Many people use heating pads for back pain alleviation. It’s the drug-free way to soothe all sorts of bodily aches and pain. They’re not merely placebos for health either. They actually work by dilating your blood vessels to increase blood flow to the painful part of your body, which promotes healing.
They’re also available in various sizes and prices for good measure. The Best Microwavable Heating Pads have also been reviewed below. Keep on reading to find out more about them and which one of them are the best of the best.
Your Buying Guide on Heating Pads
What’s the best heating pad for your needs? What should you watch out for in order to get a heating pad you can use to relieve your body’s various aches and pains? Some people out there tend to complain that the heating pad they bought smelled funny—like burnt rubber—after microwaving.
You may also like: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Microwave Oven that Best Fits Your Needs
What’s a Heating Pad?
A heating pad is a pad, pillow, or bag of materials you can heat up. They can be electronic, such that you can plug them in your electrical socket and they’ll heat themselves up. They can also be something you can
It shouldn’t be confused with a hot water bag. You shouldn’t microwave a rubber hot water bag in order to heat its water up. The water in that item should already be hot, hence the term “hot water bag”. A dry heating pad or bag is different from a moist one, which is also known as a hot water bag.
Types of Ailment Soothed by the Heating Pad
Which body part is your pain coming from? What type of pain is it? A neck wrap is good for people with chronic neck pain.
Meanwhile, those with lower back pain should get a heating pad that’s pillow-like or can modify its shape to fit the contour of your spine. Ask for the recommendation of a health expert for more details before investing in a heating pad for your treatment.
What are the Most Popular Types of Heating Pads?
Here are some of the most popular heating pad types. They can usually double as cold compresses as well as heat pads.
- Moist Heating Pads: Moist heating pads help in relaxing sore muscles. These models are typically available in microwaveable bag form (usually microwaved for 90 to 120 seconds). Some even have conducting filters attached to them.
Hot water bottles and microwaveable pads with flaxseed and clay beads (sometimes scented with lavender and mint) in them don’t produce internal heat, which some insists in better heat penetration on the body.
What’s more, moist air does indeed penetrate deep into your muscles. This results in pain relief that’s more long-lasting.
- Electric Heating Pads: These heating pads require you to plug them to an electrical socket. Yes, they come with a plug. They’re like the Japanese kotatsu (electric blanket) that heats up the fabric care of electrical power. It produces dry heat.
Prolonged exposure to the pad can increase burn risk as well. Don’t fall asleep while the unit is still operating. It can burn you or it can be a fire hazard. When investing in an electric heating pad, get one with an automatic shutoff feature to them.
- Infrared Heating Pads: Infrared rays or radiation is invisible to the naked eye. However, it can be felt in terms of its hotness. Infrared heat is similar to sun heat. The infrared hotness is different from the heat of other heat pad types.
It’s particularly advantageous when it comes to not drying out skin. It’s similar to electric heating pads because they use electricity and have a multitude of controls and features. For example, the product has temperature control and automatic shut-off.
Heating Pad Specs to Look Out For
Here are the most important things to look for when shopping for a heating pad.
- Auto Switch Off Feature: If you’re using an electric heating pad, get one with a special auto switch-off feature. It causes the produce to turn off after operating for a specific time period, like an hour or two.
This feature saves you electricity and reduces the chances of burns. It also prevents the heating pad from becoming a fire hazard.
- Heat Settings: Some people may wish for high heat to treat their ailments, especially if they’re chronic or if it’s for palliative care. Therefore, it’s worth investing in a heating pad that offers a multitude of heat settings.
This way, you can turn it down if it’s too hot or turn it up if it’s not hot enough. There are even pads that have memory features. They remember what sort of heat setting you last used or use regularly.
- Size and Shape of the Heating Pad: How big the heating pad is and what its shape is should be in accordance to the painful body part you wish to undergo treatment. Pay attention to the size in inches to get a suitably big or small pad.
Smaller pads can deal with neck pain. To target wider areas such as your abdomen, legs, spine, or back, you should look for the much bigger pads that will over extra coverage.
- Material: Electric pads heat up on their own. Dry pads have material such as flaxseed, millet, or clay beads you can heat up on the microwave in order to make them hot enough to retain the heat for extended use.
The advantage of electric pads is that they can keep themselves warm as long as they’re plugged in. You can also opt to take it out of the electric socket once it’s hot enough.
- Machine Washable: Invest in a heating pad you can wash on the washing machine. Obviously, electric heating pads have detachable parts for washing while the electronics remain untouched by water.
Some microwaveable heating pads can be washed in the washing machine while others should only be hand-washed every few days.
- Heat Up Time: For many folks, waiting for a heating pad to heat up can be inconvenient. The faster it heats up the better. If you’re in a hurry to have it hot, it pays to invest in a fast-heating electronic pad or a microwavable heat pad.
There are models that can heat up on their own or heat up with the assistance of being microwaved. When they get too cold, just put them back in the microwave again to make them hot again.
Reviews on the 11 Best Microwavable Heating Pads in 2021
1. This Adjustable and Multipurpose Heating Pad is Available as Plain or with Lavender Scent
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Pain in the neck, shoulders, back, and joints as well as menstrual cramps with or without aromatherapy |
| Size | 26.5 x 4.5 x 1 inches |
| Weight | 2.43 pounds |
| Material | Rice and flaxseed as well as the lavender in the lavender version |
| How to Clean | Clean with disinfectant wipes only and don’t get it wet |
My Heating Pad MHP-A-MP-US-BLU is a multipurpose kind of heating pad you can stretch or flex in every which way possible. You can put it on your shoulders, neck, or abdomen (thusly using it as a belt) with its straps and bendable body. It’s a contour-fitting, flexible, and blanket-like heating item for sure.
2. A Smaller Yet More Dependable Heating Pad Choice for Dealing with a Wider Array of Ailments
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Hot and cold relief therapy for headaches, cold nights, morning stiffness, and back pain |
| Size | 12 x 8.5 x 1 inches |
| Weight | 2.5 pounds |
| Material | Flaxseed, wheat, white willow, yarrow, spearmint, rosemary, peppermint, lemongrass, cinnamon, and chamomile |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
Nature Creation Blue Flowers comes in a myriad of designs and value packs. It outdoes the cheaper My Heating Pad by offering aromatherapy on top of heating treatment as well as doubling as a cold pad or cold compress when you put it inside the freezer.
3. ReliefHeaven is Heaven for Your Neck and Shoulder Pain with its Croissant Shape
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Sore neck and shoulder as well as whiplash |
| Size | 10.64 x 7.68 x 3.35 inches |
| Weight | 3.4 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads, flaxseed, millet, and lavender flowers |
| How to Clean | Clean with disinfectant wipes only and don’t get it wet |
The ReliefHeaven Heating Pad offers cordless weighted therapy with a beautiful ergonomic design that first perfectly for most if not all necks out there. If you’re suffering from neck pain or whiplash as well as sore shoulders, you can depend on the ReliefHeaven heating pad to give you heavenly relief.
It’s a highly rated neck and shoulder heating pad specialist with a lot of satisfied customers vouching for it.
4. The Shorter, Pillowy, and Moist Version of the Multipurpose My Heating Pad MHP-A-MP-US-BLU
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Cramps, muscle pain, back pain, neck pain, and shoulder pain |
| Size | 11 x 6 x 1 inches |
| Weight | 1.98 pounds |
| Material | Rice and flaxseed as well as the lavender in the lavender version |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
The My Heating Pad 10606-BLU is the smaller hot-and-cold version of the My Heating Pad MHP-A-MP-US-BLU. This means on top of sharing material and the My Heating Pad brand quality across the board, the 10606-BLU is also capable of being a cold compress for swelling and nerve pain relief.
5. It’s Another Stretchable Heating Pad That Can Double as a Belt for Menstrual Cramp Relief
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Pain in the neck, shoulders, back, and joints as well as menstrual cramps |
| Size | 7.91 x 5.55 x 3.11 inches |
| Weight | 2.38 pounds |
| Material | Flaxseed, millet, and clay beads. |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
As for the REVIX Heating Pad, it’s the fluffier version of the versatile My Heating Pad MHP-A-MP-US-BLU. They treat the same ailments and they share the same strapped design to allow for lumbar support when you wear the item as a belt or as a scarf on the back of your neck.
Unlike the MHP-A-MP-US-BLU, it can be used moist or dry.
6. The SuzziPad Heating Pad is the “Either or” Choice of Moist or Dry and Heating or Cooling Pad
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | It treats aches on joints, muscles, back, neck, and shoulder as well as cramps |
| Size | 7.91 x 7.01 x 2.83 inches |
| Weight | 2.41 pounds |
| Material | Flaxseed, millet, and clay beads |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
The microwaveable SuzziPad Heating Pad is another either-or heating pad that can serve as a cooling pad. It can also be used either moist or dry. What makes it unique is that it has a towel-like texture, which means it’s made to be sweat-absorbent or capable of being a little steamed in the microwave.
7. The Third My Heating Pad Offering Offers Heavenly Relief with More Moisture Involved
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Hot or cold pad for treatment of the neck or shoulder as well as muscle and arthritis pain |
| Size | 11.02 x 7.32 x 2.91 inches |
| Weight | 3.8 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads and flaxseed |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
The Zen Therapy Heating Pad is another microwaveable neck wrap therapy pad like ReliefHeaven. Unlike ReliefHeaven, Zen Therapy can double as a cooling pad as well. It comes in black, dark grey, and maroon variants (this particular one is the maroon variant).
8. A Heating Pad that Also Involves Aromatherapy like Lavender Scented My Heating Pad
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Sore neck and shoulder as well as whiplash and arthritis with heating pad action and aromatherapy |
| Size | 0.8 x 5 x 19 inches |
| Weight | 1.6 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads and flaxseed as well as lavender |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
As for the Bed Buddy BBF4007-12 Comfort Heating Pad, it’s a purple heating pad that combines aromatherapy and heat therapy. It’s Amazon’s Choice for “Neck Warmer Microwavable Heating Pad”. This means Amazon chose this over REVIX, ReliefHeaven, and SuzziPad.
You can avail of this one, another one with lavender and mint, and a pink one with no scent.
9. A Long-Lasting Microwaveable Heating Pad That Has a Washable, Removable Cover
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | It treats aches on joints, muscles, back, neck, shoulders, and nerves as well as cramps |
| Size | 12.4 x 7.64 x 3.74 inches |
| Weight | 6.26 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads and flaxseed |
| How to Clean | It has a washable cover that has a hook and loop you can remove |
The ComfortCloud B07MDYQQGT has many things going for it. First off, you should microwave this heating pad for 1-minute intervals in order to reach a comfortable temperature. Furthermore, its hook-and-loop cover can be removed and washed.
It’s also Amazon’s Choice for “Wet Heating Pad for Back Pain Relief”.
10. A Value Pack of 2 Natural Moist Heating Pads for Your Shoulders, Neck, and Back Pain
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | It treats aches on joints, muscles, back, neck, shoulders, and nerves as well as cramps |
| Size | 12 x 6.5 x 3.4 inches |
| Weight | 5.86 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads and flaxseed |
| How to Clean | It has a washable cover that has a hook and loop you can remove |
The Microwavable ComfortCloud Heating Pads Set of 2 treats your pain from your back, neck, and shoulders as well as nerves, lower lumbar, and cramps. Basically, it’s an affordable 2 pad set that’s worth the same as many single-pad items on this list.
It’s also Amazon’s Choice for “Heating Pad Microwavable Large”.
11. This Cloud Gray Aromatherapy Heating Pad Also Doubles as a Cold Compress
Features:
| Type | Moist heating pad |
| Ailments Treated | Pain in the neck, shoulders, back, and joints as well as menstrual cramps and spasm treatment with aromatherapy |
| Size | 5.31 x 5.31 x 9.84 inches |
| Weight | 3.51 pounds |
| Material | Clay beads and flaxseed |
| How to Clean | Use a damp washcloth or paper towels to wash it |
Last but not least is the Microwaveable GENIANI Heating Pad. It combines several aspects. On Amazon, it’s rated No. 1 in Microwavable Heat Pads. This heat pad for pain relief and spasm therapy is a “cordless” neck wrap (in that it’s not an electric heat pad).
It’s available in cloud gray and space blue. Refrigerate inside Ziplock plastic bag for cold compress version.
To Sum, it All Up
The best microwavable heating pad of the bunch is ReliefHaven Heating Pad. It’s followed by Nature Creation Blue Flowers. The third place is SuzziPad Microwave Heating Pad. They’re a mix of many heating pad types.
Although there are many heating pad designs to choose from, you can select the best ones that fit your specific needs. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Have a big picture idea of your needs and the right heating pad option will seemingly fall into your lap.
