Panasonic EP MA10 Review – Massage Chair Report

It doesn’t sacrifice comfort, and you don’t have to be a midget to use it, but its design has been streamlined so that the massage components of the chair don’t take up an undue amount of space, making it something of an engineering marvel that can fit comfortably in even small living spaces.

Panasonic EP MA10 Massage Chair Features

S-Track Design

Starting with the basics, the Panasonic EP MA10 is built around an S-Track frame, which allows its quad massage rollers to follow the natural curvature of your body’s spine. These two pieces of technology work well together, and deliver a massage that is of superior, consistent quality.

If this feature has a drawback it is in the way it was implemented. The track is quite short, so if you’re taller, or if most of your height is in your torso, it may not reach as far down your back as you’d like.

3D Body Scan

Many chairs offer this feature, and it’s an excellent addition here, further increasing the overall quality of the massage the MA10 can deliver. Before a massage begins, the chair scans the body to locate pressure points, then subtly adjusts the positions of the rollers to ensure that it hits them.

Unfortunately, as good as the body scan is, sometimes the technology misses the mark. In those instances, you can take manual control, and adjust the position of the rollers manually, via the remote (you can also adjust the width of the massage field). That way, you’re always guaranteed that they’ll hit the sore spots, further enhancing your experience.

Some Options, But...

Our Panasonic EP MA10 review wouldn’t be complete if we wouldn't go into some detail in this section. We’ll start by covering what this model has to offer, then point out its key limitation.

In terms of massage styles, the Panasonic EP MA10 gets off to a strong start, offering:

In addition to these, the chair offers four pre-programmed massage routines, which are:

These are accessible via buttons on the remote, and all default to a fifteen-minute duration. They can be adjusted via three intensity levels, allowing you to customize them to best suit your needs.

Also, there are two other buttons to call your attention to:

Several things to note about these options, considered as a whole.

First, the Panasonic EP MA10 offers more advanced massage options than first meets the eye, with both Swedish and (limited) Shiatsu available.

Second, the designers took great pains to separate out the neck massage function from the rest of the chair. While a full-back Shiatsu massage is not available, the fact that the MA10 offers two different massage styles that specifically target the neck is a rarity in the massage chair world, and one of this model’s stand-out features.

If you suffer from chronic neck pain due to whiplash or similar condition, this will likely be your favorite feature.

Third, note the presence of a Deep Massage function. Only a small percentage of chairs on the market today offer a deep massage function, and most of those are at the top-end of the price spectrum.

This has to be counted as another of the MA10’s stand-out features, especially if you suffer from chronic pain, as this feature will provide tremendous therapeutic benefits.

Casual users will find it too strong by far, but for a certain subset of users, this feature will be welcome indeed.

In all, there is a total of 36 massage combinations available, which is on the low side for a chair in its price range. If you’re looking for a chair that allows you a high degree of control and multiple options, there are other models that would better suit your needs and preferences.

It would be fair to say that the MA10 can give a solid, if unexceptional basic back massage, and an exquisite neck and shoulder massage, making it more tightly targeted to a particular segment of the market than many chairs.

(Limited) Air Massage Mode

This is another area of our Panasonic EP MA10 review we need to draw particular attention to. The chair has fourteen Second Generation Airbags, all located in the leg massage ports.

A full-body air massage is out of the question, but the leg massage is exceptional. This, again, points to the fact that the chair is tightly focused on users who are experiencing specific problems.

Calf & Foot Massage

Most massage chairs offer a calf massage rendered by airbags, and a foot massage rendered by rollers located in the foot well.

The Panasonic EP MA10 massage chair does it differently. The entire lower extremity massage (foot included) is delivered via the airbags.

Some users complain that the foot massage is not intense enough, and not very comfortable, but theirs is a minority view. Most users find it quite acceptable, if unremarkable.

Limited Stretch Function

Most massage chairs that offer a body stretch function offer a whole-body experience. Once again though, the MA10 does it differently.

This model’s stretch function is limited to the leg, hips and lower back. The airbags do the heavy lifting here, gripping the user’s legs firmly as the chair slowly reclines.

Although not as effective as a whole-body stretch, it is effective enough to offer some therapeutic benefits, at a fraction of the cost normally required to implement this feature.

The reason that a body stretch in any form has such tremendous therapeutic value is the fact that it takes pressure off compressed discs in your spine. Disc compression is the #1 cause of chronic back pain, so if you live with that daily, then this feature will offer you almost immediate relief.

We absolutely understand the cost-saving motivation, but judge this to be only an average implementation of the feature. If cost is your biggest concern, then you’ll find this acceptable. If quality is more important, then a more expensive model with a full body stretch will serve your needs better.

Panasonic EP MA10 Review Conclusion

For the right user, this chair is amazing. For everyone else, it’s average. If you fall into any of these groups: