How Do Infrared Heating Pads Work
Do Infrared Heating Pads Really Work? And Can They Help Me?
Infrared heating pads have the ability to free your body and your mind of unwanted stress and pain. It’s a bold statement but also very fair. And that’s what I hope to help you with today.
There’s nothing worse than a muscle injury. It’s a pain in the backside, it hinders you from doing so much, especially if it’s in your back or a restrictive area of your body, and to be fair it is pretty much everywhere. But the back is the worst.
Or you might have general soreness or a joint complaint that doesn’t seem to go away and you’re looking for an effective recovery that offers a natural solution.
In the past, myself included when something like this happened I’d reach for the good old heat pack and hoped it would do its best. Well, It did what it could, relief for about 5 minutes at best, but that was about it.
The issue was it only heated the surface of the skin. And let’s be fair, that’s not where the muscles or joints are, are they? So once the heat pack was removed the heat basically went away.
That’s when I came across infrared therapy and more importantly the infrared heating pad and what it could actually do.
So what I’d like to do in this article is explain in a little more detail how infrared heating pads work, why they work so effectively, and how they can benefit you.
And if you’re ready to have less pain and enjoy life a bit more, you can check out our review on infrared heating pads.
What Does An Infrared Heating Pad Do?
Before we get into the detail of how infrared heating pads work let’s first take a look at the infrared heat part of the pad. You may or may not know what far infrared heat is, If not allow me to explain.
Far infrared heat is a well known type of heat, and to be fair you know it very well. It is what we know to be the invisible part of the sun’s heat, this is not to be confused with the UV part of the heat which we all know to be very dangerous to our skin and our body in general. Far infrared heat is known to be the safest form of the earth’s natural energy.
This energy uses solid objects to generate its heat and it’s a heat that we can easily absorb into our bodies in a safe and effective manner.
This heat has the ability to absorb deep into our body. And this is where the beauty of infrared heat can really benefit us and our health concerns.
Studies have been shown that infrared heat can be absorbed into our bodies as much as 2-3 inches. And this is where the magic can happen.
Although there is a lot more to it, let’s turn a detailed answer into a short one. In short, better blood flow helps with the recovery and healing of muscle tissue and joint issues.
The way this happens is the far infrared heat can penetrate deep into our bodies, as opposed to a regular heating pad where it just heats up the surface of the skin. And the blood flow is what allows the problem area to heal quicker.
Different Types Of Heating Pads
When it comes to the different types of infrared heating pads and what they do there, you’ve got a number of choices.
Infrared heating pads all contain some sort of stone, that’s how they generate and disperse the infrared heat, plus it’s also what makes them stand out over other products.
This is what can get a little confusing when looking into infrared heating pads, What one is right for me? There’s a few options. For the purpose of today’s conversation I want to keep it as simple as I can.
And to do that I want to focus on the three main crystals/stones. They are:
Jade stone.
Tourmaline
Amethyst crystal
Each has their benefits and what they offer in terms of the outcome you want.
The jade stone that is embedded into the heating pad absorbs the heat then it releases it as far infrared heat, this heat is then absorbed into our body.
We also have heating pads that contain the tourmaline and the amethyst crystal. These crystals work a little differently. They also give off infrared heat but at the same time give off what are called negative ions that offer their own health benefits, which are a little different to the jade benefits.
How The Infrared Heating Pads Work
Like all heating pads they use an electric power source, they come with an attachment that you can use to simply plug into the power supply. We always recommend reading the manual that is provided if you are ever unsure of anything.
All heating pads have a temperature controller where you can set the temperature you want to use. Once you have done that you are good to go.
When setting the temperature, if this is the first time you have used one we recommend setting it at a lower setting until you get used to the heat. You’ll adjust pretty quickly, then you can adjust the temps accordingly to suit your heat level.
Another very helpful feature is you can also set a timer that will turn the heating pad off. This is a good idea especially if you happen to fall asleep.
Have you ever fallen asleep while you’ve had your electric blanket on in bed? Not sure about you but it’s not pleasant when you wake up. Anyway having the ability to have a timer on the heating pad is also a good safety aspect.
How Long Can I Use An Infrared Heating Pad For?
It’s recommended that you use your infrared heating pad for an average time of 30 minutes. This might not sound long, but here’s the best thing and what makes the infrared heating pad much better than a regular heating pad.
Because the infrared heat can penetrate deep into your joint and muscle areas once you finish your 30-minute session the heat continues to do it’s thing for hours after you’re done.
Unlike the normal heating pad where it just heats the surface of the skin and once finished so does the heat. This is what sets both heating pads apart.
I think it’s massive. Think about it. If you use your infrared pad before you go to bed the heat can still be benefiting you long after you’re asleep.
Do Infrared Heating Pads Help?
From reading this article and maybe a few others I’ve got on my website I hope you can see that infrared heating pads do work and are very effective for anyone’s health and wellbeing.
Check out all the infrared heating pad benefits they offer, there’s loads of them and If only 1 or 2 of them benefit you well in my opinion that’s a winner in my mind.
When it comes to the different types of infrared heating pads you can be excused at being a little confused. I know I was at first. Once you understand what each type of pad does, then you can match them to your health problems to get the results you’re after.
As I mentioned above the most popular heating pads are the ones that contain the 3 stones/crystals. The jade stone, tourmaline and the amethyst crystals. And each has its own health benefits
If I was to say what the most popular infrared heating pads were it would have to be either the jade infrared heating pad or the jade and tourmaline infrared heating pad.
You can also get different size heating pads. The smaller ones are for targeting areas like the shoulder, neck and parts of the back and even the knee. Whereas the larger ones are more for targeting the whole body.
Either way you’re getting a high quality and very effective health product you’ll benefit from for years to come.
Conclusion
Hopefully I’ve answered the question on how infrared heating pads work. I’ve explained how infrared heat works and how the stones work and together they form a powerful force that you can use to your advantage.
One thing I didn’t want to do is to come across as showcasing the infrared heating pad to be the best thing in the world for all health concerns. All I wanted to do was give you all the information you need to hopefully allow you to make the right decision for your needs.
