In reply to nufkin:
> You can probably do the same with a knuckle in the knotty muscle,
> but the levering makes it much easier
Yes for "normal" quick massage after a finger-intensive, the ArmAid works well. As nufkin says, much faster and easier than using the knuckles.
(Extra feature: Can also use the ArmAid to massage both sides of the upper arm).
Very well designed, I'd guess it's been through some iterations.
It's also a good "learning" tool for how to do self-massage -- when used with the instructional videos.
The shortcoming for climbing is that some key muscles (flexor digitorum profundus) for finger grip are deeper inside the underside/inside of the forearm, too deep for the ArmAid mechanism to really "dig" into fully.
So for digging into "trigger points" in the FDP muscles I need to my knuckles.
(One climber on MountainProject made the brilliant suggestion of putting the forearm down low with its underside/inside turned upward, and digging in with the opposite _elbow_, supported by body weight -- but too often I get cramps in my groin muscles when I try that configuration, and my opposite arm has gotten strong enough to dig without the aid of body weight).
And I also need to use my knuckles to _find_ those trigger points. So if I suspect a hard workout has resulted in need for deep digging, I find I don't use the ArmAid at all.
But I _learned_ all this by starting with the ArmAid.
