Most massage chairs come with automatic programs, and each program has its own name based on the therapeutic benefit it’s designed to provide. Depending on the brand and model, a chair might have as few as 5 programs or as many as 35.

In these automatic programs, the rollers and airbags are pre-configured to work together in a specific choreography to achieve the intended therapeutic effect. However, you can adjust certain aspects of the program. On most chairs, you can change:

• Airbag intensity

• Roller speed

• Roller depth (intensity)

So while the program’s choreography stays the same, you can tailor how strong or fast the chair feels.

On the other side, you have manual programs, where you can create your own custom massage. For example, maybe you only want the rollers to work on your neck or the base of your skull, and you want the massage style to be kneading, tapping, or a combination of both. You can set all of that up manually.

Most massage chairs follow a similar five-step process for building a manual program:

1. Choose the massage modality.

Select the roller action you want — kneading, tapping, or a combination.

2. Select the massage area: point, zone, or whole spine.

I usually start with point mode, which focuses on one exact spot.

3. Move the rollers to the exact location.

Use the arrow buttons to move the rollers up or down until they reach the area you want.
Once you let go of the button, the rollers will stay on that spot.

If you want more coverage, switch to zone mode, which usually includes about 6 inches above and below the target spot.
Or you can skip point/zone entirely and let the rollers cover the whole spine.

4. Adjust intensity, speed, and airbags.

Now that the rollers are where you want them, dial in your preferences:

• Roller speed

• Roller depth/intensity

• Airbag location and intensity

Maybe you only want the arm airbags, or the shoulder airbags — you can individually turn them on or off depending on what you’re working on.

5. Fine-tune as the massage continues.

You can move the rollers anytime during the session.
Maybe you start on your neck, and after five minutes you want the rollers to move down to the next segment — just reposition them as you go.

If your chair includes a memory function, you can save your custom program and recall it anytime with a single button press.

Manual programming can seem confusing at first because it’s not always obvious how to set rollers, airbags, and modalities in the right order — but once you understand the process, it’s quite simple. Most chairs follow this exact same workflow.

I hope you found this video helpful.
I’m Dr. Alan Weidner from Massage Chair Relief, and I’ll see you in the next video.

Bye-bye.