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A heating pad is one of the most popular devices in home self-treatment. In traditional medicine, physiotherapists resort to its services when it becomes necessary to create a local thermal effect on different parts of the patient’s body.
It is about a heating pad that many people remember when a tooth, ear or stomach hurts. It helps relieve joint pain, relieve the symptoms of cystitis, and is useful for people with impaired blood circulation. Humanity has been resorting to its help for more than a century. The beneficial properties of heating pads have been known since ancient times. True, then the devices for warming looked primitive and were often unsafe to use.
The “ancestor” of the rubber heating pad was a leather bag, a bull’s bladder, a copper or clay vessel filled with hot water. Sometimes, instead of liquid, the ancient heating pad was filled with red-hot sand, salt, ash, cereals or bran. Sometimes hot stones or bricks were used as a “heater” for the body.
More advanced heating pads, and in several versions at once, appeared during the First World War. They were designed specifically for heating soldiers. Devices of the catalytic type generated heat due to the flameless oxidation of alcohol or gasoline of the highest degree of purification. The second version of the heating device, popular in those days, was bottles filled with edible salt and crushed iron. In factory versions, instead of iron, platinum was added to the mixture. By the way, quite recently fishermen, tourists, hunters actively used this kind of personal “heaters”, because catalytic devices provided good and very stable heat (they kept a 60-degree temperature from 8 to 14 hours). But still, the good old rubber heating pad, created in 1903 by the Croatian engineer Eduard Penkala, has been the most popular for more than a hundred years.
Types of modern heating pads
Until relatively recently, heating pads were available in free sale in only one version – rubber “bags” designed to be filled with hot water. Today, the choice has expanded significantly.
There are a variety of options on the market:
- rubber;
- electrical;
- saline;
- gel;
- chemical.
Each of the options has its own advantages and disadvantages. But thanks to a wide range, the buyer can always choose the most suitable product for himself.
Rubber
This is the best known and still the most popular of all heating pads. It is a container made of rubber, which is filled with preheated water. Despite the simplicity of the design, many still consider it the most practical to use. It is possible to carry out procedures with rubber devices in almost any conditions, and in order to “adjust” the degree of heat, it is enough to wrap a container of hot water with several layers of cloth or a towel.
Modern rubber heating pads are presented in a huge assortment. Products come in different colors and designs, are made from different materials. For example, for people allergic to latex, there are PVC heating pads, and for children, they make safe “heaters” without the use of phthalates.
Pros:
- easy to use;
- cheap;
- reusable.
Cons:
- during the procedure, the patient must lie down;
- if it is not properly closed, you can get burned.
Electrical
This is a modern substitute for a rubber heating pad. The upper part of the device is a cover made of natural material, inside it is an electric heater. Heating pads come in a variety of sizes and shapes. For example, there are heating blankets, products in the form of a collar, belt or boots. Most models have a thermostat that allows you to adjust the intensity of heating.
Pros:
- does not cause allergies;
- you can adjust the temperature;
- does not cool down (while connected to the network);
- comes in different sizes.
Cons:
- Requires an electrical outlet to use.
- not the safest option.
Salt
Salt heaters appeared on the market relatively recently and are considered the most modern in the group of similar products. They are plastic hermetically sealed containers, inside which salt is contained in liquid form. The peculiarity of such devices is that they do not need to be filled with hot liquid or heated using additional devices. There is always a so-called catalyst on the salt heater, which, in fact, starts the heating process. It can be a special spring or a button, the activation of which starts a certain chemical process in the heating pad. As a result of the reaction, the liquid salt begins to crystallize, and the transformation process itself is accompanied by the generation of heat. The maximum possible heat from such a heating pad is 40-60 degrees Celsius. The heating pad usually takes no more than 15 seconds to reach this temperature. In order for the salt to return to a liquid state after cooling, the heating pad should be placed in hot water for 10-15 minutes. After cooling down, it can be used again.
Heating salt retains the ability to such transformations for about 12 years.
Pros:
- compactness;
- variety of shapes and colors;
- easily “adjusts” to the contours of the body;
- inside contains a non-aggressive substance that does not cause allergies (if the shell of the heating pad is damaged and the contents get on the skin, it is enough to rinse under running water);
- keeps heat for a relatively long time (3-4 hours).
Less:
- afraid of punctures and cuts.
chemical
A chemical heating pad is a bag filled with a special mixture. When the components interact, a chemical reaction begins, accompanied by the generation of heat. Inside such devices there may be quicklime (calcium oxide), which, when interacting with water, turns into calcium hydroxide and at the same time generates thermal energy. A more common “recipe” is a mixture of salt and metal shavings. To “start” most chemical heating pads, it is enough to crush or rub them a little in your hands. After such manipulation, the device warms up to 70-80 degrees and retains heat for up to 8 hours.
Pros:
- does not require electrics or hot water;
- easy to use;
- compact
- heats up quickly;
- warms well.
Less:
- most chemical “heaters” are disposable.
Gel
Heating pads of this type are in many ways reminiscent of salt. The difference is that the inside of the container does not contain salt, but a gel-like substance. The device heats up according to the same principle as its salt “relative”. The maximum heat transfer is about 60 degrees, the “work” time of the majority is about 1 hour. Devices of this type can be used as cold heating pads, hence their other name – “flexible ice”.
Pros:
- oversized;
- can be used both hot and cold.
Cons:
- cools down quickly;
- the outer shell may be damaged.
Application in physiotherapy
Any heating pad is a source of dry heat, and this is what its therapeutic effect is based on.
Influencing our bodies, dry heat causes a number of responses:
- relaxes muscles;
- relieves spasms of smooth muscles (internal organs);
- reduces pain;
- soothes.
The essence of heat therapy is to create a higher temperature in a certain part of the body. A heating pad is best suited for such purposes. In addition, this is one of the few physical therapy devices that is available for use at home.
Exposure to gentle heat soothes and relieves back pain, which is why heating pads are often used to treat sciatica. They can be useful for neuralgia, neuritis, arthritis, myositis, and various kinds of injuries. Heat therapy is prescribed for freezing, constant feeling of cold hands and feet, for the treatment of a runny nose and dry or “barking” cough (if there is no fever), with toothache (if there is no suppuration). Heat helps to cope with abdominal pain if it is caused by stress, emotional outburst (but only in the absence of fever, nausea and diarrhea). This type of physiotherapy is useful for biliary dyskinesia, relieves renal, intestinal and biliary colic (unless the pain is caused by cholecystitis, pancreatitis, pyelonephritis or appendicitis). For many women, heat applied to the lower abdomen can relieve pain during menstruation, but this can only be done with the permission of a doctor. If, after a stroke or encephalitis, one part of the body is paralyzed, heating pads are also often attributed against the background of developing exercises. In addition, dry heat has a good effect on the muscles of athletes before the competition. For babies, if there are no contraindications, a bubble of warm water is applied to the stomach as an aid against colic, and for nursing mothers, this treatment helps fight hardening in the mammary glands.
Although the very name of the heating pad indicates that it should warm, and the device was originally invented for this very purpose, however, in some cases, the doctor may prescribe physiotherapy using cold. In this case, not hot, but cold water is drawn into the rubber container, sometimes with the addition of pieces of ice. Cold heating pads can be prescribed for bursitis, purulent arthritis, some types of back pain, nosebleeds, after tooth extraction, to relieve swelling from an insect bite.
When the heating pad is prohibited
A heating pad for various diseases and disorders can be very useful. However, there are contraindications in these warming devices. Sometimes local thermal exposure may not only not help, but worsen the patient’s condition even more. Sometimes improper use of dry heat can even result in death. So, in what cases is it forbidden to use a heating pad?
Contraindications for thermotherapy:
- acute or chronic inflammatory diseases;
- the presence in the abdomen of acute pain of uncertain etiology;
- pancreatitis;
- acute cholecystitis;
- encephalitis;
- meningitis;
- purulent inflammation (appendicitis, sinusitis, otitis media, mastitis, bursitis, purulent arthritis);
- abscess;
- phlegmon;
- atherosclerosis;
- tendency to bleeding or the presence of such (external or internal);
- violation of blood circulation in the brain;
- hypertonic disease;
- heart failure;
- malignant neoplasms;
- hyperactivity of the thyroid gland;
- postoperative period.
Many people use a heating pad to relieve stomach pain. If the discomfort is caused by colic, then the procedure can actually help. But with appendicitis, heating the abdomen causes a rapid progression of the disease and peritonitis, which, in the absence of timely medical care, ends in death.
Do not use heating pads in the presence of malignant neoplasms, as heat accelerates the growth of cancer cells.
With cystitis, dry heat applied to the lower abdomen or to the perineum helps relieve pain and burning. But if inflammation in the bladder occurs with the formation of pus or the presence of blood in the urine, warming can cause severe bleeding or spread of pus to the kidneys.
It is also strictly forbidden to apply heat to areas of the body with redness and hyperemia.
How to use at home
If you have to use a rubber heating pad, it is important to know how to use it correctly. The container is filled with hot water only 2/3, while excess air is squeezed out of it. After that, the tank is tightly closed and the tightness is checked. If the liquid inside is too hot, the rubber “pouch” is left to cool. Then the heating pad is placed either in a special fabric cover, or wrapped in a towel and applied to a sore spot, previously lubricated with a greasy cream or petroleum jelly.
With extra care, warming devices should be used when it comes to children, people who are unconscious or with impaired susceptibility, since there is a high risk of burns. For such patients, a heating pad should not be applied directly to the body, and during the procedure it is important to periodically check the condition of the skin.
In the absence of a factory heater, its function can be performed by a linen bag with heated sand, salt, cereals, or an ordinary bottle filled with warm water.
A heating pad in many cases helps to overcome pain without the use of pills, which is undoubtedly a huge plus for the liver and kidneys. Meanwhile, the uncontrolled use of heating devices can sometimes end in failure, because there are almost as many prohibitions on the use of dry heat as there are indications for it.