Back Stretching Arch
A few minutes of open chest and shoulders, lying on the floor.
$39.00
An arched frame you lie back over for a few minutes, with three heights to work up through.
- Three adjustable heights
- Ridged upper surface
- Folds flat to store
- Use it on a rug rather than a bare floor
How it works
Three steps, ten minutes
Lowest setting first
Three heights. Start at the bottom one for the first couple of weeks, however sturdy you feel.
Lie back slowly
Sit in front of it, lower yourself so the arch sits under the middle of your back, arms out to the sides.
A minute or two
Then roll off to one side rather than sitting straight up. Stop if anything pinches.
Where it comes from
Not a tradition — a shape
There is no anma lineage behind this one and we are not going to invent one. It is a curved plastic frame. You lie back over it, and the shape of the arch opens out a chest and a pair of shoulders that have spent the day rounded over a desk. We carry it because it does one job, it stores flat, and it needs nothing but a rug and four minutes.
About this one
What it is
A curved frame with a ridged upper surface and an adjustable base. You lie back over it on the floor and let the arch take the shape of your spine for a few minutes at a time. Three settings let you start gentle and work up.
Build up slowly. Start on the lowest setting for a couple of minutes, and come off it if anything pinches.
Specifications
- Material
- Plastic
- Settings
- Three heights
- Power
- None required
- Use
- Lying on the floor
In the box
- 1 × Back stretching arch
How to use it
Care and storage
Shipping
Returns
Background
What the research says about massage
We would rather show you the evidence than describe it. Four studies on massage as a practice, summarised without the parts that would suit us better.
Meta-analysis · 37 trials · 2004
Strongest on anxiety, not on cortisol
Across 37 randomised studies, a course of massage showed its largest effects on long-term anxiety and low mood. A single session lowered blood pressure and heart rate, but did not significantly lower cortisol.
Moyer, Rounds & Hannum. Psychological Bulletin, 2004.Randomised trial · 40 completed · 2016
Swedish massage beat light touch
Twice a week for six weeks, against a light-touch control. The massage group fell 11.67 points on the Hamilton anxiety scale; the control group fell 8.41.
Rapaport et al. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 2016.Review · 23 trials · 2,400 people · 2021
Acupressure, with the caveat included
Acupressure did better than usual care on lower back pain and function. The authors then downgraded their own confidence, because the underlying trials were of mixed quality.
Li et al. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2021.Randomised trial · 30 men · 2025
Percussion beat stretching after exercise
Forty-eight hours after hard eccentric exercise, the long percussion group scored better on soreness, knee range and jump height than the group that stretched. Thirty men, ten per arm.
Li et al. Frontiers in Public Health, 2025.The caveat, which we put here ourselves: every one of these studies is about massage given by human hands, in clinical settings, to small numbers of participants. They say the category is worth taking seriously. They say nothing about any particular device, and nothing at all about this one. Our tools are massagers for relaxation and the temporary relief of minor muscle aches — not medical devices, and not a treatment for anything.
The shop
Twelve things we can describe honestly
Noovaria is a small US shop selling massage tools for the home, built on the Japanese anma idea that massage is upkeep rather than treatment. Everything we list has to do one job, live within arm's reach, and be describable in plain numbers. If the only thing a supplier can tell us about a product is how it makes you feel, we pass.
About Noovaria
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