Pain relief and heat therapy

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.
In addition, heat therapy for lower back pain - in the form of heating pads, heat wraps, . - is both inexpensive and easy to do.
We examine how heat therapy interacts with the body to alleviate pain as well as options on how to apply heat therapy to help alleviate many types of lower back pain.

Heating pad for back pain relief

How Heat Therapy Works

Many episodes of lower back muscle strain 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 lower back pain relief through several means:

• 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's. 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 (and in many circumstances it’s free - such as taking a hot bath). Heat therapy is also easy to do - it can be done at home while relaxing, and Warm Buddy heat wraps also make it an option while at work or in the car.
For many people, heat therapy works best when combined with other treatments, such as physical therapy and core 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 lower back pain relief.

Keeping warm

This winter has been really harsh and most times difficult to keep warm.
Our solution is fast and cost effective.

Just pop your Warm Buddy heating pad in the microwave for the stated time and this will keep you warm for an hour or so, then repeat as required.
We have found that using this method we have been able to turn the thermostat down a few degrees, thus saving money on heating.
Good luck and keep warm.
Spring is just around the corner as yesterday we saw snowdrops and crocus blooming and daffodils.

How to apply heat therapy

The most effective heat therapy products are Warm Buddy therapeutic heat packs and wraps that 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.

Heat Therapy

Sports Therapy wrap heat wrap

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) you will have to reheat the Warm Buddy heat pack a few times during this longer period of treatment.
For sports injuries you may want to try our sports therapy wrap, as with all our products they can be used hot or cold, for new injuries with bruising use a cold pack and for aches and pains use a warm pack.

Moist Heat Therapy for Muscle Relief

Moist Heat Therapy for Muscle Relief

Moist heat therapy

The benefits of heat therapy are undeniable and truly impressive. Heat therapy can relieve stiffness and improve circulation by opening blood vessels - relieving pain from arthritis, tennis elbow, sinus headaches, TMJ, aching feet, shoulder and back pain, and many more conditions!
But how does moist heat compare to dry heat therapy? There are many advantages to using moist heat therapy over traditional dry heat:

Deeper Muscle Penetration

Because water transfers heat better than air moist heat therapy delivers more heat directly to your skin without losing heat in the transfer process. The result of this greater heat transfer efficiency is that more of the heat makes its way deep into muscles, joints, ligaments and soft tissue. This deep muscle penetration using our Sports Therapy Wrap is great for athletes; because blood flow and oxygen levels are increased the healing process is accelerated.

Faster Relief of Pain

Moist heat pads are able to relax and penetrate the muscle faster due to the wet heat. As the muscle heats up blood quickly rushes in and starts the healing process. People who use moist heat therapy report that they start feeling more relaxed faster each time they do the therapy and get better faster overall.

All our heating pads can also be used for cold therapy asn well as warm moist heat. All are approved medical devices for the relief of pain and stress.

Warm Buddy medical devices

Warm Buddy have been making medical devices since 1996 and we have been associated with Warm Buddy since 2000.
Warm Buddy products are designed to help with the relief of stress and pain relief.
All Warm Buddy products are approved medical devices by Health Canada for the relief of stress and pain.

Warm Buddy natural pain relief products:

Thousands of customers around the world have or are enjoying the benefits these products offer, from back pain,neck and shoulder pain,headaches,migraine ,this is my popular product as I suffer from Migraines, I just put on my sleep mask and the weight of it works the pain from the sinuses and within 10 to 15 minutes the edge has been taken off the migraine.

Pain and stress relief products

If you suffer from cramps then our warming pillow is the perfect companion for you. Sports enthusiasts enjoy the Sports therapy wrap to warm up muscles prior to work-outs and if muscle pain occurs, this is also perfect for those suffering from sciatica.
Lets not forget our world famous warm up stuffed animals, these have offered comfort to so many people, these are designed for everybody.
Plus our baby products have brought peace into many households, these are all baby safe,(stitched eyes).
Once you buy one of our Warm Buddy products they will last for years and years, we keep telling warm Buddy they need to build in obsolescence into their products as they last too long.lol
Enjoy your Warm Buddy

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.

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

Back pain relief

Back pain can be debilitating, what you need are our heat packs that will offer fast natural relief for your back pain, these can be used hot or cold depending on the injury. Use it cold to reduce swelling and heat for aches and pains.
Back pain has never felt so good.
Warm Buddy heat packs have been made locally in Vancouver BC since 1996.

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.

"IMPORTANCE of WARM-UP AND STRETCHING"
Remember “Everybody needs a Warm Buddy”

Warm-up is one of the most important elements of an exercise program. It is particularly important to prevent back pain injury:
Warm-up is low level activity, such as a brisk walk or a slow jog, which should be completed prior to stretching and more strenuous exercise. The objective of the warm-up is to raise total body temperature and muscle temperature to prepare the entire body for vigorous activity. The warm-up period prepares the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, nervous system and the musculoskeletal system by gradually increasing the demand on those systems so that they are able to accommodate the demands of more strenuous activity.

Passive Warm-up:

The main goal of passive warm-up is to increase body temperature, either total body temperature or local body temperature, without physical activity. In passive warm-up the body temperature is usually increased by some external means, such as wearing heavy apparel, like a sweatshirt, and/or using our Warm Buddy Sports Therapy wrap or Body wrap. One of the advantages of using a passive means of warm-up is that energy is not expended in the warm-up activity. However, for best results it's recommended that passive warm-up be used in combination with active warm-up.

Active warm-up:

Is composed of two types: general and sports specific warm-up. The general or non-specific warm-up utilizes low intensity movements such as walking or slow jogging general warm-up, involving low level activity, is usually more effective than passive warm-up in increasing deep muscle temperature. Specific warm-up exercises actually involve the body parts that will be used in the subsequent competitive event. An example would be swinging a tennis racket in a practice stroke.
The advantage of the specific warm-up is that the temperature is more effectively increased in the specific body parts that are to be used.

THE PURPOSE OF WARM-UP: PREVENT INJURY - ENHANCE PERFORMANCE

Experts agree that the main purpose of warm-up is to increase the blood circulation in order to raise both the general body and the deep muscle temperatures, which in turn help to heat up the muscles, ligaments and tendons in preparation for more vigorous activity.
A proper warm-up provides many benefits due to elevated temperatures associated with it. The likelihood of any back pain injury is reduced. Athletic performance can be improved. The warm-up increases muscle efficiency, reduces potential for muscle pulls, improves reaction time and improves the speed of movement of muscled and ligaments.
Proper warm-up can also help reduce the severity of post-exercise muscle soreness. The higher temperatures and increased blood flow resulting from warm-up are important for delivery of oxygen to the muscles and for prevention of build-up of unwanted waste products which can lead to muscle soreness.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WARM-UP and STRETCHING: WARM-UP THEN STRETCH

There is an important difference between warm-up and stretching. Many people stretch and call it warm-up. This is incorrect. It is important to warm-up before stretching. If one stretches the muscles without prior warm-up, the muscles are cold and are more prone to injury, such as muscle tear or strain. Before exercising, begin with a warm-up period to raise the body temperature.
You want to get the heart pumping and increase blood flow to the muscles before stretching. Slow running in place, a slow aerobic dance, or a walk-jog (all with ball), and the application of an external heat pack, is an ideal warm-up regimen to help prepare the muscles for stretching and therefore reducing the posibility of back pain injury.

Back pain in early pregnancy:

Here is a heart felt story from Kristina
@ swankmama which will resonate with anyone going through lower back pain in early pregnancy.
Being pregnant the second time around has pretty much been the same as when I was pregnant with my son: fast, easy and free of any morning sickness or nausea. The only thing that I didn't have with my first pregnancy that I now have with this one is lower back pain. It comes and goes but the turning point was when I strained my back on our recent Disneyland vacation. I could hardly move and yet my son still wanted to be picked up constantly during our trip.

That's where Wildflowers Aromatherapy & Gifts came in to the rescue! Wildflowers is a Vancouver based eco-conscious company run by Peter and Patricia and serving customers worldwide. They carry a full line of Warm Buddy products which provide back pain, neck & shoulder pain and stress & tension relief. Filled with natural milled rice, Warm Buddy heating pads and wraps are aromatherapy scented with pure lavender flowers and essential oils making it a relaxing and soothing experience for your body. Wildflowers also prides themselves on buying all locally made products to share with the world.

To heat up your Warm Buddy, you simply put it in the microwave for the required time {my Warm Buddy Body Wrap takes 2-3 minutes - I've been warming it up at just under 3 minutes} and it will retain its heat for hours. I love that I can use it on my back as soon as I take it out of the microwave since the heat has been distributed evenly and it's not super hot to the touch. Usually, I wake up a few times a night for a bathroom break {another pregnancy "symptom"} and my Warm Buddy is still warm! The website says that it will retain its heat for 1 hour or longer and it seems like mine is on the longer side.

In addition to heating up your Warm Buddy, you can also throw it in your freezer {in a Ziploc bag} to reduce inflammation and relieve lower back pain related to sprains, bumps and bruises, inflamed muscles, etc.

When my lower back pain was at it's worse, all I could think about during the day was coming home, putting my heated Warm Buddy Body Wrap on my back and waking up virtually pain free. I found that it helped alleviate the pain during the night so I could sleep better and the pain wouldn't return until halfway through the next day. I would highly recommend Wildflowers and their Warm Buddy Body Wrap as a natural, pain relief alternative to taking pain medication to relieve the pain. In addition, the Body Wrap comes with a washable cover that can be hand or machine washed.
Thank you Wildflowers you are a life saver with your Microwave heating pad for back pain relief.

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

Why it is important to keep muscles warm

 Why it is important to keep muscles warm

 It is also important prior to warm ups and stretches to keep muscles warm, such as using our Warm Buddy Sports Therapy wrap that has a warm moist heat that really penetrates the muscles making them supple and less liable to being injured due to stresses while cold.

Sports Therapy Wrap

 
A warm up is the act of preparing for an athletic event or workout by exercising or practicing for a short time beforehand. Warming up helps reduce your risk of injury and the aches and pains that come with exercise. The physiological reason to warm up is to assist your circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles. The idea is to increase circulation throughout the body in a gradual manner. A proper warm up safely prepares the body for the increased demands of exercise. Cold muscles do not absorb shock or impact as well, and are more susceptible to injury.

A warm-up helps you prepare both mentally and physically for exercise and reduces the chance of injury. During a warm up, any injury or illness you have can often be recognized, and further injury prevented. Other benefits of a proper warm up include:

• Increased movement of blood through your tissues, making the muscles more pliable.
• Increased delivery of oxygen and nutrients to your muscles. This prevents you from getting out of breath early or too easily.
• Prepares your muscles for stretching
• Prepares your heart for an increase in activity, preventing a rapid increase in blood pressure
• Prepares you mentally for the upcoming exercise
• Primes your nerve-to-muscle pathways to be ready for exercise
• Improved coordination and reaction times

Should you injure or suffer from aches and pains after a work out you can use the heat packs for hot or cold therapy.

Hot or Cold Therapy

Warm Buddy heat wraps can be warmed in the microwave or cooled in the freezer. Products such as the Ultra Sports Therapy Wrap, Ultra Body Wrap, Ultra Warming Blanket and Aromatic Spa Wrap release a long lasting, penetrating moist heat that will last for up to 45 minutes. When placed in the freezer for a couple of hours(use a freezer bag so the pack does not attract other aromas from the freezer) Warm Buddy packs retain a comfortable level of cool that can be used to relieve muscle strain,stress and swelling. The following medical information demonstrates the effectiveness of heat and cold treatments.

When treating an injury such as a pulled muscle or sprained ankle, hot or cold therapy is often utilized. When using this type of therapy on an injury, many people are often unsure on which type of therapy they should use. The following outlines when to use either hot or cold therapy.

Hot Therapy

One should apply heat on an injured area when there is no inflammation. Heat therapy is typically used for such conditions as sore and stiff muscles as well as joint pain. The heat relaxes muscles and improves blood circulation. Experts believe the heat releases endorphins which inhibits pain signals to the brain. The effect of the heat causes the blood vessels to expand allowing the blood which carries oxygen and nutrients to circulate and reach the injured area. The boost in circulation allows excess fluid and waste to be carried away from the area allowing for healing to take place.

Heat therapy is often used before exercise or participating in sports so the muscles will be relaxed and more flexible. Heat is usually applied for about 20 minutes. A hot wet towel, hot pack, and heating pad are normally used in heat therapy. Heat therapy is popular for use on back injuries. It should not be used on sprained ankles and inflamed joints and muscles. The suitable temperature for heat therapy is about 104 to 113 degrees Fahrenheit.
 

Cold Therapy

Cold therapy is used for reducing pain, inflammation, and slowing metabolic action. The cold dulls nerve activity thereby inhibiting pain. For inflammation, cold constricts blood vessels which stop fluid from traveling to the injury where swelling occurs and permits fluid drainage. This allows for a reduction in swelling. Cold reduces muscle spasms and tightens muscles so they cannot stretch and extend which allows for healing.

Cold therapy is beneficial for immediate injuries as it reduces both pain and swelling. It is beneficial for treating lower back pain. Ice wrapped in a towel and cold packs are often used for about 10 minutes at a time. Some people will use a bag of ice or frozen vegetables such as peas. Cold therapy is also beneficial for chronic pain injuries. It should not be used before exercise because it tightens muscles making them less flexible.

When one sustains an injury due to such activities as heavy lifting, exercise, sports, or another activity that involves an intensive use of the muscles and ligaments, hot and cold therapy is an effective treatment for the injury. These injuries are quite common. The type of treatment you use will depend on the type of injury you receive. It is important to remember that an injury can be serious so it is vital that you see a doctor if the injury gets worse.

When one sustains an injury due to such activities as heavy lifting, exercise, sports, or another activity that involves an intensive use of the muscles and ligaments, hot and cold therapy is an effective treatment for the injury. These injuries are quite common. The type of treatment you use will depend on the type of injury you receive. It is important to remember that an injury can be serious so it is vital that you see a doctor if the injury gets worse.

A low impact exercise, such as biking or walking or using an elliptical or rowing machine is the best way to warm up.

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.

Heat packs for fast back pain relief

Heat packs

Back pain relief starts in just 3 minutes, that is how long it takes to warm the Sports Therapy Wrap .
Muscle pain management with the Sports Therapy wrap uses warm moist penetrating heat,
that relieves muscle aches and pains fast and naturally.
The heat wrap can also be used for cold therapy, pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours and it is ready to relieve fresh muscle injuries, I always have 2 heat wraps one that is always in the freezer and the other to pop in the microwave.

Fast back pain relief - Heat pack

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.

Warm Buddy and Autistic children

Autism and Autistic kids

Here is a comment from a school with Autistic and special needs children and how they are benefiting
from having Warm Buddies:
"We have started using Warm Buddies on our transitional care unit with our children who as a result
of neurological trauma have difficulty staying warm on their own.
The Warm Buddies are personalized

Large Warm up puppy

for each child with their own “collar”. It is important that our kids feel like they are in a home like
environment vs an impersonal medical setting. The Warm Buddies look and feel as if they are cuddling
up with their favorite stuffed animal however we know it is so much more than that, they are a modality
that is helping our kids stay happy and healthy". Childserve USA

ChildServe USA

Warm Buddy Heat Packs - Heat Wraps and Warm up animals

Warm Buddy products

Warm Buddy heat packs and warm up animals are all approved medical devices for the relief of muscle pain stress and comfort.

Heat Packs and heat wraps

 Heat packs and heat wraps

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 proudly made in Canada. 

Warm up animals

The Warm Buddy Company created the original warm-up plush stuffed animals. Each of our Warm Buddies comes with a removable inner pack that can be heated in the microwave or cooled in the freezer. These inner packs contain all natural ingredients and provide natural relief from aches, pains and stress.

Warm buddies help comfort children and adults to sleep at night. Our Warm Buddy family includes: Beary Bear, Wooly the Sheep, Puppies, Pandas, Penguins, Moosey and Froggie. The perfect gift for ages 3-100. Warm Buddy warm-up plush animals are proudly made in Canada with imported covers.

Large warm up puppy

Our warm-up plush animals have been awarded the prestigious PTPA (Parent Tested Parent Approved) Seal of Approval for excellence in parenting products. Warm Buddies won the award based on exceptional "value, functionality, quality and appeal of the product." To read more about the PTPA award visit our in the news section.

The Warm Buddy Company is proud to donate a portion of sales from our Bear Mitts, Small Beary, Large Beary and Pandas to allow Bears Matter (a non-profit organization) to help bears in need around the world. For more information or to get involved please visit bearsmatter.com

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

How to keep cool this summer with a Warm Buddy

 Keeping cool this summer

Summer is nearly here and each year we look for ways to keep cool,without breaking the bank with expensive air conditioners.
Why not try a heat pack to keep cool...yes,a heat pack.
Warm Buddy have been making therapeutic heat packs and wraps since 1985 and one of their main features is that it can be used hot or cold.

Just pop it in the freezer for a couple of hours and it will keep you cool for an hour or so.
I always have 2 packs in the freezer so when one, warms up to room temperature I replace it in the freezer and take out the other one.
Always place the heat pack in a freezer bag to stop other smells from products in the freezer being transferred to the heat pack.
For kids and adults alike, use the heat pack insert in our warm up animals to keep cool, remove the heat pack, place it in a freezer bag and put it in the freezer for an hour or more , then replace the pack in the animal and this will help keep you cool.             
Plus you have a heat pack available to relieve any aches and pains.
Here's to a cool and pain free summer.

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.