My best ALL AROUND Stainless Steel Gua Sha Tool| IASTM Tool | Choosing Gua Sha Tools

Working on finding the perfect tool for gua sha and hand therapy and so far haven’t yet? Let me share with you my opinion on this perfect stainless steel gua sha tool.

I have been using this small gua sha / IASTM instrument for a while now and I am loving it and getting great results with my patients.

It is a great size, shape, and really is easy to hold on to with oily fingers. I have smaller hands so it is really great for me. Read on…

gua sha tools amazon stainless steel
My Favourite Gua Sha tool

My favourite Gua Sha tool – Stainless Steel

It is one of my favorite gua sha/iastm scraping tools of all the ones I’ve tried. I love the grip this one allows and haven’t seen anything like it except for the expensive hawk grips. It can be used for gua sha and IASTM whichever modality you prefer.

Gua Sha incorporates the idea in Asian Therapies of moving energy along meridian lines whereas IASTM (instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization) is more modern medical modality and focused on improving muscle and tendon condition.

There are a lot of awesome gua sha tools out there but there is a big problem, though…

You have to use lubricant / oil which makes the smooth surfaces slippery and much more difficult to control. The tools are all slippery and could use some kind of built-in texture for grip. Remember, sanitation is crucial, though, so nothing that could trap bacteria, skin cells, etc. like a rubberized insert would work. It would have to be part of the metal tool.

stainless steel gua sha tool
Grippy Seurface Gua Sha / IASTM Tool

Getting that grip surface on the tool would be excellent, because it works well with the lubricant on.

My New Favorite Tool – ValeoFM scraper2

And this is the only brand doing that other than Hawk Grips that I know of. It really sets it apart from all the others.

The edges

Another great thing about this scraper is the edges. It has a kind of double beveled edge with a kind of sharper and duller side to choose from.
I say “a kind of” because it’s not the same as the EDGE tool have, if you know what I am talking about. In the EDGE tool the duller edge is prominently set back and the sharper edge is more forward. In the ValeoFM scraper2 tool the difference between the “sharper” and the “duller” sides is not so apparent.

But still you will feel the difference working with one side of the tool and then switching to the other side.

Work more lightly to access the layers of the tissues closer to the surface and then just switch the sides in order to get deeper into more layers of tissue. You have to play with it for a while to have a knack for that.

Weight of the tool

I do love how it is a lot lighter than the Edge tool and other gua sha / iastm tools and easier to manipulate because of the size. The Edge Tool was designed by a man and I think it might actually work better for a larger hand.

The weight of the gua sha tool is quite tricky matter to implement. And for this tool it’s a perfect balance.

I did buy some other similar size scrapers and some of them had more heft. If the weight is a bit much, it will probably fatigue your hands.

Extremely light versions are not good too, though. The weight must allow you to get deeper to tissues without a need for applying too much pressure.
I had fun showing this to my team workers.

Shape and Contours

This grippy tool has versatile edges and you can always find one that works for the body area you are in. And it’s basically any zone of the body: from face to feet. You can use it on neck, trapezius, forearms, spine, hips, ankles, glutes, pelvic girdle, you name it. You can’t use it probably only on very small regions such as the sites between fingers and the like. And you can use it on yourself!

And also, this doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t want to use some specific instrument for a certain body area you work with. May be a handlebar or some kind of boomerang-like longer tool would be more useful for a specific site and technique.

Material – Stainless Steel

It’s made of stainless steel. The material and finish is very high quality. Looks attractive and shiny. It feels good to hold and cleans up easily and fully.

There is no any parts of the scraper where bacteria or dirt can collect.

Resonation

As with other metal tools you’ll be able to sense the condition of the tissue through the tool, with the instrument amplifying it for the therapist. Not crucial for Gua sha but is a pivotal concept of any modern instrument assisted soft tissue mobilization technique, such as Graston Technique, etc.

Metal resonates much better than stone which does it better than horn or plastic probably because of its density.

Buffalo horns are nice starter tools but they completely lack this ability – the resonation.

You can refer to this article to learn about different materials used for gua sha scrapers and why you’d prefer one over another: Choosing material for gua sha tools.

Verdict:

As one of the reviewers put it: this tool is a Winner!

Where to Buy this Gua Sha tool

Go to Amazon and search for “square gua sha valeofm” ◄ just head over this link to jump straight to the search results.

My Favourite All Around Gua Sha tool

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