Can Heating Pads Cause Blood Clots?

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Heating pads are a great way to help provide relief in pain to people with blood clots and help improve blood circulation. The factors which cause blood clots mainly consist of inactivity, surgery, injury, or even inherited factors. Using a heating pad on the affected area for 20-30 minutes about 3 to 4 times a day will provide much-needed relief from your pain.

When it comes to the formation of blood clots and treating them, there are various options that doctors recommend to patients with blood clots to help them solve the issue.

Some solutions they can do for themselves while doctors recommend other certain medications to help with blood clots.

Heating pads certainly are helpful for a lot of women when they suffer from period cramps, but does it have the same effect when someone suffers from blood clots?

Let’s find out if heating pads are a boon or a cause for blood clots.

Blood clots – Thrombosis

There is a condition called thrombosis, which occurs when blood clots block your blood vessels.

A blood clot can be superficial if it’s near the surface of the skin. But when this superficial clot moves deeper into the tissues, it’s termed deep vein thrombosis (DVT).

These deep vein blood clots interfere with one’s circulation and can also break off and travel through the bloodstream, where they could get lodged in the brain, lungs, heart, or other areas.

A blood clot that gets broken loose is called an embolism and can be life-threatening.

The areas which usually get affected are the lower leg, thigh, or pelvis.

Do heating pads cause blood clots?

When it comes to blood clots, it can be caused by various factors, anything that slows or stops your blood flow in your body.

These factors mainly consist of inactivity, surgery, injury, or even inherited factors.

12 possible causes of blood clots

  1. Sitting for long periods without any activity in between
  2. Long periods of bed rest for any reason
  3. Due to any injury to a deep vein from surgery, broken bone, or other trauma
  4. Birth control pills
  5. Hormone replacement therapy
  6. Cancer and some of its treatment
  7. Heart failure
  8. Pacemaker or catheter in a central vein
  9. Smoking
  10. Being overweight
  11. Family history of DVT
  12. Pregnancy and the first 6 weeks after giving birth

So, it’s safe to say that a heating pad is never the cause of blood clot formation. The reasons are listed in detail above.

Heating pads aren’t a cause but a means of relaxation and relief from the pain caused by blood clots. Doctors recommend it to help you get some relief.

It’s also a form of early treatment that people suffering from blood clots can opt to help with their blood clots.

Heating pad to the rescue

A doctor is recommending his patient to use a heating pad for relief from his after-surgery pain.

When there is a blood clot for any reason, be it DVT, it needs to be treated right away before it breaks off and travels to other organs of your body through the bloodstream.

The treatment also prevents it from getting bigger and keeps you from getting more blood clots.

As an early treatment, your doctor will suggest some self-care tips to you, and one of those tips is to use a heating pad on the affected area.

Although doctors also recommend other forms of treatment, such as the use of blood thinners. But using a heating pad is something you can do to ensure that more attention is given to dissolving the blood clots.

Proper usage of heating pads

When your doctor recommends you use a heating pad, it’s because your blood clot requires a warm compress.

Using a heating pad will provide you with much-needed temporary relief from your pain. A woman suffering from period cramps uses a heating pad to get some relief from the pain.

Another benefit of using a heating pad is that it helps blood flow and promotes blood circulation.

Heating pads promote blood circulation in the body. Using it on the affected area will definitely help achieve that.

Doctors recommend using it for 20-30 minutes, 3 to 4 times a day, to relieve the pain and help with blood circulation.

FAQs

Do heating pads increase blood flow?

Heat increases blood flow by expanding blood vessels. Increasing blood flow will help relax a tight muscle, assist in movements, and reduce pain. This is of great importance for people who have blood clots.

As it relieves their pain to a great extent and helps improve the blood flow.

How long do you put heat on a blood clot?

You should use a heating pad for 20 to 30 minutes 3 to 4 times a day for better results.

But since you must have already visited your doctor, following their instructions will help you achieve better and faster results.

Is walking good for blood clots?

Walking is an excellent activity to follow to help you maintain your lung strength. It helps your lungs work better after a pulmonary embolism.

Exercising such as walking also improves your symptoms caused by DVT, which include swelling, discomfort, and redness.

Does it hurt to touch a blood clot?

Sometimes a blood clot may be superficial when it’s visible to the naked eyes.

Other times it might be lodged in deeper tissues, and you might not even be aware of it.

It’s better not to touch your blood clots or massage them in any way as they can move and travel through your bloodstream to reach your organs, like your lungs.

To summarize

Heating pads are actually a way to help you with your blood clots.

Although various causes form blood clots, using a heating pad isn’t one of them. Doctors recommend using a heating pad for people who suffer from blood clots.

Using heating pads not only helps people with their pain but also helps with smooth blood circulation.

So, heating pads can be helpful in the overall treatment of blood clots. Although, your doctor will recommend you other things too, which will help remove these blood clots.

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Saumya Malik
I'm an ardent follower of everything good for the health and wellness of body and mind. I am passionate about providing effective solutions to general health and mental well-being issues and wants to help people achieve the same. When I'm not writing, you can find me curled up with a good book in a corner or cooking as a form of good mental therapy.

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