Stones, technique and the difference between face and body work. Grouped by the guide that explains them, which is the part worth reading first.
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Best overall
A hinged roller you squeeze around the forearm with your other hand and slide up and down. It reaches the top of the forearm with real pressure, which is hard to do with your own thumb.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Warm-up
A wrap that stays on the forearm while you work at a desk for the first fifteen minutes of the day. Loosens the muscles before you start gripping.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)For scraping
The same body tool I recommend for the neck. Its curved edge fits the forearm perfectly. Read the technique in the gua sha guide before you use it.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Worth a try, not a fix
A strap just below the elbow changes where the tendon pulls, and some people find it lets them work with less pain. It does not treat the cause. Use it on the days you cannot avoid gripping, and keep doing the rest.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Change how you grip
If the gripping is a mouse, change the mouse. A vertical one puts the hand in a handshake position, and the forearm muscles that lift the fingers stop working all day. It takes about a week to feel normal. Most of my desk patients do not go back.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)The exercise that works
A flexible rubber bar for a slow twisting exercise that loads the forearm tendon as it lengthens. It is the one exercise with real evidence behind it for tennis elbow. Start with the lightest resistance and have someone show you the movement once; done wrong it is just more gripping.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Cold after
Heat before you use the arm, cold after. A small gel pack with a strap sits on the outer elbow for ten minutes at the end of a gripping day while you do something else with the other hand.
From Tennis elbow, mouse arm and tight forearms: what helps between visits
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Best for the face
Cool, heavy, hygienic and impossible to chip. The classic 'wing' shape gives you the long edge for the cheeks and the notch for the jaw.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Traditional option
If you want the traditional feel, get real nephrite jade. Check the edge as described above. Wash it with soap; it is porous enough to hold oil.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)You will also need
Gua sha always needs slip. Squalane or a simple facial oil for the face; the same unscented massage oil you use for cupping for the body.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)The traditional body tool
What body gua sha was done with before stainless steel. Warm in the hand, a little forgiving on the skin, and the classic shapes have a good rounded edge for the neck and forearm. Check the edge with a fingernail like any other tool.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)Genuinely
I mean it. The smooth rounded rim of a plain ceramic soup spoon is a perfectly good body gua sha edge, and it is what a lot of families used for generations. Oil the area, hold the spoon by the bowl, scrape with the edge of the rim.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)To keep it clean
Oil, skin and a drawer are how a tool grows something. A wipe over a steel or stone tool after every use is the whole hygiene routine. Individually wrapped ones are handy in a travel bag.
From Gua sha tools: face vs. body, and why the stone matters less than the edge
View on Amazon (affiliate link, opens in a new tab)For glide
A light, unscented oil gives the tool enough slip to glide without dragging the skin. Fractionated coconut oil stays liquid and washes out of clothes easily.
From How to gua sha your own neck and shoulders
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