Development of Reheatable Thermo Jackets

Abstract

Since the past two decades, there has been a constant increase in upper quadrant body pain among people of different age groups. Taking view of the effectiveness of heat therapy in curing pain, the present study was undertaken to develop reheatable thermo jackets using heating gel packs. A functional design consisting of pockets for insertion of gel packs in thermo jacket was created digitally. The jacket was developed using casement and PVC fabrics. Two jackets, one for male and female respectively were developed with variation in colours. To study the effectiveness of the developed jackets on the basis of functionality and cost, ten respondents suffering from upper quadrant pain were selected purposively and jacket was given to each one of them to use for five days. The results revealed that 60 percent male and 80 percent female respondents found the jacket to be extremely comfortable and relieved them off their pain even while at work. Majority of the respondents did not face any problem in heating and placing gel packs in the jacket and more than 60 percent of them were highly relieved from their pain and found the jackets to be functionally and cost effective. The jacket was highly appreciated by respondents as it proved to be a multi pain relaxer for them while the selected experts opined that jackets retained the heat of gel packs for a longer duration as compared to other commercially available substitutes.