Higher Levels Of Endorphins
Exposure to the heat in a sauna activates the sympathetic nervous system, which triggers the release of pain-relieving endorphins, like beta-endorphins, epinephrine and serotonin.
According to a study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, people who suffer from chronic pain have above-average levels of beta-endorphins, or B-endorphins, in their blood. All types of endorphins target opiate receptors in the brain and have similar effects to morphine.
Endorphins are what create that runners high athletes experience during rigorous physical activity. This flood of endorphins can make you feel energized and pain-free. Sauna bathing can have the same effect for people suffering with fibromyalgia or chronic pain.
Infrared Sauna To Help Support Chronic Pain
At The Health Lodge we actively seek innovative ways to better improve our patient outcomes were excited to introduce our new Sun Stream infrared sauna and share the many benefits, particularly for chronic pain.
The uses of saunas have been around for a long time and are deeply engrained into the Finland and German culture they were onto something back then!
Infrared saunas have gained an interest in the alternative health world in recent years because of its numerous health benefits including helping your body rid itself of toxins, reduce inflammation and improve blood flow. With these benefits, its no wonder it will assist in an array of conditions.
Plus, its a great time to pause, relax, read a book and feel amazing after each session!
While its easy just to pop a paracetamol or ibuprofen when in pain, pain is our body communicating and alerting us that something isnt right. A holistic approach to treating pain consists of taking a step back to find the underlying cause of this pain response and treat symptoms safely and naturally. As opioids are currently prescribed more than ever with the potential for it being addictive and even claiming more and more lives, it is critical that non-pharmaceutical pain relief options are explored.
What Causes Back Pain
Back pain comes in many varieties, but the most pervasive one is probably low back pain. The Low Back Pain Fact Sheet from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders states About 80 percent of adults experience low back pain at some point in their lifetimes. It is the most common cause of job-related disability and a leading contributor to missed work days. In a large survey, more than a quarter of adults reported experiencing low back pain during the past 3 months.
Unfortunately, back pain often hangs around longer than it should and can be described as a vicious cycle. When the body perceives pain, it responds with guarding reactions, including muscle tension, restricted movement, anxiety, and even fear of movement. The tension, restrictions, and fear lead to muscle spasm, adrenaline, and nerve sensitivity, all of which promote intensification of the pain, which increases the guarding reactions. Lather, rinse, repeat. Pretty soon, youre calling in sick.
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Back Pain Treatment: How An Infrared Sauna Can Help
Back pain is the leading cause of disability across the globe it prevents people from participating and engaging in everyday activities, and impacts people from all walks of life, ages, and backgrounds. Its also one of the most common reasons why Americans visit the doctor’s office with other health problems, including joint pain and skin diseases.
Studies also show that most causes of back pain are not related to an illness such as arthritis, inflammation, cancer, or fractures. Treatments for back pain can vary however, in the wake of an opioid epidemic, it’s important to consider alternative therapies for back pain.
Infrared saunas have a range of health benefits that makes them ideal for treating back pain. Here are some of the ways in which this low-risk treatment can help you alleviate back pain.
Sauna Vs Hot Tub For Weight Loss
Fats wont melt away just sitting in a sauna or soaking in a hot tub. You will also need a proper diet and exercise. However, since were concerned which of the two is more effective, sauna is the winner. In fact, almost everyone I know associates sauna with losing weight.
Sauna actually helps in losing water weight, so you do get lighter. Unfortunately, water weight is easy to gain once you drink a lot of water again. The heat helps to increase blood circulation and gives you the same feeling of doing an aerobic exercise, but actually doing it provides better results than just sitting.
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Infrared Sauna For Nerve Pain
Infrared saunas have been linked to the reduction of muscle spasms. Muscle spasms are painful reactions to nerve impulses brought on by skeletal or neuropathological factors. The effect of the heat on nerve endings acts in a soothing way, which eases the nerves carrying pulses towards the brain or spine. Increased healthy blood flow helps lessen the pain sensation and the pressure on nerves, providing relief from pain.
How Hot Water Helps Pain
Benedicts experience with hot water immersion and pain relief has science behind it.
When you step into a hot bath and your core temperature goes up, a number of things happen that help with pain, said Dr. David Burke, head of Emory Universitys Center for Rehabilitative Medicine.
Hot baths expand the blood vessels in those areas and allow the healing properties within the blood to be delivered. They relax the muscles, which takes the tension off of them and the nerves that have been injured.
Beyond just pain relief, studies are finding there might be far more profound benefits to hot soaking and saunas, as well.
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Saunas A Tool For Back Pain Management With Physical Therapy
Saunas, when used as part of a holistic program to treat back pain, can be quite beneficial. If you were wondering whether sauna therapy is good for lower back discomfort, the answer is an emphatic âyes.â Many physiological processes exist through which saunas help with lower back pain as you may have discovered in this blog article.
However, I do want to emphasize that infrared saunas are not a magic cure. Many other factors in your life, such as whether or not you exercise, how active you are, and the way you sit at work all contribute to back discomfort. So, whatever you can do to adopt a healthy lifestyle is what we urge.
If you’re interested in an infrared sauna cabin for home, to view our range of full-spectrum saunas, far-infrared saunas, and outdoor saunas.
Clearlight would like to remind users that this should not be taken as direct medical advice, and you should always consult a licensed health practitioner before making any significant changes to your lifestyle or existing pain treatment regimen.
How To Use An Infrared Sauna For Pain Relief
The process of using an infrared sauna for the specific targeting of pain relief is simple, relaxing, and as the medical research indicates, effective in tackling sources of pain in our body and aching muscles. Before you start your session, ensure that youre feeling fine, and well hydrated before stepping inside. Depending on your previous experience with an infrared sauna, you should sit for anywhere between 20-40 minutes to give yourself enough time to soak up the infrared energy, and allow the process to take hold inside your bodys vital systems. Inside, you can either sit still and meditate, or stretch certain parts of your body to send oxygen and ATP-rich blood to the problem areas. Make sure these remain subdued movements, as you do not want to exercise inside the sauna itself.
If youre looking at an alternative form of treatment for any significant pain issues, or simply looking to own your own infrared sauna, use our Buying Guide to help decide which is the right sauna for you.
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Benefits Of Ozone Therapy
Ozone therapy is a technique based on the application of a concentration of oxygen and ozone. The compound rapidly dissolves in the body and comes into contact with the molecules, generating acute oxidative stress. This has many benefits:
- It improves tissue oxygenation by increasing oxygen transport capacity.
- Antiplatelet effect.
- It improves the bodys antioxidant systems.
- Bactericidal and disinfectant effects.
- It helps the immune system combat infections and autoimmune diseases.
In addition to these benefits for the treatment of osteoarthritis, ozone therapy, in many cases, is making it possible to reduce medication. Not to mention that recovery is becoming faster. And, as they start feeling better, the state of mind of patients also improves. This enables them to return to their day-to-day activities earlier, which increases their quality of life. Also, because it does not involve the use of drugs, ozone therapy has no side effects and does not interact with other drugs.
All of this explains why ozone therapy is increasingly being used for the treatment of autoimmune diseases and conditions with chronic inflammation such as arthritis. In fact, it is also being used to treat other disorders such as herniated discs, lower back pain and cervicalgia. It is a quick, effective and painless technique. And it can be applied on an outpatient basis, has very few contraindications and produces no complications if it is carried out by qualified personnel.
Using A Sauna For Back Pain: An Unexpected Match
Explaining The Underappreciated Sauna Back Pain Benefits
*Disclaimer: The written article is based on a summary of existing literature on the topic of infrared saunas. The article is for educational purposes and the information provided below cannot be taken as a promise to help with acute health problems or diseases.
The claims in the article are backed by 33 scientific references. All references are numbered. You can access the text of the reference by clicking on the number.
Back pain can be devastating to your life and well-being, especially if chronic. This blog post investigates whether is sauna good for back pain.
In the first part of this blog post, Iâll cover the science of back pain. Next up, I show that several mechanisms exist through which saunas help lower back pain. Letâs start with the basics first though:
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Infrared Saunas And How They Work To Provide Back Pain Relief
Sauna bathing is an age-old practice that has been used to improve health and well-being for centuries.
Infrared saunas emit energy in the form of infrared light. This energy penetrates deep into the tissue, where it helps improve blood circulation and remove toxins from the body.
The heat from the infrared light also helps loosen tight muscles and joints, providing relief for acute back pain sufferers.
In addition, the sweat that is produced during a session in a sauna can help flush out toxins from the body.
Many people find that repeated thermal therapy can help break the back pain cycle.
What Are The Risks With A Sauna
The risk with a sauna for treatment are incredibly low. Always use the sauna in the appropriate amount of time. Short time periods should be adhered to, to avoid any complications. Try not to spend more than 20 to 30 minutes at a time inside. Patients treating a slipped disc with a sauna should drink plenty of water so as to avoid any risk of dehydration. Patients recently recovering from a heart attack should not use a sauna as treatment. Always consult a doctor before using as a treatment.
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Infrared Sauna And Back Pain Research
A study by the University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey found that compared to oral OTC medications like Tylenol, acetaminophen, etc., low-level heat therapies are more effective to reduce back pain. And, when you combine infrared sauna therapy with light stretching, it helps to increase the flexibility of the muscles and ligaments in the affected area, offering significant pain relief. Several studies show that the pain relief produced after a single sauna therapy session is around 50% and multiple sessions have shown further reductions in the pain.
A study by Japanese researchers reveals the effectiveness of Waon therapy in pain relief. Waon therapy essentially is where the patient has infrared sauna therapy for around 15 minutes and spends the next 30 minutes in a room that is at a temperature slightly above room temperature, where he/she is wrapped up to the neck in a blanket. These treatments were administered around 2 to 5 times a week and researchers found that after the first session, patients found that their pain reduced by half and the pain continued to reduce and stabilized after 10 sessions.
Living life with pain is not fun at all. This does not mean that you have to live with back pain all your life and not do anything about it. If you suffer from chronic back pain, then its a good idea to purchase an infrared sauna and set it up in your home. With an infrared sauna readily accessible, you can use it whenever you need it and reap the benefits.
Sauna For Lower Back Pain
Your lower back is described as the lumbar region of the back. It has a lot of substantial hauling to do. The back spine brings the weight of your whole upper body, plus biomechanical stress and anxieties that accompany the motion. Sauna For Lower Back Pain
The back spinal column has 5 vertebrae foundations. Each vertebra has a large disc padded gel covered in a hard membrane on its front side that functions as a shock absorber. Each vertebra furthermore has 2 cartilage-lined facet joints on its behind. Engaging, discs and likewise element joints enable the spinal column to securely bend and also spin.
Your lower back additionally consists of tendons, tendons, and also muscles. Ligaments are solid bands that hold the vertebrae and discs with each other. Ligaments fasten muscle mass to the vertebrae. These structures help restrict severe task that may injure the back.
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Whats Better For Sore Muscles Hot Tub Or Sauna
Relief of sore muscles after a workout is a benefit for both saunas and hot tubs. In both cases the heat from the air or water causes more blood flow to your extremities. That increased blood flow helps in two key ways.
The addition of the jets in the hot tub can provide a massaging effect. Many people like this as it can be quite relaxing.
Acute Back Pain And Chronic Back Pain: Complicated Issue
Back pain is defined as pain that you have across your spine or pain that originates from that spine. Almost everyone has back pain once in a while: you overexert yourself while moving to another place and that muscle soreness feels a little bit too extreme. Or, you sleep on an extremely cheap mattress in a hotel room and the next morning your back simply doesnât feel 100%.
Many people also have short incidences of back pain, such as temporary pain while lifting too heavy. None of these instances is a real problem. Most back pain, in fact, resolves itself quite quickly . Often, thereâs an underlying mechanical reason for that back pain that passes with time and the pain goes away.
In fact, a whopping 80% of people have acute back pain somewhere in their lives. Having a painful back is no problem and is similar to feeling down once in a while – not feeling perfect is part of the human condition and nothing to worry about.
Also, acute back pain is easily treated by moving a lot, going through a physical therapist, taking some non-prescription painkillers, and so forth. In this case, nature ensures the condition cures itself.
Some back pain, however, becomes chronic. Officially, back pain becomes âchronicâ if it persists for longer than 6 months. Only a very small percentage of acute back pain transitions into chronic back pain.
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Soaking In Hot Springs Makes Pain Go Away
Benedict thought back to a time he was a summer river guide, taking guests down Idahos Salmon River with his wife. Theyd stop where there were natural hot springs.
We actually sought that out to get comfortable, Benedict recalled. I thought, well, if it did it for me then, it should do a lot for me now.
For the past four years, he and his wife have been coming to hot springs three times a week in Idaho City, Idaho.
The hot water makes me just feel so much better that it seems like all my troubles go away, Benedict said, his wife at his side. Those nerves become relaxed in such a way that I can be out of pain for six or eight hours.
The springs bubble up into an Olympic-size pool where the water temperature hovers between 97 and99 degrees.
Within months, Benedict got off more than half the pills he was on. Not only did I drop the pills in numbers, I dropped the medication in potency.
He soaks with his wife, Susan, who says the soaking helps improve her severe asthma, relaxing the muscles around her throat.
Along the way, they made a friend who regularly texts them to meet at the pools: a Vietnam veteran in remission from cancer. They socialize, relax and have a few laughs as steam from the hot water rises up past the picturesque Idaho mountain views.
My mental state when Im soaking is terrific, Benedict boasted.
