Before I bought the Theragun Prime, I spent over $400 on two heated recovery devices that I returned within 30 days each. (I wrote about both of those failures here.) The Theragun Prime is the one I kept — and months later, it’s one of the best purchases I’ve ever made for my health.
This isn’t a review about specs and Bluetooth features. It’s about how a nightly routine built around this massage gun took my sciatica from waking me up nearly every night to flaring up maybe a few times a month. That’s life-changing, and I don’t use that phrase lightly.
What I Was Dealing With
Moderate sciatica that was affecting my daily life. Pain radiating from my lower back through my glute, tightness that made it hard to sit for long periods, and — worst of all — pain that would wake me up at night. I’d tried everything. I replaced my mattress. I upgraded my office chair. I bought premium heated recovery devices from Hyperice and Therabody. I was throwing money at the problem from every angle, and nothing was working.
The thing I never considered was that the tightness in my legs — hamstrings, quads, and calves — was contributing to my sciatica. I assumed the pain was all about my back. Turns out, I was wrong.
Why I Bought the Theragun Prime
After returning both the Hyperice Venom 2 Back and the Therabody RecoveryTherm Cube, I was frustrated but not ready to give up. Heated wraps and cold therapy devices had failed me, so I went in a completely different direction: active percussion therapy.
The Theragun Prime (5th Generation) sits in the middle of Therabody’s lineup. It’s more powerful than the entry-level Relief model, with five speed settings and a 16mm amplitude that Therabody claims reaches 60% deeper into muscle tissue than the average massager. But it’s not the $450+ Pro model that’s built for professional therapists.
For around $230 (prices fluctuate on Amazon — I’ve seen it as low as $200 on sale), you get the Prime device, four foam attachments (Dampener, Standard Ball, Thumb, and Micro-Point), a USB-C charging cable, and access to the Therabody app via Bluetooth.
I was skeptical. But I was also in pain.
The Discovery That Changed Everything
Here’s where this review takes a turn that most Theragun reviews don’t.
I didn’t fix my sciatica by using the Theragun on my back.
Within the first week of owning the Prime, I started experimenting with using it on my hamstrings, quads, and calves before bed. Not my lower back. Not the glute where the pain was worst. My legs.
And the sciatica started improving almost immediately.
I had never considered that the tightness in my legs was connected to my sciatica. I’d spent months focused on the pain site — my lower back and glute — when the real issue was tension further down the chain. Tight hamstrings pull on the pelvis, which puts pressure on the lower back, which aggravates the sciatic nerve. It sounds obvious in hindsight, but when you’re in pain, you focus on where it hurts.
The Theragun Prime let me work through that leg tightness in a way that stretching alone never could. Five to ten minutes on each leg, running the Dampener attachment along the hamstrings, over the quads, and down the calves. That’s it. No aggressive deep tissue work. No pain-face required. Just steady, consistent percussion on the muscles that were quietly making my sciatica worse.
The Dampener Attachment Is the Star
The Prime comes with four attachments, and I’ve ordered a couple extras — including an arrowhead-shaped head for trigger points. But honestly, the Dampener that comes in the box is all you really need for this kind of work.
It’s the softest of the four included heads, designed for tender or sensitive areas. For running along the hamstrings and calves, it provides the perfect amount of pressure without feeling like you’re brutalizing the muscle. The Standard Ball is good for broader coverage on the quads, and the Thumb attachment is useful if you want to work a specific knot in the lower back. But 90% of my usage is the Dampener on my legs.
The arrowhead attachment I ordered separately is fine for pinpoint trigger work, but it’s not necessary. If you’re on the fence about buying extras, don’t — start with what’s in the box and see how far it takes you.
My Nightly Routine (10-15 Minutes Total)
This is the protocol that took me from nightly sciatica pain to near-complete relief. I do this every night before bed, and the consistency matters more than any single session.
Step 1: Theragun on the legs (5-10 minutes)
Using the Dampener attachment on a moderate speed setting, I work through both hamstrings, quads, and calves. I don’t rush it. I let the percussion do the work, moving slowly along each muscle group. This is the single most impactful thing I’ve added to my routine.
Step 2: McKenzie press-ups (10 reps)
These are a physical therapy staple for disc-related lower back issues. Lie face down, place your hands by your shoulders, and press your upper body up while keeping your hips on the floor — like a yoga cobra pose, but you hold it briefly at the top and lower back down. This guide from Remi Sovran explains the exercise and its variations in detail. I do ten reps at a pace that feels comfortable.
Step 3: Lacrosse ball on the glute (2-3 minutes)
Here’s the $8 secret weapon. I set a lacrosse ball on the floor, sit on it with the ball positioned under the glute where the knots live, and roll my weight into the tight spots. The knots in the piriformis and surrounding glute muscles are a major contributor to sciatica, and the targeted pressure from a lacrosse ball gets deeper into that tissue than any massage gun can at that angle.
Could I use the Theragun on my glute? Yes, and it would work with some effort. But the lacrosse ball is more effective there because you can use your full body weight to apply pressure directly into the knot. It’s a $8 set of balls on Amazon. Buy a pack and keep one by your bed.
That’s it. Fifteen minutes, every night, right before I get into bed.
The Results
I’ll be straightforward about what this routine has done and what it hasn’t.
Before this routine, sciatica was waking me up nearly every night. The pain going to bed was significant, and I was regularly losing sleep. I had replaced my mattress, tried different pillows, adjusted my office setup — none of it solved the underlying problem.
After building this nightly routine around the Theragun Prime, the pain went from every night to a few times a month. That’s not total elimination, and I’m not claiming it will be. After a heavy leg workout, I might still need an Aleve to sleep comfortably. But we’re talking about a handful of rough nights per month versus being woken up by pain on a near-daily basis.
I attribute most of that improvement to addressing the leg tightness I didn’t even realize was contributing to the problem. The Theragun Prime is the tool that made that possible — I couldn’t get this level of consistent, deep percussion therapy from stretching alone, and it’s far more practical than booking a massage therapist multiple times a week.
The Hardware: What You’re Getting for $230
The review so far has been heavy on my personal experience, so let me cover the product itself.
Build quality: The Prime feels solid. The hard plastic shell has a premium feel, and the foam attachments are noticeably higher quality than cheaper massage guns. The triangle-shaped handle is Therabody’s signature design, and it genuinely makes it easier to reach different body parts without awkward wrist angles.
Battery life: Rated at 120 minutes, and that feels accurate in practice. I use mine for 5-10 minutes a night and charge it every few days. This was a massive upgrade after dealing with the Hyperice Venom 2 Back’s battery that died after 30 minutes of real use. The Prime charges via USB-C, which is how it should be.
Noise level: It’s not silent. At higher speeds, you’ll hear it in the next room. But at the low-to-mid speeds I use for my nightly routine, it’s quiet enough to use while my partner is falling asleep nearby. Therabody claims it’s 70% quieter than previous generations, and compared to older percussion devices I’ve tried, that tracks.
Speed settings: Five speeds ranging from 1,750 to 2,400 percussions per minute. I mostly use speeds 1-3. The higher settings are there for deep tissue work on larger muscle groups, but for my sciatica routine, moderate speed with the soft Dampener attachment does the job.
Bluetooth and app: The Prime connects to the Therabody app, which has guided routines and a force meter showing how hard you’re pressing. It’s a nice-to-have, not a need-to-have. I used the guided routines a few times early on to learn proper technique, then stopped opening the app. The gun works perfectly well with the physical buttons.
FSA/HSA eligible: Yes. If you have flexible spending dollars to burn, this qualifies.
Who Should Buy the Theragun Prime
Buy it if:
- You’re dealing with sciatica, chronic muscle tightness, or recovery needs that require daily use
- You want something powerful enough to actually work through deep muscle tension
- You value build quality and battery life over getting the cheapest option
- You train regularly (BJJ, running, lifting) and need a recovery tool that keeps up
Skip it if:
- You only have occasional muscle soreness — the cheaper Theragun Relief ($160) would be fine
- You want heat therapy specifically — a percussion gun is a different tool
- You’re on a tight budget — there are decent massage guns under $100, though they won’t match the Prime’s build quality or amplitude
The Bottom Line
The Theragun Prime didn’t just relieve my sciatica. It helped me understand what was actually causing it.
I spent months and hundreds of dollars chasing solutions — new mattress, office chair upgrades, heated wraps, cold therapy devices — all focused on the site of the pain. The Theragun Prime is what finally got me to address the tightness in my legs that was pulling everything out of alignment.
Combined with McKenzie press-ups and an $8 lacrosse ball, a 10-15 minute nightly routine built around this massage gun took me from nightly pain to sleeping soundly almost every night. I can’t guarantee the same results for everyone — sciatica has many causes and you should always consult a healthcare provider for persistent pain — but for me, this has been genuinely life-changing.
Buy the Theragun Prime 5th Gen on Amazon →
Dealing with sciatica and not sure where to start? Read why I returned the Hyperice Venom 2 Back and Therabody RecoveryTherm Cubebefore landing on the Theragun Prime — it might save you $400 in trial and error.
