Part 1 of my Review of the Panasonic 30007 Massage Chair

Panasonic introduced the 30007 model as their top of the line massage chair and it’s first chair manufactured in Japan in a long, long time. When it hit the market, it retailed at $5999. As with most Panasonic massage chairs, the price eventually was chopped down to around where it is today…about $4000! Quite a difference. But, that is another story.

Panasonic 30007 Massage Chair

Today, I will review the main features of the Panasonic 30007 massage chair in this article, along with some personal opinions and observations from having used it in our showroom many, many times over the last number of years.

First of all, I’d like to say that Panasonic makes a very durable massage chair. Whenever someone comes into our showroom looking for a new massage chair to replace their old one, I learn that their old one is usually a Panasonic and they’ve had it for years.

A Little Massage Chair History…

Inada may have been the company to come out with the first massage chair, back in 1962, but I think it is safe to say that Panasonic was the first company to take the idea of a massage chair and mass produce it. They were everywhere in years past. Of course, new companies come along and we have so many manufacturers to choose from today, but Panasonic was the first big player in the massage chair market.

The 30007 model, in my opinion, is a chair that gives a great bang for your buck. At around $4000 you get a Japanese-made chair with a bunch of features that you would typically see on a more expensive chair, i.e. foot and calf massager, hip airbags, seat massage, forearm/hand/wrist airbag massage, body scan technology, among other things. I think the chair is certainly not a $5999 chair, but for $4K it is a great bargain.

The massage rollers offer a very nice, vigorous massage. When the rollers hit the shoulder area they do an interesting thing: they roll forward over a portion of the trapezia muscles (those are the shoulder muscles that get sore when you sit at a computer for too long…you know, the ones you grab with the opposite hand to rub out the tightness). Most other massage chairs will have the rollers go up the low, mid, and upper back before going on to the neck but will just move along the contours of the spine. This shoulder massage feature of the roller actually moves forward somewhat at the shoulder area to give those trap muscles a little attention. It feels fantastic.

The hip air bags are nothing more than a way for the chair to anchor your pelvis in so that the massage rollers get a better traction effect and a deeper massage to the spine. The airbags don’t massage anything, unlike the Inada Sogno massage chair thigh airbags which actually massage the IlioTibial Bands of either leg, but it just compresses the thighs so that your pelvis doesn’t move forward when the rollers come down the back. That is how it anchors your pelvis and you get a deeper massage from the rollers as a result of it.

The arm airbags are actually built into the arm rests. Lift up the top of the armrests and you slide your hands and arms into a space where airbags compress from above and below to give your upper extremities and good work-over.

Dr. Alan Weidner
www.massage-chair-relief.com