Sarah is a freelance writer with a focus on health and wellness. She has written for publications like Women's Health, Healthline, and Parents. She taught creative writing for five years, and has a bachelor's degree in English from Southern Connecticut State University.

Adam H. Kaplan, DPM, is a podiatrist who has been in private practice for over 5 years in New Jersey and specializes in a wide scope of foot care.

Nick Blackmer is a librarian, fact-checker, and researcher with more than 20 years’ experience in consumer-oriented health and wellness content.

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No assembly and easy setup

Variable modes and intensity settings

Works on feet or calves

Awkward to move or stow away

If you’re looking for a foot massager that lets you sit back and relax while it does the work for you, the Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine has it all: it offers shiatsu rolling pressure, compression therapy, gentle heat, soothing swaying, and stimulating vibration all in one unit. Its adjustable design allows it to be used for your feet or your calves, and variable intensity means it can provide deep relaxation or more rigorous relief.

We purchased the Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine so our reviewer could test and assess it. Keep reading for our full product review.

You don’t have to have a chronic pain condition to have sore feet and legs—many of us spend a lot of our day on our feet at work, at home, and everywhere in between. And while some people think long term and wear orthopedic shoes or orthotics, many of us tend to prioritize fashion over long-term foot health.

Whatever your reason is for having foot, ankle, or calf pain, it’s not exactly something you can ignore. If your feet hurt when you walk or your legs are constantly cramping up, it could affect your mobility over time—and that’s a vicious cycle, because the less you move, the more likely you are to have muscle and joint pain, stiffness, and swelling. 

To maintain any hope of pain-free mobility, you need to work out all these kinks—preferably all at once, so you can feel better fast and get back to business. A foot massager that can tackle your toughest foot and leg problems with a multifaceted approach sounds like a dream, but it’s actually a reality: The Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine is so adjustable, even the pickiest user can find a setting they love.

From helping to treat pain conditions like arthritis and plantar fasciitis to simply taking the edge off a long, hard day on your feet, the Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine can handle it with ease. There’s almost nothing this machine can’t do—here’s what it was like putting it to the test.

The Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine is ready to go straight out of the box, no assembly required. But it is a fairly large machine that weighs over 20 pounds, so getting it out of the box might be tricky for people with strength or grasping issues.

Once it’s unpacked, the massager has a quick setup: Just plug the power cord into a wall outlet and attach the power cord to the unit with a second adapter cord. It’s technically easy to do, but there aren’t any instructions about how to connect all these pieces; it took me a moment to figure out how these cords attach and fit together, so it could be tricky for someone less tech-savvy (and it would have been helpful if there was a diagram pointing out how to connect the cords).

From there, the machine can be used instantly. It has a removable cover for washing and cleaning, when needed, that unzips from the top. I had significant trouble, though, figuring out how to unzip it (there was no pull tab on my zipper, which made unzipping pretty tricky).

If you want vibration but need something quiet, I don’t think you can get it with this massager.

The manufacturer also promotes the massager as having a “quiet mode,” but it took me some time to figure out that this is the mode without vibration, since the vibration is what makes this machine fairly loud with initial use. If you want the vibration but need something quiet, I don’t think you can get it with this massager.

There are a lot of convenient features built into the machine, so I’m going to break them down one at a time.

The instructions include steps to take if you think your machine isn’t producing any heat, but in my experience, the heat is just extremely subtle.

As I mentioned, both the intensity of the features and the way the machine cycles through them are adjustable to your preference. You can keep everything on the lowest setting for relaxing, deep tissue-style massage, or bump up the intensity little by little to receive more targeted therapeutic relief. 

By far the biggest adjustability feature, though, is the handle-like bar attachment. With a simple sliding mechanism, you can raise and lower the bar so the machine sits at several different angles; this allows you to keep your feet down and flat inside the foot compartments or propped up out in front of you, focusing the pressure on your toes, balls of your feet, soles, or heels as needed.

You can keep everything on the lowest setting for relaxing, deep tissue-style massage, or bump up the intensity little by little to receive more targeted therapeutic relief.

The adjustable bar is also what gives you the option to use the machine as a calf massager: If you angle the massager up as high as it goes, you can turn it around so the lower half of your legs rest inside the foot compartments. From there, use of the machine is exactly the same as it is when your feet are inside. 

I was overwhelmed a little with how to actually use the machine at first. In addition to the power button, there are four different buttons that operate the machine, changing the modes and features. The machine also uses a color-coded system for gauging the intensity, which changes from blue (mild) to green (moderate) to red (intense), but also includes flashing lights (like “flashing blue”) to signify transitional settings.

I needed to put my feet in the massager and follow along with the instructions as it was working on my feet in order to figure out what the different options truly were.

Personally, I’m a hands-on learner—so reading the instructions, which outlined what each button controls and how to understand the machine’s intensity levels, was confusing for me. If you don’t have any trouble reading and processing instructions, you’ll be fine, but I needed to put my feet in the massager and follow along with the instructions as it was working on my feet in order to figure out what the different options truly were.

Once I got the hang of it, the massager was easy to operate, but there is definitely a learning curve because of just how many options there are to choose from.

I’ve never used a foot massager before so I was a little surprised by how strong even the mild and gentle settings were, but it was never outright uncomfortable—just a little more intense than I was expecting. After a few minutes, I knew what to expect and enjoyed the amount of pressure I was receiving.

I was underwhelmed by the effects on my heels; if you only have plantar fasciitis, I’m not sure this would be the best option for you.

Although the massager did a great job working out the stiffness and soreness on the balls and soles of my feet (and I could see how it might relieve leg pain if I had any), I was underwhelmed by the effects on my heels.

Most people, unless they have severe pain or are especially sensitive to massage, could probably use the mild and gentle settings right away without needing any time to acclimate or adjust to the features. I’m not a fan myself of the stronger intensity settings, but I don’t think they would be painful, per se, for the majority of users: My three kids were testing out all of the settings, cycling through the modes like it was an arcade game, without any complaints of pain or discomfort. However, I would recommend starting off with the least intense setting and working your way up over time so as not to cause injury.

Most people, unless they have severe pain or are especially sensitive to massage, could probably use the mild and gentle settings right away without needing time to acclimate.

Truthfully, the cost of this machine is probably its biggest con. Yes, it gives you a luxurious massage and does the work of several smaller machines combined into one, but unless you have chronic problems with your feet and plan on using the massager every day, its luxury price tag may not give you much bang for your buck even after several months of use.

That said, if you do plan on using the machine every day or have a health condition that threatens your mobility because of serious pain, it could very well be worth your while to invest in one massager that can treat a variety of issues and bring lasting relief.

There aren’t too many ways you can misuse the device; because it only provides a little bit of warming heat, there’s no risk of burns, and you only need to turn the machine off to stop any and all operation if it suddenly becomes too uncomfortable for you.

It’s important to make sure you’re physically capable of bearing the weight of the machine before picking it up to relocate it.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind, particularly regarding the machine’s size and weight. Even though the massager has a handle-like bar for adjusting the position, it’s not a carrying handle—the manufacturers make it clear that you shouldn’t use the bar to move the massager around your house.

The only way to move the machine from one place to another is to pick the whole thing up and carry it. It’s important to make sure you’re physically capable of bearing the weight of the machine before picking it up. It’s nearly 25 pounds, which means if you drop it on your foot, it’s going to hurt (and if you drop it on the floor, it might break!). Only people confident in their ability to manage the machine’s awkward size and shape, along with its weight, should be transporting it. 

Once you learn how to use the Cloud Massage Shiatsu Foot Massager Machine to get the results you want, it’s like receiving a personalized massage from the comfort of your living room. The multitude of setting options means you can adjust the type and intensity of the massage to your unique preference—but it also means you’ll need to spend some time “practicing” with the machine to find your best modes and settings. The machine is also large, making it a bit of a commitment. We recommend it for people who need relief every day due to chronic pain conditions like plantar fasciitis and arthritis.

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