Iatrogenic burns from the use of hot packs in paraplegic insensate patients

Abstract Conservative therapy for lower back pain can involve physiotherapy employing a variety of modalities including the use of heat. The gel packs designed for heat therapy called “hot packs” usually consist of a silicate gel called Bentonite and are placed directly into contact with the area to be treated for a fixed duration of time. Iatrogenic injury from these ‘therapeutic’ tools are of particular concern in insensate patients. We present a patient who sustained iatrogenic deep dermal burns to the lower back to increase awareness and improve the practice of this therapeutic modality.