Back pain,stress,lack of sleep solutions

Heating pads - back pain

We have the best selection of  Warm Buddy - heating pads & Warm up stuffed animals,all approved medical devices for back pain relief & comfort.
Our Sports Therapy wrap is one of our most popular back pain relief heating pads, can be used hot or cold depending on the therapy required.
We do have other smaller heat packs, our body wrap has a removable cover and a variety of fabric colours to select from as does our spa wrap which is perfect for the back and neck pain and we can't forget our ultra-shoulder wrap for neck/shoulder and stress relief. Plus many other heat wraps for back pain relief and comfort.
Made locally in Vancouver BC

Do you suffer from back pain?

Back pain can be extremely debilitating,painful and frustrating as the simplest of actions can pull or strain a muscle.
Warm Buddy have been making therapeutic heating pads since 1995 and they are all approved medical devices for the relief of muscle pain and stress.
The heat pack can be used hot or cold depending on the required therapy. (Hot for aches and pains and cold for swelling).
For aches and pains, just pop the heat pack into the microwave for the specified amount of time and the warm moist heat will penetrate the muscles and ease the back pain fast.
Sports athletes use them to maintain muscles by keeping them warm prior to stretching and warm ups.Thus reducing the chance of pulled muscles.
Weekend warriors also use them to warm up before weekend chores, because we all know how the simplest of chores can damage our muscles.

Do you suffer for neck & shoulder pain from too much computer work?

Working on the computer for too long can create neck and shoulder pain, stiff muscles and stress. A quick reference check, just take a deep breathe, exhale and relax the shoulders, you will notice that your shoulders will drop and you will start to feel more relaxed, prolonged use of computers and other electronic devices can cause severe neck and shoulder pain if not treated. One quick way to help relax is to take periodical stretch breaks away from the computer, if your neck continues to hurt then try one of our ultra-shoulder wraps to relieve the pain. Worksafe BC use these for there staff when they are feeling stressed out, they have noticed that after using the heat wrap they are more relaxed and productive.

Migraines and headaches?

We all get these from time to time,they can be caused by stress or in my case weather, when it is going to rain I start to get a migraine.
Each one is different to everyone who suffers from them.
Our sleep masks and eye pillows are a perfect remedy for headaches and migraines, you can use them at room temperature, put them in the freezer if you like it cold or in the microwave for 30 seconds to give you a bit of warmth.
The combination of weight to the acupressure points and the natural herbs will take the edge off the pain and help you relax and help take you back to your normal state.

Difficulty sleeping?

With all the stress in our lives sleep can be a rare commodity. We have recently developed a sleep therapy kit to help you get a more relaxed nights sleep. The kit contains a roll on, some stress relief bath salts and our sleep mask. A perfect solution for those of us who can't get that full nights sleep.

Still can't sleep?

Then maybe you need one of our world famous warm up animals. These are designed for the child in all of us ages 1 to 103.
Each stuffed animal has a removable heat pack that can be heated or cooled as required. We have a variety of animals and sizes to select from.

Back pain relief

 Back pain relief

Back pain can be caused by many things,stress, lifting heavy items incorrectly, even doing warm ups when your muscles aren't warm.
Our solution since 1996 has been using our Warm Buddy Sports Therapy Wrap

Back pain relief sports therapy wrap

plus any of our other heating pads to relieve muscle pain and to use as a heat therapy to keep muscle supple and less liable to over stretching and damage.

Pain Relief Products:

All Warm Buddy products are approved medical devices for the relief of back pain, muscle spasms, muscle pain, sciatica & stress relief. All relieved fast & naturally. Our Warm up stuffed animals offer warmth - comfort & stress relief. All our Natural pain relief products can be used hot or cold, depending on required therapy.

Computer backitis and neckitis..A National problem

Do you suffer from computer backitis, this is usually caused by sitting too long at your computer, your neck and back hurts.
This causes stress and muscle strain.
One local company has embraced this problem and fights it head on.

Worksafe BC incorporated the use of our Ultra Shoulder wraps for their employees to use to relieve stress or tension at work.

Neck pain and stress relief

• Emma Chritensen their corporate ergonomist found that individuals using the wraps had a more relaxed posture while working at their workstations, their shoulders were lower, not hunched up around the ears and productivity increased.

This all natural stress relief wrap penetrates deep into muscles to dissolve stress and soothe aches, moist heat therapy can even help diminish tension headaches.

Also our Sports Therapy wrap can be used for your back aches, use it hot or cold

So don't get caught with computer backitis or neckitis.
Do you suffer from computer backitis, sitting at the computer for too long and your back and neck hurt. Solution is to first take a stretch break from your work and use a heat pack to relieve the pain.
Another solution is to use a stand up work surface, this promotes better use of the muscle sets while using the computer.

Back pain relief - Hot or cold therapy

Back pain relief - Hot or cold therapy – naturally

Warm Buddy have been making therapeutic heating pads since 1996, very good ones.

Our heat packs are made with natural contents, specially milled white rice, the kernels and husks have been removed.

We use rice as it holds the heat best, has no after smell when heated and gives a warm moist heat. I have had mine for 11 years and use it daily and it still gives a moist heat.

Moisture is good along with heat it helps penetrate the muscles and speeds up the healing process; heat allows the blood to flow better.

Sports therapy wrap heating pad use it hot or cold

Heat is generally recommended for chronic aches and pains, or new and minor muscular pains. People often choose a heat pack for problems like a stiff neck or a sore back. The muscles seem to relax under the warming therapy. The heat can help improve circulation and reduce muscle spasm.

Our heat packs can also be used for cold therapy, place the pack in a freezer for a couple of hours.

Use cold when there is swelling and heat when there are aches and pains

Ice is usually recommended to use on an area that has inflammation, which causes it to be red, warm, swollen, and/or painful. Ice is usually used as part of the initial treatment for sprains and strains, and other injuries.
Ice treatments are generally recommended for 15-20 minute applications. It may be in the form of real ice or one of the commercial substitutes. These applications are commonly used 4-6 times during the first 48 hours after a soft-tissue injury.

Heating pad for lower back pain relief

This heating pad gives fast natural pain relief, giving warm moist penetrating heat, offering fast muscle pain & stress relief.

Lower back pain relief starts in just 3 minutes, that is how long it takes to warm the Sports Therapy Wrap.
The Sports Therapy wrap uses warm moist penetrating heat, that relieves lower back pain in the muscle fast and naturally. Heat packs will increase blood flow to the area and relax muscles.

Fast natural lower back pain relief, using the sports therapy wrap

The heating pad can also be used for cold therapy, pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours and it is ready to relieve swelling in your injuries. (cold for swelling and heat for aches and pains)

I always have 2 heating pads one that is always in the freezer and the other to pop in the microwave.

Lower back pain relief heating pad

Ideal for all types of muscle pain relief:

• Muscles aches & pains.
• Upper back.
• Lower back pain.
• Neck and shoulder.
• Approved medical device for the relief of muscle pain and stress.
• Just 3 minutes to start enjoying natural muscle pain relief.
• Or try our other popular heating pad

Sports injuries and heat/Cold treatment

Cold Treatment

With any sprain, strain or bruise there is some bleeding into the underlying tissues. This may cause swelling, pain and delay healing. Cold treatment may be used in both the immediate treatment of soft tissue injuries and in later rehabilitation.

During immediate treatment, the aim is to limit the body's response to injury. Ice will:

• Reduce bleeding into the tissues.
• Prevent or reduce swelling.
• Reduce muscle spasm and pain.
• Reduce pain by numbing the area and by limiting the effects of swelling.

These effects all help to prevent the area from becoming stiff by reducing excess tissue fluid that gathers as a result of injury and inflammation.

In the later, or rehabilitation, phase of recovery the aims change to restoring normal function. At this stage the effects of ice can enhance other treatments such as exercise by reducing pain and muscle spasm. This then allows better movement. If you have to do exercises as part of your treatment it can be useful to do them with ice in place or immediately after it is removed when the area will still be a little numb. This reduces pain and makes movement around the injury more comfortable.

What packs should I use?

All Warm Buddy heat packs and heat wraps are designed to be used for hot or cold treatment.

I always have 2 packs in the freezer, when one warms up during treatment I always have the second as a back up.

Sports Therapy wrap

How long should cold packs be applied for?

Ideally, ice should be applied within 5-10 minutes of injury for 20-30 minutes. This can be repeated every 2-3 hours or so whilst you are awake for the next 24-48 hrs.

After the first 48 hours, when bleeding should have stopped, the aim of treatment changes from restricting bleeding and swelling to getting the tissues remobilised with exercise and stretching. Ice helps with pain relief and relaxation of muscle tissue.

Heat treatment

Do not use heat on a new injury (for example, soaking in a hot bath, using heat packs, hot water bottles, deep heat creams, etc). These will increase bleeding and make the problem worse.

When an injury is older than 48 hours, heat can be applied in the form of warm buddy heat packs. Heat causes the blood vessels to dilate (open wide) which brings more blood into the area. It also has a direct soothing effect and helps to relieve pain and spasm. If heat is applied to the skin it should not be hot, gentle warmth will suffice.

Again all Warm Buddy heat packs and wraps are ideal for the treatment of muscle pain and are approved medical devices for this purpose

Cold packs often gives better and longer-lasting effect on the circulation than heat provides. The painkilling properties of ice are also deeper and longer-lasting than heat.

Qualities:
Recent studies have found that heat wrap therapy proved to be more effective pain management for muscle pain than oral pain medications such as ibuprofen and acetaminophen...more info

Why use heat for pain relief..see here

Back pain relief - Hot or Cold Therapy

This is the question we are always asked..Should I use Hot or Cold therapy for a back pain problem.
Hopefully this should answer your questions:

Heat or cold also shut down the nerves that fire the pain signals—heat relaxes them, cold numbs them. When the brain doesn’t get the pain signals, it doesn’t act to contract muscles and constrict blood flow. After applying heat or cold consistently and continually for a certain period of time, the pain-spasm cycle is broken. Then, real healing can begin. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

When an injury first occurs, use ice first. This is true whether the injury is acute (caused by some trauma like lifting something heavy or sitting too long) or subacute (a flare-up of a chronic condition, like sciatica). It’s also important to use ice fast. You need to get ice to the injury within 5 minutes to get the best effect. If you’re not at home and don’t have ice handy, head to the 7-11 and buy a bag of ice. Begin treatment immediately. Apply ice for the first 48-72 hours. Use it for 20 minutes, then take it off for 20. Repeat as often as you can. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

 While the overall qualities of warmth and heat have long been associated with comfort and relaxation, heat therapy goes a step further and can provide both pain relief and healing benefits for many types of lower back pain.
Muscle spasm in the lower back can create sensations that may range from mild discomfort to excruciating lower back pain. Heat therapy can help relieve pain from the muscle spasm and related tightness in the lower back.

Heat therapy application can help provide lower back pain relief through several mechanisms:

• Heat therapy dilates the blood vessels of the muscles surrounding the lumbar spine. This process increases the flow of oxygen and nutrients to the muscles, helping to heal the damaged tissue.
• Heat stimulates the sensory receptors in the skin, which means that applying heat to the lower back will decrease transmissions of pain signals to the brain and partially relieve the discomfort.
• Heat application facilitates stretching the soft tissues around the spine, including muscles, connective tissue, and adhesions. Consequently, with heat therapy, there will be a decrease in stiffness as well as injury, with an increase in flexibility and overall feeling of comfort. Flexibility is very important for a healthy back.

Cold Therapy

Do you know when to use ice and when to use heat on a sports injury? Most athletes know to apply ice to an acute injury, like a sprained ankle, but aren't so sure when to use heat. The following guidelines will help you sort it out.
Acute injuries are sudden, sharp, traumatic injuries that occur immediately (or within hours) and cause pain (possibly severe pain). Most often acute injuries result from some sort of impact or trauma such as a fall, sprain, or collision and it's pretty obvious what caused the injury.
Acute injuries also cause common signs and symptoms of injury such as pain, tenderness, redness, skin that is warm to the touch, swelling and inflammation. If you have swelling, you have an acute injury.
Cold therapy with Warm Buddy cold packs is the best immediate treatment for acute injuries because it reduces swelling and pain. Ice is a vaso-constrictor (it causes the blood vessels to narrow) and it limits internal bleeding at the injury site.

What should I use for these treatments?

Warm Buddy have been manufacturing their range of heat packs that can be used for hot or cold therapy since 1995.
These are reusable, I have been using mine for 11 years now and use it daily, I also keep a separate one always in the freezer to use on fresh/new injuries and one for use in the microwave.
Our Sports Therapy wrap is by far the most popular of our hot/cold packs, it has the longest heat holding time and has a weight that really helps work the heat into the muscle tissues to relieve the aches and pains fast.

Sports therapy wrap for all your aches and pains

 We have a complete range of heat packs that will meet all your needs, be it neck pain, PMS, headaches, lower back pain, also check out the rest of the Warm Buddy family of pain relief products.

We have also introduced a low fixed shipping rate as we are always aware that shipping costs can add up to a high percentage of the purchase.

Also to help you on the way why not use our introductory welcoming discount coupon code, this will help offset the shipping cost.

So in a nutshell use cold therapy for a new injury to reduce any swelling and hot therapy for old injuries, aches and pains.

Remember to keep muscles warm prior to any strenuous exercise as this helps reduce muscle injuries to start with..
Have a happy and safe summer.

Heat or cold also shut down the nerves that fire the pain signals—heat relaxes them, cold numbs them. When the brain doesn’t get the pain signals, it doesn’t act to contract muscles and constrict blood flow. After applying heat or cold consistently and continually for a certain period of time, the pain-spasm cycle is broken. Then, real healing can begin. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

Heat or cold also shut down the nerves that fire the pain signals—heat relaxes them, cold numbs them. When the brain doesn’t get the pain signals, it doesn’t act to contract muscles and constrict blood flow. After applying heat or cold consistently and continually for a certain period of time, the pain-spasm cycle is broken. Then, real healing can begin. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

Heat or cold also shut down the nerves that fire the pain signals—heat relaxes them, cold numbs them. When the brain doesn’t get the pain signals, it doesn’t act to contract muscles and constrict blood flow. After applying heat or cold consistently and continually for a certain period of time, the pain-spasm cycle is broken. Then, real healing can begin. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

Heat or cold also shut down the nerves that fire the pain signals—heat relaxes them, cold numbs them. When the brain doesn’t get the pain signals, it doesn’t act to contract muscles and constrict blood flow. After applying heat or cold consistently and continually for a certain period of time, the pain-spasm cycle is broken. Then, real healing can begin. - See more at: http://www.losethebackpain.com/treatments/ice-or-heat-for-back-pain/#sthash.Q6K0Dgif.dpuf

Back pain relief - Vancouver - BC

 Vancouver BC Back pain and stress relief company

For years we have been supplying our locally made heat packs and heat wraps to Vancouver and BC residents to help them relieve back muscle aches and pains naturally.
Our heat packs are made by a local company Warm Buddy, who have been manufacturing them since 1995.
All the heat packs are classified as a 'Medical Device" by Health Canada to aid in the recovery of muscle pain and stress.

Stress and pain relief heat wrap

Over the years there have been many products brought to the market that claim to help with pain relief, but Warm Buddy products still offer the best heat retention, moist heat and they last for years.
I have a body wrap that I started using daily 11 years ago and it still gives a moist heat and fast pain relief, we often say we need to build obsolescence into our products like car manufacturers do.lol
If you haven't tried one of our products then go to our informative web site and you can buy online and if you want you can collect the order from us, call us first to make arrangement, but with our new low fixed shipping rates of $4.95 for BC and delivery in 2 days or less, you may just want to sit back - order and wait for Canada Post to deliver your pain relief package.

Neck aches and stress relief

You may also wish to get our welcoming discount coupon code to use on your order and save some more money.
We also ship our products world wide and if it is a gift let us know and we will gift wrap it with a card with your wishes at no extra charge.
So getting pain relief has never been so easy and fast.

Here's to a pain free life.

Warm wishes
Peter and Patricia
WA+G

Why Warm Buddy heat packs & heat wraps are superior for pain & stress relief
Drug Free(dom)	Warm Buddy	Gel Packs	Flax Seed	Hot water bottle	Electric heat pad	Oat grain
Heat Retention	Best	Too hot	Poor	Poor	Good	Poor
After smell	None	None	yes	None	None	yes
Moist heat	yes	None	None	None	None	None
Scalding	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No
Electro magnetic field (EMF)	No	No	No	No	yes	No
Washable	yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Caution!	None	Stiff & hard to mould to body	Fire hazard if over heated	Leaking	Over heating	Can overheat and catch fire
*Electric blankets create a magnetic field that penetrates about 6-7 inches into the body. Thus it is not surprising that an epidemiological study has linked electric blankets with miscarriages and childhood leukemia...more info
* Moist heat is used primarily for old and chronic injuries. It helps to loosen and relax sore muscles, tendons and ligaments, as well as increase blood flow to bring more red blood cells to the injury to facilitate healing.

Heat packs and heat therapy

Heat Packs Therapy

What is heat therapy used for?

Heat packs can reduce muscle spasms, reduce joint stiffness, and make soft tissue more limber. Heat can be used to help loosen tight muscles and joints during a warm-up period before exercise. For example, you may put moist heat packs on tight leg muscles before running, or on your shoulder before throwing, or on tight neck or back muscles.

Sports Therapy wrap heat pack

When should I use heat?

Use heat packs for stiff muscles and joints when you are trying to make them more limber. Do not use heat in the first few days after an injury or while your injury has any swelling because heat increases blood flow and can worsen swelling.

How should I use heat?

Moist heat is more effective than dry heat because it penetrates more deeply, which increases the effect on muscles, joints, and soft tissue. Use it for 15 to 20 minutes or longer if recommended by your health care provider.

Benefits of Heat Therapy for Back Pain relief

The Benefits of Heat Therapy for Back Pain

The over­all qual­i­ties of warmth and heat have long been asso­ci­ated with com­fort and relax­ation,
Warm Buddy heat ther­apy goes a step fur­ther and can pro­vide both pain relief and heal­ing ben­e­fits for many types of back pain. In addi­tion, heat ther­apy for back pain is both inex­pen­sive and easy to do.

How heat ther­apy works

Many episodes of lower back pain result from strains and over-exertions, cre­at­ing ten­sion in the mus­cles and soft tis­sues around the lower spine. As a result, this restricts proper cir­cu­la­tion and sends pain sig­nals to the brain.
Mus­cle spasm in the lower back can cre­ate sen­sa­tions that may range from mild dis­com­fort to excru­ci­at­ing lower back pain. Heat ther­apy can help relieve pain from the mus­cle spasm and related tight­ness in the lower back.
Heat ther­apy appli­ca­tion can help pro­vide back pain relief through sev­eral mechanisms:

* Heat ther­apy dilates the blood ves­sels of the mus­cles sur­round­ing the lum­bar spine. This process increases the flow of oxy­gen and nutri­ents to the mus­cles, help­ing to heal the dam­aged tis­sue.
* Heat stim­u­lates the sen­sory recep­tors in the skin, which means that apply­ing heat to the lower back will decrease trans­mis­sions of pain sig­nals to the brain and par­tially relieve the dis­com­fort.
* Heat appli­ca­tion facil­i­tates stretch­ing the soft tis­sues around the spine, includ­ing mus­cles, con­nec­tive tis­sue, and adhe­sion. Con­se­quently, with heat ther­apy, there will be a decrease in stiff­ness as well as injury, with an increase in flex­i­bil­ity and over­all feel­ing of com­fort. Flex­i­bil­ity is very impor­tant for a healthy back.
There are sev­eral other sig­nif­i­cant ben­e­fits of heat ther­apy that make it so appeal­ing. Com­pared to most ther­a­pies, heat ther­apy is quite inex­pen­sive. Heat ther­apy is also easy to do — it can be done at home while relax­ing, and also make it an option while at work or in the car.
For many peo­ple, heat ther­apy works best when com­bined with other treat­ment modal­i­ties, such as phys­i­cal ther­apy and exer­cise. Rel­a­tive to most med­ical treat­ments avail­able, heat ther­apy is appeal­ing to many peo­ple because it is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical form of back pain relief

How to Apply Heat Therapy

The most effec­tive heat ther­apy prod­uct is one of our Warm Buddy heat packs or wraps . They can main­tain their heat at the proper tem­per­a­ture. “Warm” is the proper tem­per­a­ture. Patients should not have their heat source be hot to the point of burn­ing the skin. The desired effect is for the heat to pen­e­trate down into the mus­cles. Sim­ply increas­ing the tem­per­a­ture of the skin will do lit­tle to decrease discomfort.

In many instances, the longer the heat is applied, the bet­ter. The dura­tion that one needs to apply the heat, though, is based on the type of and/or mag­ni­tude of the injury. For very minor back ten­sion, short amounts of heat ther­apy may be suf­fi­cient (such as 15 to 20 min­utes). For more intense injuries, longer ses­sions of heat may be more ben­e­fi­cial (such as 30 min­utes to 2 hours, or more).
A foot note our heat packs can be used for hot or cold therapy depending on the injury

Back pain relief for the summer

Back pain relief Sports Therapy wrap

 

Back pain relief

Summer is here and so are the long days and yard work.
It is important to show your muscle the respect they deserve, they need to last a life time.
As athletes do, you should also do.
Athletes know how to treat their muscles they do warm ups and also pre warm ups as it is important to have your muscles warm and supple before any strenuous work or exercise.
Warm Buddy have been making heat packs and heat wraps since 1985.
They are all natural and are approved by Health Canada as a medical device to relieve aches pains and stress.
Our Sports Therapy wrap and Body wrap are 2 time tested heat wraps that use warm moist heat that will penetrate the muscle tissue and relive aches and pains and also warm muscles up prior to any hard work.

The benefits of using heat for pain relief

Using Heat for Pain Problems

When and how to apply heat for therapy … and when not to!

Published 2007, updated 2010
by Paul Ingraham, Vancouver, Canada
Not sure when to use ice or heat? Start with this super-short overview:
The Great Ice vs. Heat Confusion Debacle.
Please note that you should rarely (almost never) ice low back pain.
Therapeutic heating — “thermotherapy” for therapy geeks — is more useful than most people realize, because painful muscle problems are more common than most people realize. Pain caused by muscle spasm and muscular trigger points (muscle knots) is common and often severe, yet routinely mistaken for other kinds of problems. Consequently, one of the cheapest and best treatments — heat! — is routinely neglected.

Mustard plasters were widely used and probably brought about relaxation of muscle spasm through the heat generated by the plaster. Sometimes folk medicine is more sensible than ‘modern’ medicine. In any case, I suspect that the low-key, nonthreatening approach to back problems characterized by an earlier time helped to prevent the kind of long-term, disastrous courses that exist today.
John Sarno, Mind Over Back Pain: A radically new approach to the diagnosis and treatment of back pain

Everyone should understand heating the same way everyone knows how to put on a band aid. It is a cheap, drugless way of helping an amazing array of pain problems related to muscle dysfunction, especially neck and back pain. Heat will not single-handedly “cure” such problems, but it is directly therapeutic, as opposed to “just” relieving symptoms.

What heat is for

Heat is primarily for muscle pain, and for stress relief. Warm Buddy heat packs and heat wraps offer a warm moist penetrating heat, that penetrate the muscle tissue and relieve aches and pains fast  and without the need of any over the counter pain medication.
The trick is knowing what muscle pain is. Muscle causes much more pain than most people are aware of. Some kinds of muscle pain are obvious enough — like the pain you get after the first ski trip of the season, or charlie horses in the night — but these are relatively isolated and obvious examples. Also, heat isn’t especially useful for them. Charlie horses are pretty fast, and for most people a rare problem, thankfully. And that post-exercise muscle soreness is virtually immune to any kind of therapy.
But muscle knots …
When you say that you have “knots in your muscles,” you are actually talking about trigger points. A trigger point is a small patch of contracted, stagnant, swampy muscle tissue. Instead of the whole muscle being in spasm, just a little piece of it is in spasm.
If you’d like to detour and learn much more about trigger points, see
Trigger Points & Myofascial Pain Syndrome: A guide to the science of muscle pain, with reviews of every possible self-treatment and therapy option, even for the most difficult cases.
Trigger points are likely to be the most common cause of undiagnosed and unexplained aches and pains, especially stubborn or recurrent headaches, neck cricks and backaches. It is a much more common cause of pain than the more widely reported repetitive strain injuries (RSIs), nerve pain, or herniated disks. Trigger points also complicate essentially all other injuries: they usually appear in response to other kinds of pain and dysfunction, and then often begin to overshadow the original problem.
And heat is a good therapy for trigger points.

What heat is not for

Never apply heat to a fresh injury! Really. Just don’t do it! That’s what icing is for. Ice is for injuries.
And what’s a “fresh” injury? Any time tissue has been physically damaged, it will be inflamed for a few days, give or take, depending on the seriousness of the injury. If superficial tissue is sensitive to touch, if the skin is hot and red, if there is swelling, these are all signs that your injury is still fresh, and should not be heated.
Here’s an example of what can happen when you heat an inflamed injury: When I was still in school, and my father had not yet learned to call me before asking a doctor about his aches and pains, he went to a drop-in clinic following a traumatic knee injury. The physician on duty prescribed heat! This is shockingly wrong, but the results spoke loud and clear: his knee swelled dramatically, outrageously, causing severe pain and immobility.
Bear in mind that heating is for muscle knots or trigger points and muscle spasm, but not for physically injured muscle — muscle strains, pulled muscles, torn muscles. Damaged muscle is usually inflamed, not in spasm, and trigger points are a minor factor in the aftermath of the injury. It’s usually obvious that you’ve torn muscle because there is always a very clear, nasty “oh shit” moment of trauma, where you know — instantly — that something has gone quite wrong.
However, you may be understandably confused about the difference between spasms, knots, tears, etc., especially if you have back pain, where it can and does sometimes get all mixed together. People routinely believe that their backs and necks are injured when in fact they are just suffering from trigger points. I have other articles devoted to clearing up this confusion.
If you think you have a muscle strain, but you’re not sure, a great article for helping you sort it out is Save Yourself from Muscle Strain!
If back pain is your issue and your not sure what’s causing it, get thee to Save Yourself from Low Back Pain!
And the article (Almost) Never Use Ice on Low Back Pain! is specifically devoted to helping people understand why heating back pain is almost always better than icing it.

How heat works

It’s not scientifically clear exactly why heat is such a treat. However, a good guess is that there are several minor positive effects that add up to … therapy. Most of these effects are also beneficial in other ways. Not incredibly beneficial, and not even notably different from icing: for instance, a 2010 study showed quite clearly that both ice packs and hot packs were beneficial for neck and back pain, and about equally so.1 But a small therapeutic effect is still valuable even if it’s small, and there are probably situations where it works even better — after all, these were people with acute pain bad enough that they went to the hospital. They may have been a bit beyond the help of a hot pack!
Trigger points are known to be aggravated by stress (“fight or flight” hormones and neurology). As long as we aren’t overheated to begin with, being warm is a pleasant and comforting sensation. Our comfort zone is a warm place. Heat almost always relaxes you overall.
Overall relaxation usually reduces resting muscle tone. You can have “tight” muscles without actually being in spasm. There are many degrees of increasing muscle tone between relaxed and “spasm.” A true muscle spasm is very strong and painful, like a charlie horse. But many people live in a state of near spasm — their muscles always clenched and exhausted. This state is both uncomfortable in itself, causing the same kind of muscle discomfort that you have when you are exhausted from exercise … but without the endorphins. And of course it also aggravates trigger points. So any reduction in muscle tone is quite helpful. And the reduction in stress hormones makes it a more therapeutic (lasting) effect, as opposed to just momentary symptom relief.
Our comfort zone is a warm place. Heat almost always relaxes you overall.
Although scientists don’t really understand the physiology of why trigger points come and go, they have certainly identified why they hurt — the stagnant, swampy tissue fluids inside a trigger point are a disgusting bath for nerve endings. Heat facilitates circulation somewhat, helping to wash away metabolic waste products, and bring fresh oxygen and nutrients to the area. No one knows how strong this effect is.
As with everything about trigger points, there are many (many) variables, and consequently it is very hard to study, and everyone gets different results. But heat seems to have enough relevant benefits that many people get at least temporary, partial relief from trigger point pain by heating. And some people find it downright curative.
 

Cancer - skin stimulation:

Skin stimulation

In this series of techniques, pressure, warmth, or cold is used on the skin, while the feeling of pain is lessened or blocked. Massage, pressure, vibration, heat, cold, and menthol preparations can also be used to stimulate the skin. These techniques also change the flow of blood to the area that is stimulated. Sometimes skin stimulation will get rid of pain or lessen pain during the stimulation and for hours after it is finished.
Skin stimulation is done either on or near the area of pain. You can also use skin stimulation on the side of the body opposite the pain. For example, you might stimulate the left knee to decrease the pain in the right knee. Stimulating the skin in areas away from the pain can be used to increase relaxation and may relieve pain.

We have many customers who have gone through chemotherapy and have found our heat packs to be of great relief for their after pain, all our heat packs can be used hot or cold depending on the type of therapy required.

Warm Buddy make the best heat packs for relieving pain and stress

Warm Buddy Company creates products that promote relaxation and provide natural relief from aches, pains and stress. We have been following this philosophy since 1995, while creating our world famous aromatherapy heat wraps, heat packs, eye pillows and the original warm up plush animals.

Warm Buddy rejuvenating heat therapy products have become recognized for their superior quality and long heat holding ability. Warm Buddy heat wraps and heat packs are safe, easy to use and highly effective. Simply heat in the microwave or cool in the freezer as desired.

All Warm Buddy heat therapy products are Approved medical devices by Health Canada for the relief of aches pains and stress.

All Warm Buddy heat therapy products are proudly made in Canada.

Heat and Pain Relief

We instinctively know that heat is good for pain relief, but do we know why? 

Scientists have found a molecular basis for the long-standing theory that heat, such as that from a hot-water bottle applied to the skin, provides relief from internal pains, such as stomach aches, for up to an hour.

Dr Brian King, leader of the team that carried out the research at the UCL Department of Physiology, said: "The heat doesn't just provide comfort and have a placebo effect - it actually deactivates the pain at a molecular level in much the same way as pharmaceutical painkillers work. We have discovered how this molecular process works."

The team found that when heat is applied to the skin near to where internal pain is felt, it switches on heat receptors located at the site of injury. These heat receptors in turn block the effect of chemical messengers that cause pain to be detected by the body.   
How does heat help?

• By increasing tissue elasticity, heat reduces your resting muscle tension and helps to relax those nasty painful knots.
  

• Your pain is quickly eased via the sedation and soothing of any pain-irritated nerve endings.
  

• The deep heating effect increases your blood flow to the painful area, bringing more nutrients to the injured area while flushing out the injured debris. This helps to quicken your healing rate.
  

The deep heat also promotes a speedier healing rate by stimulating your natural metabolic rate. In other words, there is more energy available to fix the injury quicker.