What are the benefits of heating pads and heat balls? Applying heat has been a simple but effective way to manage your joint or muscle pain and stiffness for centuries. Deep, penetrating heat not only relieves your pain, but also enhances your recovery process.
By applying a heat instrument, such as heat balls or heating pads to your aching joints and muscles, the heat stimulates your sensory receptors to block the transmission of pain signals to the brain, resulting in instant and effective pain relief.
Even if you suffer from chronic pain, heat equipment can help relieve your discomfort – NOW and for many years to come!
If you have been suffering from stiffness or pain and feel better when you apply heat, take a warm, relaxing bath Alternatively, a heat pad or ball may be the best investment you will make this year.
What is heat therapy with heating pads and balls?
Heat therapy is a form of superficial heat therapy commonly used to treat and manage non-inflammatory body pain. This non-invasive alternative to drug therapy is very effective when combined with physical therapy and exercise.
The benefits of heat therapy make it useful for treating and managing low back pain, muscle spasms, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia. Products used for moist heat treatments can help relieve muscle and joint pain, stiffness, and soreness. The best heat therapy offers deep, penetrating heat that stimulates sensory receptors and blocks pain signals.
Differences between dry and moist heat therapy
Dry heat therapy involves the direct application of a heated pad to the skin. Wet heat therapy differs by the use of a moist or humid hot pad or pack.
Some of the best moist heat therapy products include heated gel packs, towels, and heat wraps. There are also moist heat products that can function as cold compresses for cold therapy. Examples of such dual products are hot and cold compresses.
An electric self heating pad is an example of products used for dry heat therapy. When considering how heat pads work, know that they radiate heat on contact with the skin. While heat therapy is easier to apply, moist heat offers deeper penetration and provides faster relief for deep body pain.
Another difference between moist and dry heat therapies involves heat transfer. Water (moist heat) transfers heat better than air (dry heat). Because moist heat has a higher heat transfer efficiency, its warming effect lasts longer. Many of the benefits of moist heat therapy are due to this difference.
How do thermal pads and balls work?
A heating pad or ball puts a thick layer of insulation between its heat source and the skin. When asking how a heating pad works, it helps to know that this moist layer keeps the high heat from scalding the skin as it radiates deep into the tissues and muscles.
When applied to a sore area, the warm, moist material slowly radiates heat through the skin into the tissues and muscles. The best moist heat therapy products use thick fabrics or special wraps to reduce heat loss.
This delays cooling to ensure that the heated pads or wraps release heat for longer. For the best result in physical therapy, combine moist heat with massage therapy. This combination is effective in improving recovery and preventing late muscle soreness.
How does heat help you?
By increasing tissue elasticity, heat reduces muscle tension at rest and helps relax those pesky painful knots. Your pain relieves quickly by sedating and calming any nerve endings irritated by the pain.
Deep heating increases blood flow to the painful area, bringing more nutrients to the injured area while releasing damaged debris. This therapy helps speed up your healing rate.
Deep heat also promotes a faster healing rate by stimulating your natural metabolic rate. In other words, more energy is available to repair the injury more quickly.
What is the advantage of heat equipment?
It can be heated in about two minutes. The durable but soft fabric of a heat pad allows for comfortable wear and an ability to mold to your body shape, which is great for those super curvy areas like neck, knees, and shoulders.
The local application of heat dilates the blood vessels around the part of the body where the moist heat is applied. The best moist heat therapy products dilate the blood vessels in the muscles around the spine to provide quick relief for back, shoulder, and neck pain.
Ultimately, improving blood flow also helps to relieve muscle stiffness and pain around the lower back area.
However, increased blood circulation increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to injured parts of the body. These benefits of moist heat therapy accelerate muscle healing and recovery.
The deep muscle penetration benefits of moist heat therapy are the main reasons why this treatment is effective in relieving deep pain. Heat from moist heat sources can also reach soft tissues, joints and ligaments to provide pain relief and promote recovery.
When used alongside physical therapy exercise equipment, the best moist heat therapy programs can help individuals in rehabilitation overcome muscle pain and return to peak performance.
