Patients ask us two questions almost every week: “Should I use heat or ice?” and “Which heat pad should I buy?”
Search for the answers online and you get shop listings, or articles written for American readers about products you can’t buy here. We built this site to answer both questions properly, for people in Singapore.
Who we are
Nigel Chua is a Hand Occupational Therapist, trained at Nanyang Polytechnic and the University of Sydney. He spent years at Changi General Hospital and then in outpatient hand therapy, treating fingers, hands, wrists, forearms and elbows: fractures, tendon and ligament injuries, arthritis, and stiffness after surgery. His full background is here.
Louise Yow is a Physiotherapist, trained at Queen Margaret University in Scotland. She has worked across public hospitals, the Ministry of Defence, nursing homes and private practice, and specialises in musculoskeletal and spinal physiotherapy: backs, necks, shoulders, sports injuries and the ergonomics that cause them. Her full background is here.
Both are registered with the Allied Health Professions Council of Singapore, and both are directors of a multi-site physiotherapy and hand therapy group here.
Heat is a routine part of treatment in physiotherapy and hand therapy. We’ve seen what it does well, where it doesn’t help, and the burns that happen when people use it wrongly at home.
How we write
- We review every article ourselves before it goes up.
- We tell you when not to use heat. Many of our articles carry a “Don’t use heat if…” section, and we point you to a doctor or physio when your symptoms need one.
- We don’t claim heat cures anything. It eases stiffness and pain. It doesn’t fix the cause, and we say so.
- We write for Singapore: our plugs, our aircon, our clinics and polyclinics.
How we make money
We sell one heat pad: the Bremed BD7800. We’ve supplied this same pad since 2010, to clinics and to their patients.
We chose it because it holds a steady temperature, covers a useful area and has a washable cover. When an article mentions a heat pad, we mean any electric heat pad, and the advice holds whichever one you own.
You can buy it on Shopee or Lazada, or from a physio clinic that stocks it.
For clinics
Physiotherapy, chiropractic, osteopathy, hand therapy and orthopaedic clinics can stock the BD7800 at trade prices. You’re also welcome to print our safety articles as patient handouts. Message us on WhatsApp.
Please note
This site gives general information. It can’t diagnose you or replace an assessment. If your pain is severe, getting worse, or comes with numbness, weakness, fever or loss of bladder or bowel control, see a doctor. In an emergency, call 995.
