Infrared saunas come with many benefits for common health conditions, like alleviating pain, providing detoxication, reducing inflammation, and improved circulation. Therefore, it’s not surprising to learn that many individuals with arthritis swear by infrared sauna sessions as part of their overall pain and discomfort management.
In this article, Rimba Sweat are here to provide you with an extensive breakdown of the benefits of infrared sauna treatment for arthritis.
First things first:
What Is Arthritis?
Arthritis is an umbrella term for different joint conditions. However, the different variants of arthritis have chronic, degenerative, painful joints, and swelling in common.
Arthritis may affect only one specific part of the body, or can occur within multiple joints. Generally, arthritis symptoms include joint stiffness, tenderness, and decreased range of motion and can range from moderate to severe. The two most common types of Arthritis are rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis:
Rheumatoid Arthritis
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that causes chronic joint inflammation, impacting areas of the body like the skin, eyes, lungs, and blood vessels. As rheumatoid arthritis is a systemic disease, it can affect the whole body over time. It also can lead to chronic pain, fatigue, fever, and weight loss.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is usually the result of the breakdown of joint cartilage and underlying bone. While a healthy joint is protected by cartilage, with osteoarthritis, the cartilage breaks down, leading to pain, swelling, and the joint losing shape and alignment. Osteoarthritis is common within older individuals.
Is an Infrared Sauna Good for Arthritis?
So, you’ve made your way here by Googling “Is infrared sauna good for my rheumatoid or osteo arthritis?”. The short answer? Yes! Infrared therapy will help to alleviate the most common symptoms associated with arthritis which include pain, swelling, and joint stiffness.
Here’s how an infrared sauna can benefit individuals with arthritis:
Reducing inflammation
Infrared sauna help to reduce inflammation and swelling. The heat therapy helps to improve circulation, providing improved blood flow to areas of inflammation. Therefore, a regular visit to an infrared sauna as arthritis management can help the affected joints both short term and long term.
Detoxication
Infrared saunas offer one of the most efficient way to sweat out and detoxify. Studies show that an infrared sauna can produce sweat that consists of 20 per cent toxins from your body. In comparison, the sweat produced in a traditional Finnish sauna is made up of about 3% toxins. Therefore, an infrared sauna for arthritis treatment can make a significant difference in reducing inflammation even further as your body is able to sweat out all toxins and improve overall blood flow.
Pain
The heat of an infrared sauna is proven to help with pain relief. Those with arthritis benefit greatly from heat therapy, as they often experience chronic pain and overall discomfort in joints.
Stiffness
As an infrared sauna helps to relax and dilate muscles, it is beneficial to any joint stiffness.
Range of Motion
Reduce overall stiffness, dilate muscles, and increase blood flow with an infrared sauna. The end result is increase range of motion and mobility – an extremely beneficial advantage for anyone with arthritis.
Circulation
Infrared sauna improves the blood circulation, assisting with delivering oxygen-rich blood to areas affected by arthritis.
Stress
Stress is one of the most common contributions for arthritis flare-ups. An infrared sauna goes a long way in reducing stress, carving some time out of the day for relaxing, stress-preventing self-care out of the day.
Immune System
Another layer of protection against arthritis flare-ups is a strengthened immune system. As saunas, and infrared saunas in particular, help to boost the immune system when used regularly, they can be extremely beneficial in keeping overall immunity up for those with arthritis.
Sleep
Chronic diseases like arthritis come with pain and stress, leading to fatigue, and poor sleeping patterns. Regular infrared sauna improves the overall quality of sleep.
Science on Infrared Sauna for Arthritis
A clinical study from 2009 shows scientific evidence of infrared treatment on several common arthritis-driven symptoms. Seventeen patients with rheumatoid arthritis and seventeen with ankylosing spondylitis were treated for a four-week period with two weekly treatments. Pain, fatigue, and stiffness decreased significantly over the period for the participants. Particularly in the immediate aftermath of the infrared sauna sessions, patients felt better overall.
So, is an infrared sauna treatment good for arthritis? Yes. Infrared saunas have been shown to provide both long and short-term benefits for those suffering with arthritis and the painful symptoms that come with the condition.
If you’d like to learn more about the benefits of infrared sauna therapy, get in touch with the friendly team at Rimba Sweat today. If you have a chronic condition, we always recommend that you speak to your doctor before coming in for a session. Across our Manly and Neutral Bay studios, we have clients come in every day to alleviate the symptoms of their arthritis – the benefits of infrared light therapy are endless!