Article by Detoxification and Weight Loss

Heat-responsive pain, or HRP, refers to several common pain conditions that seem to respond to heat therapy. Researchers have observed important therapeutic benefits using continuous low-level heat therapy to treat lower back, upper body and menstrual pain.

Of course, there’s nothing new about using heat to treat pain. But heat’s benefits might have been underappreciated until recently.

Peter Vicente, Ph.D., past president of the American Pain Society and a clinical health psychologist, explains: “For centuries, healthcare providers have used topical heat to relieve minor aches and pains, but today we are just beginning to understand the full range of therapeutic benefits that heat offers. Through new clinical research, we have found that heat activates complex neurological, vascular and metabolic mechanisms to mediate the transmission of pain signals and effectively provide relief for a variety of pain conditions.”

Rheumatoid arthritis, an extremely painful and often debilitating joint condition, offers good examples of the place of heat in pain management. A case study from Sweden, involving a 70-year-old man with rheumatoid arthritis tells the story.

The man used a far infrared sauna for less than five months after reaching his toxic limit of gold injections. His erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) was 125. After the sauna treatments, his ESR dropped to 11.

In another case, a 14-year-old girl who had a hard time walking downstairs because of her knee pain underwent just three far infrared sauna treatments before she began to grow more agile. Later, she took up folk dancing. In Japan, whole-body far infrared sauna therapy was used in seven cases of rheumatoid arthritis. All seven patients realized a successful solution.

Far infrared saunas appear to have positive health effects far beyond the pain relief experienced by people with rheumatoid arthritis. The saunas have been found effective in lowering blood pressure, purifying skin, detoxification, therapeutic relaxation, weight loss and improving circulation. Among the disorders that appear to respond to far infrared are chronic fatigue syndrome, arthritis, fibromyalgia and some skin problems.

Subjects between the ages of 21 and 65 took part in a study at the University of Missouri-Kansas City during which they received sauna sessions in a far infrared sauna or a sauna that emitted heat but not far infrared. The far infrared sauna was found to lower blood pressure a statistically significant amount. Systolic pressure fell from an average of 130.5 to 124. Far infrared sauna weight loss and detoxification are other areas that have been studied and appear to produce excellent results.

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The relaxation benefits of saunas are well known, and far infrared saunas seem particularly effective as a tool to help people relax. However, this technology also seems to have benefits well beyond those available from conventional saunas. It could be that far infrared saunas will largely replace steam and heated air saunas in the near future.

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