Millions of people suffer from pain, which has a negative impact on their quality of life and reduces their productivity. In recent years, thermotherapy has played an important role in pain relief therapies. However, not enough information about its validation is been reported in literature. Different protocols and thermal pads have been reported but any of them has been highly studied. The objective of this study is to propose and evaluate the performance of a novel cold thermal pad capable of producing a uniform and constant temperature and reaching lower temperatures at muscle tissue in less time than the traditional method by recirculating cold water with a pumping circuit. Moreover, a comparison with a traditional pad was performed with an experimental evaluation by means of ex vivo porcine belly tissue measuring temperature at different layers with thermocouples. In addition, finite element method modelling in COMSOL Multiphysics ® 5.6 version was used to compare the model with the experimental results of both cases. The cold compress with recirculating circuit (CCRC) demonstrated superior thermal distribution and temperature maintenance, improving treatment efficacy. A decrease in muscle temperature of 8.6 °C and 9.8 °C from the traditional pad and CCRC, respectively, demonstrates that CCRC could significantly improve thermotherapy practices and provide a standardized approach for thermal cold therapy trials for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain.