FDA Warns Consumers About ShoulderFlex Massager

Neck and Shoulder Massage Device Poses Strangulation Risk

The FDA consumer safety division issued a warning to consumers against using a massage device called the ShoulderFlex Massager.  The device was implicated in causing at least one death and one near death.  The product was recalled but there are still some products remain on store shelves.

The ShoulderFlex Massager is a personal massage device sold in retail stores, via catalogs, and over the Internet. It is intended to provide a deep-tissue massage to the neck, shoulders, and back area, while lying down.

The concern is with hair, clothing and jewelry which might get entangled in the mechanism and cause strangulation.

“The ShoulderFlex Massager poses serious risks,” Steve Silverman of the FDA says in a news release.

Silverman, director of the FDA’s Office of Compliance in its Center for Devices and Radiological Health, says, “consumers should stop using this device, health care providers should not recommend it to their patients, and businesses should stop distributing and selling the device.”

During this last minute holiday shopping, if you see a massager heavily reduced in price, make sure you double check the brand and model.

Personal massagers can be a nice gift.  They can help with muscle spasms and trigger points.  But always be safe when using one.  If it has any sort of entanglement risk, do not use it.

Dr. Andrew White
Chiropractor St George Utah

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