Massage chairs were long considered a luxury item. Today, price ranges start from a couple of thousand euros, so the question is no longer "can I afford it" but "do I actually need it".
A single massage session with a specialist in Lithuania costs roughly 35–50 euros. If you go once a week, that adds up to 1,800–2,600 euros a year. A mid-range chair costs about the same, except everyone in the household can use it, and for years to come.
This doesn't mean the chair "pays for itself within a year" — the comparison only holds if you genuinely visit a masseur regularly. If you go a couple of times a year, there's no economic argument to be made, and choosing a chair is worthwhile for other reasons.
The cost of a session almost always comes with added travel, waiting, and fitting around a specialist's schedule. At home, the massage starts when it suits you — in the evening after work or on a Sunday morning. This is precisely why the chair ends up being used more often than planned, and regularity matters more here than the intensity of a single session.
Three groups tend to choose a chair most often. People with desk jobs, whose neck and shoulders get tense. Physically active people or those who exercise, who need to recover after exertion. And older people with limited mobility, for whom warmth and gentle massage ease everyday life.
It doesn't suit those expecting treatment. The chair is not a medical device and doesn't replace rehabilitation prescribed by a doctor.
Relaxing tense muscles, improving circulation, falling asleep more easily after an evening session. This is felt immediately and day to day. What's not worth expecting — resolving spine problems, losing weight, or other things that adverts sometimes promise.
Pay attention to three things. Whether the chair suits your height — the massage mechanism's path needs to match the line of your spine. How much space you need for reclining: models with the Zero Wall function recline almost right up against the wall. And whether there's local servicing available — a chair is a piece of equipment, and equipment sometimes needs maintenance.
