Infrared Vs Regular Heating Pad
The Infrared Heat Pad. Infrared Vs Regular. What’s The Better Choice?
The right heating pad can make a massive difference in getting you back to full health fast. The wrong or incorrect heating pad can unknowingly prolong your road to recovery.
So it’s vital for you to make the right choice. And that’s what I want to cover in this article today.
Don’t worry, it’s a very common question when you’re looking to invest in a heating pad maybe for the first time. Infrared Vs regular heating pad. What’s the better pad to buy, the differences and why.
I came across this topic when I was on the hunt for a solution for my wife and her ongoing back pain issues. Little did I know at the time it would also benefit me a lot.
By you reading this there’s a good chance you or a loved one is experiencing some sort of pain. And I know from experience when it comes to pain you’ll pretty much do what you can to get lasting and quick relief, especially if it’s an ongoing issue.
There’s nothing worse than seeing a loved one or them seeing you in pain and feeling helpless.
Not only do you have pain, without the right treatment this pain can cause other issues to your body that can leave you incapable of even living a normal life.
This might sound a little dramatic to some, but for those who suffer, it makes plenty of sense. And as I’ve said, I’ve seen this first hand with my wife, her pain was challenging, and even getting out of bed some days was an achievement in itself.
It affects your body but also your mental strength, and you’ll do what you can to find a solution. And that’s when I knew infrared heat therapy had some benefits and can really help with pain relief.
RELATED ARTICLE. check out our infrared heating pad review here.
Do Heating Pads Work?
Well, that’s the other question I had, and from what I had seen so far it looked promising. I was really interested in infrared heating pads and the benefits they offered over the regular pad.
I remember back when I was young, maybe you do as well, mum used to always use a heating pad or a hot water bottle to help with pain relief, just a regular one but it seemed to work to some degree, and when you think about it, it makes perfect sense. I knew infrared therapy wasn’t one of those fads, infrared therapy has a long history.
I was confident they worked but I wanted to know how exactly, so of course I did my homework.
How Do Infrared Heating Pads Work?
So the heating pads you can get from the shops, the cheaper ones are usually electric. Not bad but they only heat the surface of your skin. They won’t go any deeper than that, and for what they do they are helpful. But they don’t help with lasting pain relief. They don’t get right into the joints and muscle areas.
The issue is because they only heat the surface of your skin and not the muscles and that’s why the heat isn’t long-lasting. If it could go deeper like the infrared heating pad does, of course, they would help. And what can also be frustrating is once the heat is turned off, the area in question cools down and the pain returns.
The heat cools down quickly because the heat hasn’t penetrated the skin and gone deep into your muscles and joints where it needs to get to. And that’s exactly what the infrared heating pad does.
The infrared heating pad converts light into heat which produces energy that penetrates deeper into your skin and into your muscles.
This deep penetration into your body helps to relieve the pain as well as helps with blood circulation. Better blood circulation assists with faster muscle repair and recovery and therefore helps to relieve pain.
Because the heat enters your body it also stays there longer as well. Once you turn off the infrared heating pad the heat remains within your body for up to 4-6 hours giving you longer and better pain relief.
The Heating Elements
The regular electric heating pad uses cotton fibres to heat the area.
The infrared heating pad uses cotton fibres as well as jade stones, amethyst and tourmaline stones. The stones are what helps to transmit the infrared waves into our body through the skin.
I hope that explains how infrared heating pads work and how they can really benefit your health and pain relief.
You can see how different they are and why they work the way they do.
Below I’ve listed 3 of the most popular full-body heating pads from healthy wave mat that will give you a total healing experience and get you back to where you need to be.
JADE & TOURMALINE FAR-INFRARED HEAT MESH MAT 72″X24″ (FULL SIZE)
AMETHYST JADE TOURMALINE SOFT & FLEXIBLE FIR MAT PRO
PRO PEMF AMETHYST TOURMALINE OBSIDIAN FAR INFRARED MAT
Infrared Heating Pad Pros And Cons
From what I’ve mentioned it’s clear to say there’s no doubt there are benefits of using a heating pad for pain relief as well as for your general wellbeing.
But in saying that, like anything in life there are both sides to the story and that’s the same when we look at infrared heating pad pros and cons. Nothing is perfect even if it’s the best in the world.
Whether it’s for muscle issues or ongoing pain or possibly arthritis, heating pads do work. As I’ve explained there are differences between the two and I’ve mentioned what they are.
Looking at all the infrared heating pad pros and cons, well it has to be said there’s a lot of healing benefits long term over the electric heating pad which I do cover below. If there is a con it would have to be the price of the infrared heating pad when you compare it to the regular heating pad, If you can call that a con.
If you understand the differences between the two types of heating pads and how the infrared pad works and what it’s made of you’ll understand why there’s a large price difference, and to me the price actually makes sense. The long term health benefits outway the upfront costs.
It’s clear to say, there’s no doubt about the effective use of an infrared heating pad for pain relief. Whether that’s a strained muscle as a result of exercise or you have a long term health condition like arthritis. They do help. But there are very big differences between the two pads.
Infrared Heating Pad Vs Regular Heating Pad. The Differences
So now we know a little more about the two heating pads, especially the infrared ones. I’d like to cover the differences between the two, apart from the price difference which I’ve already covered.
Below I’ve put together a little chart showing you the noted differences between the two types of heating pads.
Infrared Heating Pads
Long-Term Pain Relief
You can see relief for up to 5-6 hours after you have actually finished using your pad
The Heat Source
The heat Is generated by using Jade stones/Amethyst Stones/Tourmaline stones
Heat Penetration Depth
The heat will reach up to 4-5 cm into your body
EMF Level
Lower than normal. Most products do offer EMF protection layers.
Electric Heating Pads
Pain Relief
You only experience pain relief while you have your pad running. Once you turn the pad off the relief/heat stops.
The Heat.
The heat is generated with cotton fibres.
Heat Penetration Depth
The heat will reach 2-3 mm into your skin.
EMF Level
On the high side
All I wanted to do is break down the differences so you could see them side by side.
Regular Heating Pad
So the regular heating pad uses electricity along with the cotton fibres to generate the required heat. The infrared pad does have the same set-up but with the infrared heat things do change a lot, you can see that above but I’ll touch on that soon.
As I’ve mentioned the electric pad only penetrated around 23 mm into the skin, all this means is the heat doesn’t really break the skin, it pretty much just heats the surface of your body, hence why the heat disappears quickly once you have turned the pad off.
If you’re not monitoring your heat with the electric heating pad you can actually burn the skin.
Infrared Heating Pad
Now let’s turn our attention to the infrared heating pad. This is where you’ll start to see why the infrared heating pad is a little more expensive but so much more effective.
This is where I found the infrared heating pad pretty cool. Not only does it use electricity to heat but they also use special stones/crystals. They use these stones to transfer the heat into infrared heat.
These stones are really effective and without them, you won’t get the same effect or results. They also offer healing properties on their own, so you basically get double the health benefits.
As I mentioned in the chart above, the infrared heat penetrates a lot deeper than the normal heating pad. The infrared heat can effectively get as far as 5-6cm into your body, allowing the heat to get to where it’s going to be the most helpful.
Using the infrared heating pad for even 30 minutes a day can get you up to 5-6 hours of pain relief. And the reason for this, although I’ve already mentioned this before, is because the heat penetrates into your body, your inner body can retain the heat for longer periods of time, thus allowing you to get longer relief with a lot more benefits.
Just think about the impact that could have on your life. Up to 6 hours of pain relief, all-natural therapy without medication. Allowing you to get on with your life.
Heating Pad Safety Concerns.
When it comes to the safety of using an infrared heating pad you are pretty safe, and I’ll explain why.
Infrared rays are very safe because you’re actually exposed to infrared light every day, and I’m talking about the sun. The sun is a natural source of infrared rays, therefore infrared light cannot hurt you. It’s actually the UV rays that are the problem.
Something that all infrared products do not emit. So knowing that you can see how it’s very safe for us to enjoy and use as a natural healing source.
With the electric heating pad. You’re also pretty safe, as I mentioned above, there have been cases where the skin had been burnt, this would be due to the high heat they produce as well as not keeping an eye on things. So that’s an area of concern if you’re going to go down the electric path.
Now let’s cover EMF’s. Electromagnetic Fields.
This is a big topic in today’s world. I put that down to living in an electronic world where we have these devices with us all the time, we are exposed to EMFs every day, and you’re probably not even aware of it, just think of your cell phones for example.
There are safe levels of EMF’s and of course unsafe levels. At the end of the day if you can limit your exposure to any type of emf you’re doing ok.
This is a big one for me and I’m sure I’m not alone. Electric heating pads emit more EMF than the infrared heating pad does, and companies that produce infrared products, especially the infrared heating pads are always working hard to lower the emf exposure. Most if not all heating pads are very low in EMFs..
Infrared Heating Pad Benefits
When it comes to comparing the benefits of both heating pads, looking at all the data, really there’s no comparison. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not here to bash the heating pad, it still does offer some benefits, and I do remember it helping me as a youngster, but not to the level of the infrared heating pad.
On the other hand, looking at the infrared heating pad benefits, plus understanding what the infrared heating pad can do, you’ll start to see these benefits will start to quickly stack up. This is where things get interesting.
Below is a shortlist of the types of health benefits you can get from using an infrared heating pad.
Infrared Heating Pad Benefits.
- Helps with the ongoing pain relief which can last for up to 5-6 hours. Great for using before bed to get the health benefit while you sleep.
- Helps with the relief of arthritic pain and other related joint pain.
- Helps to increase your blood flow quicker than normal and get the blood to the affected areas for faster pain relief.
- Helps with general soreness and stiffness. After exercise would be a great time to use it to get the full benefits.
- Helps with inflammation which is related to the above points.
- Helps with general relaxation. Is great for relieving and reducing your stress levels.
Our Summary
Well first of all thanks for checking out our article on the comparisons of heating pads. As you can see we much prefer the infrared heating pad over the regular pad, the site name sort of gives it away.
Plus with all the dates I’m sure you can see why. In saying that if you feel a regular heating pad might suit your needs better it’s all good my friend.
Infrared therapy is a wonderful natural therapy that has the ability to give you ongoing pain relief, as well as a number of other health benefits associated with infrared therapy and pain.
It also gives you the opportunity to live a happier and healthier life, something we all strive for.
If you would like to know where you can get the best-infrared heating pad on the market, you can check out our infrared heating pad review. We recommend a number of different infrared heating pads that will suit everyone’s needs, whatever they are. Cheers.
