Arctic Flex Ice Pack for Back Pain Relief - Reusable Gel for Lower Back - Adjustable Compression Wrap for Hot & Cold Therapy - Freezable Soft Compress for Elbow, Shoulder, Stomach, Neck, Hip & Knee

I love this heat/cool pack. Stays warm or cold for an expected amount of time and stitching is well done but what I really love is that I can wear it while doing house work. Let's talk about those straps. I measured them at 48", while just lying loose on the table but they are very stretchy and could be stretched way longer than the stated 51.57 inches. The straps are long enough that most people could wear this. Yes, if you are thin, the length is going to be a bit of a hastle, but I think wrapping it around your waist multiple times is part of why it stays put so nicely. I also think the stretchiness is part of what makes it so comfortable to wear. I wanted to test it out to see if it would work as well for folks who don't have curves so I wrapped it around my hips and walked around with it. I had to wrap it a little more snug than I did around my waist, but it stayed just fine.As other reviewers have mentioned, it does say to check every 5 seconds while heating. Please don't take that to mean it is super sensitive or be wary of heating it. I feel this was just to cover themselves partly because microwaves vary and partly because some people have a tendency to overheat things. (Looking at my husband who is not happy until he explodes his food in the microwave.) No one wants to open their microwave just as a gel pack is exploding so be mindful and be careful. I personally checked mine every 5 seconds the first time so I could get an idea of my microwave's effectiveness. Then subsequent times, I adjusted the number of seconds before checking it the first time and then continued heating 5 seconds at a time until it reached the desired temperature. I imagine that is what most people do the first time they heat it and find it cold after the first few 5 second checks. Also, the ends heat much faster than the center, so please heed the manufacturer's caution and do not try to heat this all at one time. Take it out and knead the gel a few times while heating it and make sure you are finishing it off with 5 second checks. There is a reason for the manufacturer's caution so don't be careless, just be safe and enjoy!

I've been using this on my knee that has been getting inflammation lately. This has been great at providing a quick way to wrap around my knee and ice it down. This is ok to keep in the freezer and just take it out when you need it. I haven't been able to use the heat function but I did wrap it around my lower back and it did cover a good amount.

I have tried this ice/heat pack in both forms and found it quite effective. While my chiropractor recommends that I only use ice and not heat (since the heat doesn't exactly help inflammation) for my lower back, the heat will be very useful for muscle soreness when needed. The straps are quite long, which allows me to get a good double wrap around my torso with both straps. This ensures a tight grip and won't loosen or slide down easily. I also like the convenience of having velcro on both sides of the strap ends.Lastly, I like that you can have two different surfaces to choose from - either the cloth-like side that does a good job of protecting the skin with direct contact, or the more direct surface to provide that instant extreme cold for those times when cold temperatures are needed more quickly.I've had a great experience with this so far. Thumbs up from me.

This is a nice ice pack, in a nice size, and it is comfortable to use. I like that one side has a softer fabric surface, and that also means that you can choose to use that softer side, or the other side, with the less soft side tending to be colder as the soft fabric material is a little bit insulating, allowing you to have a less cold surface against your skin if you prefer. I was surprised how long the straps are, though I understand that makes it more likely to fit all body sizes. Personally, for my relatively slender build, that means I have a lot of extra strap to wrap around me, which makes it a bit more awkward, and the instructions mention that you may want to tuck the extra strap material under the rest of the strap to get it out-of-the-way. I am attaching a few photos, including a tape measure to show some measurements. The straps themselves are , close to 4 feet in length. The ice pack section itself is about 1 foot in length, and seems well designed, it is soft and comfortable, and I do particularly like the one side having a softer fabric surface. I hope this is helpful for you. I like it.

This heat/cold pack does half of what I bought it for really well. It heats and cools well. The pad is large, and having the plastic vs fabric sides is really nice. You do have to babysit it in the microwave, so it’s not like a bag of rice that you can throw in for a minute and walk away. The instructions suggest you check on it in the microwave every 5 seconds. It took a few minutes to heat.The disappointing part is the back strap. I was hoping to be able to put this on and do stuff around the house. The straps are only attached to one side of the pack, so the other side slides around and doesn’t stay in place. The straps are very long, so this would fit almost everyone, and you can wrap the straps around the side that doesn’t attach, but that’s not enough to hold it in place. Maybe it would be more stable if I were hourglass shaped like the models in the listing? I tried to use the QR code on the instructions packet to check out the FAQ, but it went to a broken page, so I don’t know if there is just something I’m not doing correctly.If you are just looking for a hot/cold pack, this is quite good. But if you want something that will stay in place while you move around, I don’t think this is a great fit.