There's only one thing better than a good massage: a good massage with heat therapy. Heat can relieve pain and aches and amplify the healing effects of massage.
In our homes, we use hot showers and hot pads to relax tired and sore muscles. In spas, massage therapists use hot stones and warm towels to release muscle soreness and tension. The good news is you can enjoy the benefits of a heated massage in your home without going to a spa. At-home heated massagers can alleviate pain and discomfort in different body parts.
This article will discuss the types and benefits of heated massagers and their selection criteria. Keep reading to learn all this and more.
What is heated massage therapy?
Heated massage therapy is a type of massage in which heat therapy is used to enhance the effects of massage. The combination of heat and massage synergistic effects and helps alleviate body pain, reduce muscle tension and provide relaxation.
Massage therapists use different techniques and tools for the application of heat. The following tools can easily hold heat and provide long-lasting effects:
- Hot stones
- Warm shell
- Bamboo sticks
- Hot towels
Each tool has unique advantages for different body parts. If you don't have time to visit a spa to enjoy a manual heated massage, you can also use personal heated massagers.
A heated massager is a massage device that also has a heating capability. They provide the same benefits as a heated massage by a professional massage therapist.
What are the different types of heated Massagers?
Heated massagers come in many different styles to target various body parts. The following are common types of heated massagers:
- Heated pillow-shaped massagers: These are good for targeting the back and neck muscles.
- Scarf-like massagers: These drape around your neck and shoulders and massage the neck and shoulder muscles.
- Heated massage cushions: These are good for relieving soreness and fatigue in the neck, shoulder, back, waist, and buttocks. They come with adjustable straps and can fix to your car seat, chair, or sofa.
- Long-handled wand-style massagers: These are useful for the whole body but specifically for the areas that are hard to reach.
- Heated massage ball sets: These heated balls can target different areas of the body, including neck, shoulder, and back pain.
- Heated hand massagers: These can fit in the palm of your hand and provide a gentle massage to the hand, palm, wrist, and fingers. It is good for arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome.
- Heated foot massager: These massagers can easily fit onto your tired and sore feet and provide a relaxing and cozy massage.
What are the benefits of a heated massager?
From relaxing your body after a stressful day to alleviating all kinds of pain and discomfort, heated massagers have many benefits for your health and well-being. The following are some of the benefits of using heated massagers.
Increases blood circulation
Good blood circulation helps maintain good health. Massage and heat therapy help increase the body's blood circulation. Heated massagers cause vasodilation, which facilitates the smooth flow of blood to the massaging area, increasing the supply of oxygen and essential nutrients to the muscles that are damaged or worn out. Good blood flow also helps remove harmful toxins from the affected area.
Increases flexibility
After any vigorous activity or even at the end of a hectic day, your muscles can become stiff and tired. Ultimately, this causes pain and affects your range of motion. Heat and massage are both helpful in reducing muscle stiffness and increasing flexibility.
Reduces stress
If you are feeling stressed and anxious for any reason, a well-heated massager can do magic for you. It provides immediate relaxation by increasing blood flow and reducing blood pressure and heart rate. Heat massage therapy is also helpful in decreasing the level of the stress hormone cortisol in your body. Additionally, it increases endorphins, serotonin, and dopamine levels, which help the body combat stress and anxiety.
Improve sleep
Good sleep leads to good health. That's why it can be hard to function in daily life if you have insomnia. Instead of using sleeping pills for relief, consider using heat massage therapy. Research shows that heat massage therapy can help treat insomnia. It relaxes the body's muscles and reduces both physical and psychological stress. Heated massagers for the back are very effective for making you sleep faster and improving sleep quality throughout the night.
Improve healing process
Our tissues require oxygen, nutrients, and a good supply of white blood cells (WBCs) for quick healing. Heated massagers increase blood circulation, increasing the supply of oxygen, essential nutrients, and WBCs to the injury site and thus help in the healing process.
Reduces headaches
Headaches are common ailments, and some people get headaches daily. They can occur because of a lack of sleep, weak or sore neck and shoulder muscles, high blood pressure, and more reasons.
Research shows that massages are good for relieving headaches as they improve blood flow, increase oxygen supply to the affected tissues, and decrease blood pressure and stress. Especially the use of heated massagers that target neck and shoulder muscles is beneficial in reducing the intensity and frequency of headaches.
Reduces symptoms of fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is an autoimmune condition that affects the body's musculoskeletal system and causes chronic and widespread pain in the entire body's connective tissues. It may also cause other problems like tension headaches, fatigue, stiffness, and sleep disorders. Heated massage therapy helps reduce the symptoms of fibromyalgia in the following ways.
- It decreases the stress hormone cortisol, which is typically elevated in fibromyalgia patients.
- It reduces the levels of substance P, which transmits pain signals.
- It increases the production of endorphins and pain blockers.
- It improves blood circulation, which helps in the rapid repair of damaged tissues.
- It facilitates restful sleep.
In short, using the heated massager in fibromyalgia improves mobility and flexibility of the connective tissues, alleviates pain and inflammation, and improves sleep quality.
Decreases pain and swelling in rheumatoid arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disorder in which your immune system starts to damage your joints, causing severe pain and swelling. Heated massagers relieve pain, swelling, and inflammation associated with rheumatoid arthritis and help make this disorder manageable.
Decreases pain associated with cancer
According to one study, heat massage therapy decreases the pain and discomfort associated with cancer and relieves nausea caused by cancer treatment.
What to look for while choosing a heated massager?
If you don't have the time or budget for a regular spa visit, purchasing a heated massager for personal use can be a good option. As you are spending a fair amount of money on the massager, you should select one that you can use often and for a long time. Look into the following criteria for choosing the best-heated massagers:
Price
Heated massagers are available at different prices. You can choose a massager according to your budget, but it is always advisable to choose quality over price.
Features
You can select a heated massager with multiple beneficial features, such as the following:
- Auto shut-off feature
- Overheating protection mechanism
- Adjustable straps
- Removable dust cloths
Design
Choose the design of the heated massager by considering which area of the body you want to target. You can choose either a heated cushion or pad for your shoulders and neck or a handheld heated massager with rubber handles for areas of the body that are hard to reach.
Best heated massagers
If you want to choose the best-heated massagers, you can visit the Zarifa USA website. We offer different heated massagers with extraordinary features.
Zarifa Classic Cushion
Spot-targeting technology
Spot-targeting technology allows the user to focus the shiatsu massage nodes directly at the source of their stress so they can achieve the desired results.
Deep-tissue massage nodes
This massager comes with four 3D Shiatsu massage nodes, which can move in all three axes on your body and gives you the feeling of an authentic hand massage by the therapist.
Multiple modes
It offers 27 different massage modes, like kneading, heating, vibration, and rolling, which help to provide a customized massage experience. For example, there is an option of laying the massager flat parallel to the floor for a deeper and more targeted massage.
Feel like an authentic jade stone massage
The heating system of this massager gives the feeling of an authentic jade stone massage which helps to relieve tension, stress, and fatigue.
Handy car adapter
It comes with a handy car adapter that allows you to carry it anywhere with you on the road without worrying about its battery life and portability.
Vibration comfort cushion
Its bottom memory foam cushion has heat and vibration functions to help release the muscles' tension and improve the overall quality of the massage.
Suitable to fit any chair
This massager has thick leather and soft textiles that easily fit on any chair you have at home.
Rigid and solid construction
It has solid stitching and rigid material, which support its memory foam and keep its structure intact even after use.
Useful to alleviate different health problems
This massager helps reduce the symptoms of muscle spasms, degenerative disc disease, lower back pain, Inflammation, Sciatica, and many more.
Zarifa Neck and Shoulder Massager
Multiple intensities
This massager offers three intensity levels of massage, which helps you to customize the intensity of the massage according to the pain and target muscles of the body.
3D-shiatsu massage nodes
This massager has eight 3D shiatsu massage nodes, which can rotate in all three axes, so you have up and down, side to side and in and out movements, giving you the feeling of an authentic hand massage by the therapist.
Reverse function technology
This massager node has reverse function technology, providing bidirectional massage at the click of a button.
Feel like an authentic jade stone massage
It has a heating system that simulates the feeling of an authentic jade stone massage, which helps in relieving tension, stress, and fatigue.
Useful to alleviate different health problems
It can relieve neck pain, frozen shoulder, tight quads and hamstrings, sore feet and plantar fasciitis, cramped stomach muscles, degenerative disc disease, lower back pain, inflammation, and many more.
Adjustable straps
This massager has adjustable straps to easily fit around your neck, waist, or any desired area.
Rechargeable battery
It has a rechargeable battery so you can use this massager anywhere and anytime.
The Z-Smart Cushion Plus
Multiple intensities
It comes with three intensity levels which help you to customize the intensity of the massage according to the pain and target muscles of the body.
3D shiatsu massage nodes
This massager has four 3D shiatsu massage nodes, which can rotate in all three axes, so you have up and down, side to side and in and out movements, giving you the feeling of an authentic hand massage by the therapist.
Reverse function technology
The massage nodes have reverse function technology, which provides bidirectional massage with the click of a button.
Feel like an authentic jade stone massage
The heating system of this massager gives the same feeling as real jade stone massage, which helps decrease pain and involuntary muscle spasms.
Portable massage cushion
It is a lightweight, portable massage cushion with a handle so you can easily carry it anywhere.
Comfortable straps
It comes with comfort straps and Velcro for easy carry and hands-free operation.
Made up of quality material
It has quality stitching, excellent leather, and soft textiles.
Useful to alleviate different health problems
It helps in relieving the symptoms of neck pain, frozen shoulder, sciatica issues, tight quads and hamstrings, sore feet and plantar fasciitis, cramped stomach muscles, muscle spasms, degenerative disc disease, lower back pain, inflammation, and many more.
Zarifa Shiatsu Massage Pillow
Multiple intensities
This massager offers three intensity levels of massage, so you can easily customize the intensity according to the application area and the severity of your pain.
Feel like an authentic jade stone massage
It has a heating system that simulates the feeling of an authentic Jade Stone massage which helps to relieve tension, stress, and fatigue.
3D shiatsu massage nodes
It has four 3D shiatsu massage nodes that can move in all three axes on your body to provide the massage that gives the feeling of an authentic hand massage.
Reverse function technology
The massage nodes have reverse function technology, providing bidirectional massage with the click of a button.
Multiple massage modes
It offers 12 different massage modes, so you can easily choose the program according to your pain and massage requirements.
Handy car adapter
This massager comes with a handy car adapter and velcro back straps that allow you to carry it anywhere with you on the road without worrying about its battery life and portability.
Convenient for office use
This innovative shiatsu massage pillow has a smooth design and convenient size and gives powerful results without making too much noise. All of this makes it suitable to use in the workplace/ office.
Helpful for targeting many areas
It can ease the tightness of your lower back, soothe your thighs and legs after cardio, or even work on your neck muscles to relieve any involuntary neck spasms.
Z-Smart Massage Gun
Deep tissue and trigger point massage
It is a portable massage gun you can use for deep tissue massage. With all its attachment, it helps provide the trigger-point massage to the areas that need the most attention.
Compact Carrying Case
It comes with a lightweight, compact carrying case, making it easy to store and carry.
Battery life
It charges quickly in less than 3 hours and can hold the charge for up to 5 hours.
Custom massage
It comes with 20 different speed levels, so you can easily customize the massage by selecting the intensity of the gun based on your desired needs. Similarly, it also offers a variable of 1200 to 3200 percussion per minute; you can easily customize the speed at which the gun hits you according to your comfort level.
Eight easy-to-clean head attachments
It has eight different massage heads, which are also easy to clean. Depending on the targeted muscles, you can select the right massage head.
Touch screen
It comes with an LED display with an easy-to-use touch screen, by which you can easily access your battery level, intensity, and health metrics.
Health+ Massage Gun
Alleviate pain
It is a portable, easy-to-use massage gun that is the best choice for percussive massage therapy and helps relieve different types of pain.
Z-tech health sensors and responsive touchscreen
It has zTech health sensors that track your heart rate, kcal burns, and body temperature and a responsive touch screen that will display your battery level, intensity, and health metrics.
Lightweight gun case
It has a lightweight gun case that stores and carries the massage gun, head attachments, and battery charger.
Custom Massage
It also comes with eight different head attachments, nine different speed levels, and RPMs of oscillation vary from 1600 to 3500, so you customize your massage according to the desired need.
Good stall force and high amplitude
It has a stall force of 60lbs and an amplitude of 16mm for deep muscle tissue treatment.
Quiet Motors and Good Battery Life
It has powerful yet quiet motors and a battery life of up to 6 hours.
The Mini-Massage Gun
Ultra lightweight
It is an amazingly portable massage gun that can easily fit in your pocket, is light in weight, only 1.25lbs, and is easy to travel with because of its compact design.
Custom massage
It has four different massage head attachments and offers 1600 to 3500 RPMs, 12 mm amplitude, and adjustable speed at five intensity levels. You can easily customize your massage according to your desired needs.
USB type-C charging port
The Z-Smart Mini Massage Gun charges with a USB type-C and has four-hour battery life.
Quite motor
It operates quietly and offers you a peaceful, noise-free massage.
Are heated massagers safe to use?
Yes, heated massage tools are usually safe if used according to instructions. Always use heat settings recommended by a professional, and stay within your limits. Too much heat can cause injuries or burns to your skin. There are certain conditions where you can't use a heated massager, like open wounds and surgical sites.
The bottom line
Heated massagers are a great way to relax and loosen up after a tiring day. They are the alternative to hot stone massage. You are rare and fortunate if you have the time and money to visit spas and masseuses regularly. A personal heated massager can provide the same benefits to everyone. They help alleviate pain, reduce tension, and improve sleep.
Heated massagers are available in different types, sizes, and prices. You can select a massager depending on the area of the body you want to target, where you plan to use the massager, and according to your budget. You can always visit the Zarifa USA website for premium heated massagers at affordable prices.
Always consult your doctor before using any massager to ensure it is safe, especially if you have any prior or existing health conditions.
All Zarifa USA products are HSA and FSA-eligible. You can contribute your health savings funds towards purchasing any of our products!
References
- https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heat_therapy
- https://www.arthritis.org/health-wellness/healthy-living/managing-pain/pain-relief-solutions/heat-therapy-helps-relax-stiff-joints
- https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/heat-therapy-cold-therapy/benefits-heat-therapy-lower-back-pain#:~:text=Heat%20therapy%20dilates%20blood%20vessels,blood%20circulation%20into%20the%20muscles.
- https://www.healthline.com/health/hot-stone-massage
- https://www.zarifausa.com/
- https://www.freepik.com/photos/
