). Typically, devices with low stroke lengths feel more vibrational than percussive. An analogy: if you are going to wind up to punch something, extending your arm and then pulling it back to your chest is going to deliver a more powerful punch than if you extended your arm and only pulled it back 6 inches.

Therefore stroke length matters when you are considering what is right for you and what your preferred pressure during a massage is. If you are someone that doesn’t necessarily like the most aggressive massages, then stroke length may not be as important to you. However, you have a lot of muscle mass or simply prefer a more aggressive massage (such as a deep tissue sports massage), then stroke length is something to pay a bit more attention to.

Now certainly there are many other factors to be considered other than just stroke length, but it is certainly one of the main aspects to consider when deciding which device might be the best for you.

To learn more about massage guns, check out our Buyer’s Guide section of our Top Massage Guns For The Money article.