Deep heat alleviates pain

Pains in your neck, shoulders or back, every movement hurts and becomes torture. Painful strains usually result from incorrect loads or posture. As a result, muscles become hard and circulation is impeded. Instinctively we like to put something warm on the affected area. Heat improves the circulation, while helping your cramped muscles and nerve fibres to relax. Furthermore, heat stimulates thermo receptors that block your body’s pain transmitters, so that you actually feel less pain. Together with hot water bottles, heating pads, hot showers and infrared lamps, meanwhile therapeutic heat wraps are also available for local application that can help when you get backache.

Specific pain treatment with heat and movement

These products work with controlled oxidation to generate heat naturally and specifically, exactly where it is needed. The muscles are warmed through slowly without causing any increase in the body core temperature. The ideal therapeutic temperature is about 40 °C.

Effective treatment of backache and neck pain needs the deep effect of heat. In other words, it has to benefit not just the skin but also the muscles and connective tissue beneath it. Science has meanwhile found out why heat works so well. Heat expands the blood vessels, enhances circulation and relaxes the muscles. This frees the pain-conducting nerve fibres from pressure stimuli.

Heat boosts the immune defences

Furthermore, the heat-sensitive nerve ends in the skin convey the heat stimulus via switching points in the spinal cord and brain to the pain centre. Here trigger chemical processes are triggered for further attention of the pain. The hormone and metabolic systems also benefit. Heat boosts the immune defences and helps to detoxify and purify the body. Nor should one underrate the effect on general well-being.

When selecting heat wraps, always make sure they are comfortable to wear, because you should still be able to move and not hindered in your normal physical activity. You should also still be able to attend physiotherapy sessions or attend back school, as these are recommended treatment for backache. From an age of 55 years, it is advisable to wear the heat wraps over thin clothing and not to use them at night.

Heat treatment is not always the right approach

Under certain circumstances, the use of heat wraps is not recommended. Heat is contraindicated for example in the case of acute inflammation so that heat wraps should not be used here. Restricted recommendations apply to people suffering from diabetes, circulatory disorders and heart disease together with pregnant women. If in any doubt, it is therefore advisable to consult your doctor or pharmacist before using the products.

Minimum requirements

• Heat wraps should be used in combination with physiotherapy and/or attendance at a back school.
• The heat wraps should have been clinically tested.
• The application must be safe and harmless.
• The heat wrap should be optimised for use primarily on the lumbar spine and cervical spine, and for the large limbs.
• The heat wrap should verifiably heat the muscles and connective tissue.
• The generated deep heat should act over a limited surface area.
• The heat wrap should heat the target area slowly and gently without any influence on the body core temperature.
• The heat wrap should be comfortable to wear.
• It should be possible to dispose of the heat wrap with normal domestic waste.

None at present.