Up to a quarter to a third of people in the modern world suffer from one form of chronic pain (1; 2). Depending on how you measure the problem, more people are affected by chronic pain than those with heart disease, diabetes, and cancer combined.
And yet, chronic pain isn’t always visible or acknowledged, especially by the outside world. In fact, in it’s very definition, the concept of “chronic pain” entails there’s pain present without necessarily an underlying cause being present anymore.
In many cases, just managing chronic pain – such as chronic back pain – is the goal for people suffering from it. And here’s where infrared saunas come in: quite a few studies show infrared saunas can help you if you’ve got chronic pain, reducing symptoms and countering several physiological mechanisms involved with pain.
So let’s explore this dynamic in more detail:
How Infrared Saunas Counter Chronic Pain
Simply heating tissues that are affected by chronic pain makes your life massively better (3). In a study where participants used paraffin packs, many different aspects of chronic pain improved.
For instance, depression decreased, as well as pain behaviour. Anger also went down, which is an obvious symptom of being in (almost) continual pain.
In another study investigating the effects of sauna therapy on people with fibromyalgia – a condition characterised by chronic pain as well – using a sauna led to superior results (4). Pain and symptoms were reduced by 31-77% after 12 weeks, which signify massive improvements.
During a 6-month followup period, these results remained relatively stable.
One more study looked at using saunas for neuropathic and rheumatoid arthritis – here too significant improvements were found (5).
How Infrared Saunas Counter Symptoms
For most people, chronic pain is life-changing – but in an obviously bad way. Countering some of the symptoms, such as allowing for relaxation or improving sleep quality (which is frequently impeded), are a godsent if you’ve got chronic pain.
And, here, specifically, is why infrared saunas counter some common chronic pain symptoms.
First of all, when you’re spending time in an infrared sauna, your body produces natural opioids called “endorphins”. Endorphins are the same substances that give you the natural high after running a few miles (6; 7).
That outcome, secondly, is confirmed in surveys of sauna users (8). Achieving a zen-like state of relaxation is a common reason many people visit a sauna in the first place. Other benefits include better sleep and improved mental well-being, which are regular problems for people with chronic pain.
Finishing Thoughts: Using An infrared Sauna For Home To Counter Chronic Pain
If you’ve got chronic pain, you’ll want a simple solution: you don’t want to travel 30 minutes twice a day to a clinic to get treatment.
To keep simple instead, you might want an infrared saunas session after dinner or while listening to your favorite podcast or music at night. At Clearlight Infrared® Saunas, we offer superior home infrared saunas options that are perfect to counter chronic pain.
Examples are full-spectrum saunas that give you the unsurpassed benefits to counter chronic pain, or, the Clearlight Saunas Dome™ that takes up very little space in your apartment.
And, the best part? Our infrared saunas barely emit any EMF so you’re only supplying your body with healing frequencies, without any of the downsides. And, the best part, if you’ve got chronic pain, is that you’ve got limitless sessions at your fingertips to make you feel better.
Because, who cannot appreciate the deep relaxation, better mood because of the natural opioids, lower pain sensations, and the simple relief that heating due to infrared saunas offers you?
References
[1] Cohen SP, Vase L, Hooten WM. Chronic pain: an update on burden, best practices, and new advances. Lancet. 2021 May 29;397(10289):2082-2097. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00393-7. PMID: 34062143.
[2] Dydyk AM, Conermann T. Chronic Pain. 2021 Nov 11. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan–. PMID: 31971706.
[3] Masuda A, Koga Y, Hattanmaru M, Minagoe S, Tei C. The effects of repeated thermal therapy for patients with chronic pain. Psychother Psychosom. 2005;74(5):288-94. doi: 10.1159/000086319. PMID: 16088266.
[4] Matsumoto S, Shimodozono M, Etoh S, Miyata R, Kawahira K. Effects of thermal therapy combining sauna therapy and underwater exercise in patients with fibromyalgia. Complement Ther Clin Pract. 2011 Aug;17(3):162-6. doi: 10.1016/j.ctcp.2010.08.004. Epub 2010 Sep 25. PMID: 21742283.
[5] Nurmikko T, Hietaharju A. Effect of exposure to sauna heat on neuropathic and rheumatoid pain. Pain. 1992 Apr;49(1):43-51. doi: 10.1016/0304-3959(92)90186-F. Erratum in: Pain 1992 Jun;49(3):419. PMID: 1375727.
[6] Masuda A, Nakazato M, Kihara T, Minagoe S, Tei C. Repeated thermal therapy diminishes appetite loss and subjective complaints in mildly depressed patients. Psychosom Med. 2005 Jul-Aug;67(4):643-7. doi: 10.1097/01.psy.0000171812.67767.8f. PMID: 16046381.
[7] Vescovi PP, Gerra G, Pioli G, Pedrazzoni M, Maninetti L, Passeri M. Circulating opioid peptides during thermal stress. Horm Metab Res. 1990 Jan;22(1):44-6. doi: 10.1055/s-2007-1004846. PMID: 2155166.
[8] Hussain JN, Greaves RF, Cohen MM. A hot topic for health: Results of the Global Sauna Survey. Complement Ther Med. 2019 Jun;44:223-234. doi: 10.1016/j.ctim.2019.03.012. Epub 2019 Apr 24. PMID: 31126560.
