Quick relief might just be one click of a button away
CR evaluated seven popular heating pads—including the Geniani Heating Pad for Back Pain and Cramps Relief (shown). We put them to the test in our labs and analyzed them at home for comfort and ease of use.
By Alexandra Frost
We’ve all been there—you wake up with a crick in your neck from sleeping wrong. Or maybe you can’t ease stomach pains or cramps, or just can’t relax with a sore, aching back. While it won’t take the place of medical intervention for serious injuries, heating pads have their place in pain relief and comfort.
“Heat therapy is optimal for muscle stiffness and improving blood flow, which we emphasize in our treatments,” says Bryan Wright, DPT, physical therapist and founder of Wright Physical Therapy. “In contrast, cold therapy might be better for recent injuries with swelling. Heating pads can contribute to recovery when used correctly, not just for temporary comfort, by improving circulation in specific cases like osteoarthritis.”
When choosing a heating pad, you’ll want to consider the number of heating levels it offers, how much padding you’d like, your budget, and which body part you intend on using it for (which can help you select a shape and size that suits your needs). “The heating pad should be contoured to fit the body part to be heated,” says Joe Krugh, PT, a physical therapist and assistant professor in the doctor of physical therapy program at the University of Toledo in Ohio. “For example, a large rectangular pad will not work well for heating a neck or shoulder but works well for the lower back.”
We evaluated seven popular heating pads. In addition to trying them out at home, CR’s José Amézquita tested them in our labs to determine how long it took each pad to reach its stable temperature at the lowest, medium, and highest temperature settings. Here are our top choices (and two we don’t recommend).
Geniani Heating Pad for Back Pain and Cramps Relief
The Geniani heating pad is soft, reliable, and easy to use. It has three heat levels, is offered at a reasonable price, and boasts key features like a long cord with a rapid disconnect feature so that you don’t rip the cord from the pad if it gets stuck or you tug on it too hard. Instead, it disconnects on its own and you can reconnect it. It has an auto-shutoff function, but only after 120 minutes (other models, like the Renpho, below, offer more shutoff time options). According to our lab tests, its temperature range was between 76° F on its lowest setting and 110° F on its highest setting.
I enjoyed using this heating pad on many body parts, such as across the back of the shoulders and lower back. When I turned the pad vertically, I could use it for the entire back, abdomen, and more. Pressing the power button cycles through the three heat options, and a bright red light indicates which setting you are on, even in a dark room. The settings are also well labeled, unlike some of the other pads.
Amézquita observed that it takes just over 5 minutes for the pad to heat up to its maximum temperature at the lowest setting. Compared with other pads that have similar temperature ranges, the Geniani is 12 minutes faster than the Walgreens King Size Heating Pad and 10 minutes faster than the Renpho heating pad. This is our top pick because it delivers pain relief quicker than some other options. It comes in 13 color options and three sizes.
Renpho Heating Pad for Back Pain Relief
If you wish the area from your neck down to your lower back could be heated all at once, this whole-spine wrap-around style heating pad looks and feels more like a robe than a heating pad. It’s ideal for those with much larger areas to heat up and can be repurposed for other body parts. For example, you can wrap up sore legs and feet in the pad and use the rope tie to secure it.
The pad features large buttons and six heat levels (double the settings of many other options). It feels heavy and cozy, almost like a weighted blanket.
According to the manufacturer, the pad’s heat ranges from 100° F to 150° F, but our lab testing revealed lower temperatures: The pad heated up to a maximum of 79° F on its lowest temperature setting and 122° F on its highest setting, which is warm but not as hot as the Sunbeam Heating Pad, below. One gripe: The +/- buttons began wearing off even after the first few uses. The wrap comes in two sizes and six colors.
Sunbeam Heating Pad
The Sunbeam Heating Pad reached the highest temperature of all of the pads we tested in our labs. “The Sunbeam Heating Pad does not have an auto-shutoff timer, and its temperature keeps increasing with time,” Amézquita says. “It reached the highest temperature among the models on our list at 136° F. It is important for consumers to remember to turn this one off when they are done and not to use it for a long time since it will keep increasing the heat as time passes.”
This pad’s fabric was scratchier than others and had a more plastic (not plush) feel. However, the cover is removable and easier to access and wash than some others. It also has a ridge that you slide up and down, rather than a button to push, which can increase ease of use and accessibility for some. While evaluating this feature at home, we found it got too hot to use after 10 to 15 minutes on its highest heat setting. Even if you prefer hot temperatures, promptly turn it down or off if it gets too hot for you.
Pure Enrichment PureRelief XL Heating Pad
With large settings buttons and a light-up remote, the Pure Enrichment heating pad is a good choice for seniors or anyone with accessibility concerns. However, it has a less luxurious-feeling fabric than other options. Its maximum temperature is also more forgiving than some other models. Although the manufacturer provides a temperature range of 105° F to 140° F, our testing revealed it reached 77° F on its lowest setting and 111° F on its highest setting.
“Pure Enrichment PureRelief XL Heating Pad can be set to provide continuous heat, but its maximum temperature of 111° F was not as high as that of the Sunbeam Heating Pad,” Amézquita says. “It can be set to auto-shutoff at 120 minutes.”
However, those using the auto-shutoff function on this pad or others should consider that most experts we interviewed recommend 20 minutes of heat, so 120 minutes is considered excessive. If you fall asleep with it on, you’ll still likely be getting much more heat exposure than recommended by experts.
This heating pad has six heat levels and comes in three colors.
Up&Up Heating Pad XL
When you need muscle comfort at 3 a.m. and don’t want to wake anyone else up by turning on the light, this heating pad by Target is ideal because you can operate it without even looking at the settings. It has raised dots to indicate which level you are on simply by feel. This can help if you have trouble seeing, either because it’s dark or, like me, because you aren’t near your glasses in the middle of the night. It also has decent-sized buttons, making it simple to use.
But it missed the mark in terms of heat levels. The manufacturer claims it has a temperature range of 113° F to 149° F, but our tests revealed it only heated up to 72° F on its lowest setting and 94° F on its highest setting.
While heating pad covers are typically washable, some require the cover to be removed and thrown into the washer and dryer, and others require the whole heating pad (without the cord) to go into the washer. This heating pad is one of the easier ones to wash because of its detachable cover. The material is a plush waffle fabric style that is cozy and comfortable.
Other Heating Pads We Evaluated
In addition to our top picks, we evaluated two popular heating pads from Walgreens and CVS but found they fell short in terms of comfort and features.
CVS Health Series 500 Extra Long Heating Pad
This CVS heating pad heats up quickly and has a plush, soft-to-the-touch textured material. The cord isn’t quite as long as some others, and the buttons aren’t as big, so people might need to be a bit more careful in selecting the buttons than when using some others with larger, easier-to-push buttons.
The only confusing aspect of using this heating pad was figuring out the differences among the four heat levels. “Low” and “warm” settings seem similar and might be unclear to some users.
Walgreens King Size Heating Pad
This very thin heating pad doesn’t have any fabric texture, and really not much fabric at all, which makes it less comfortable than the other pads. In our lab tests, it also took the longest average time to reach its maximum temperature on the lowest setting—around 17 minutes compared with around 5 minutes for most others. In our lab tests, it also had a much lower average temperature on its highest setting, at just 107° F. With the exception of the Up&Up, all the other heating pads had higher temperatures on their hottest setting.
The picture above is an infrared image that shows the distribution of heat across the heating pads. Blue is colder, and white is the hottest, as shown in the bar at the bottom of the image.
Photo: Scott Meadows/Consumer Reports
Heating Pad Safety Concerns
According to the Electrical Safety Foundation International, “Heating pads and electric blankets cause almost 500 fires each year. Almost all of these fires involve electric blankets that are more than ten years old.”
Safety Precautions to Prevent Burns and Fire
Don’t use damaged heating pads. Look for dark, frayed, or charred spots on the pad itself, or cracks for frays on the electric cord. If your heating pad has any of these, replace it ASAP.
Do not put anything on top of a heating pad or electric blanket when using it. This includes pet bedding and other blankets, because they can cause heating pads to overheat and catch fire.
Mind your heating pad. Never leave your heating pad unattended and/or use it while sleeping.
Other Safety Concerns
Avoid lying on the pad on a high heat setting. “While it feels good to lie directly on a heating pad, pressure on the heat intensifies the hot feeling and can contribute to burns,” says Sheila Schaffer, doctor of physical therapy and director of Ambulatory Services at the University of Maryland Rehabilitation & Orthopaedic Institute. “Use a lower heat setting if you’re lying on the heating pad, sitting on the heating pad, or leaning back against a heating pad.”
Don’t keep the pad on for long periods of time. Use a heating pad for around 20 minutes per session, according to James Gladstone, chief of the sports medicine service at Mount Sinai Health System in New York City.
Be careful with long cords. As a parent of little kids, I’m cognizant of the danger of having extra cords lying around, often low to the ground near outlets. I make sure to store my heating pads up high after use.
How We Evaluated Heating Pads
We evaluated seven heating pads in CR’s lab, where Amézquita tested each for their lowest and highest temperatures. We also tried them out at home. We used the following criteria when evaluating each.
Size: We used each heating pad on multiple areas of the body, including the abdomen, lower back, whole back, legs, and neck/shoulders. We analyzed whether it sufficiently covered the area we were trying to heat, or if we had to adjust it.
Heat settings: Each heating pad’s heat settings should be customizable to ensure you can easily control the heat level. Most heating pads have three to four settings, with a few having up to six settings. We tested each heat setting by using each for 20 minutes. We tested all the heat settings in one sitting.
Material: We touched each pad’s fabric and took notes on its softness and thickness.
Time to reach the desired temperature: Amézquita analyzed how long it took each pad to reach its stable temperature at the lowest, medium, and highest temperature settings.
Highest temperature: The heating pads ranged from about 83° F to about 136° F. Amézquita determined how high the temperature went on each setting.
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