Turn Up the Heat: Infrared Sauna Therapy for Pain Relief
Michelle Robin, DC
As a holistic chiropractor running a wellness center in Kansas, I have many patients show up in their last-ditch effort to find relief from chronic pain. My practitioners and I can offer them hands-on treatment (chiropractic adjustments, acupuncture needling, clinical yoga, therapeutic massage), which are all of course helpful. Yet I have found that using a full-spectrum infrared sauna in my office as part of a treatment plan for pain has contributed to my patients' pain relief exponentially while also boosting revenue for my practice.
Instead of using convection heat, as is the case in conventional saunas, infrared saunas utilize infrared light waves to warm the body. The infrared spectrum is invisible to the human eye, penetrating deeply into the body's tissues for a deeper core sweat. Infrared is the safest form of heat, naturally occurring in sunlight, and is used in hospital incubators for newborn babies.
The Research
In terms of chronic pain relief, the results of every study I could find on infrared sauna treatment were significantly positive. In a 2006 double-blind, placebo-controlled study in the Journal of Pain Research and Management, researchers found that infrared heat therapy was able to reduce chronic low back pain by 50 percent over seven weeks, with zero negative side effects. Participants were asked to rate their overall pain without movement, as well as pain during various movement postures such as bending forward, back, right and left, and rotating the spine. All measures of pain were reduced approximately in half and showed the greatest reduction toward the end of the seven-week period. This suggests that continuing treatment beyond seven weeks may lead to even greater pain reduction, which is what I have discovered anecdotally with patients at my wellness center. The results of this study were highly significant (P<.0001) both for the within-group comparison and as compared with the placebo group.
In a compelling study in a 2002 issue of the Spine Journal, a researcher at the New Jersey Medical School found that heat therapy was more effective than analgesics for low back pain relief. This was a six-month study with 371 participants divided into a heat-therapy group and an analgesic group. Pain relief was significantly greater in the heat group as early as the first day of treatment, and the effects of heat therapy lasted more than 48 hours after treatment.
When I was working as an independent chiropractor, I used to have to turn patients away who suffered from arthritis. Had I possessed an infrared sauna in my office back then, that would not have been the case, because infrared heat has been proven to help with several forms of arthritis. In a 2008 study in the Journal of Clinical Rheumatology, researchers found that reductions in both pain and stiffness were statistically significant after only four weeks of treatment for both rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
In addition, the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society (1992) reported pain reduction and increased ability in elderly patients suffering from degenerative osteoarthritis (DOA) of the knee who were treated with infrared heat. DOA is the most common form of arthritis, and autopsy surveys show that the joints begin to deteriorate early in life and continue throughout one's lifetime.
Using roentgenography, osteoarthritic decline can be found in 4 percent of people under age 24 and 85 percent of people 75-79 years old. This double-blind study on DOA demonstrated pain reduction for the treatment group by more than 50 percent, with no significant pain reduction in the placebo group. Although the study lasted only 10 days, individuals in the treatment group reported no need for analgesics (due to being pain-free) for two months to one year.
One of the potential mechanisms by which infrared heat reduces pain is by increasing endorphin release and decreasing the stress response. In a 1994 study published in the Laser TherapyJournal, B-endorphin levels were significantly raised and plasma ACTH levels were significantly reduced as a result of infrared heat therapy. This change in hormone levels due to infrared heat therapy has been shown to also have an effect on mood and productivity. In an exciting study in the Journal of Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics (2005), Japanese researchers divided individuals with chronic pain into two groups: Group A received cognitive-behavioral therapy and rehabilitative physical therapy; Group B received cog-b and rehab, plus infrared sauna treatments every day for four weeks.
[pb]All participants experienced reduced pain and improved mood, but Group B showed a significantly greater reduction in anger than Group A, and a higher percentage of individuals in Group B had returned to work two years after treatment.
Practice Benefits
This clinical evidence suggesting decreased pain, increased mobility and productivity, and improved mood convinced me to acquire a full-spectrum infrared sauna for my wellness center. As part of any pain-relief treatment plan, I offer 30-minute sauna sessions to patients for $35 each. Some patients come in every single day to sweat. I can book up to 16 sauna sessions per day in an eight-hour workday, so the ROI has been plentiful, to say the least.
Patients who are interested in detoxification can also book sauna sessions at my clinic. Neurologist Dr. Deitrich Klinghardt found that the sweat of people using a conventional sauna was 95-97 percent water while the sweat of those using an infrared sauna was 80-85 percent water, with the non-water portion being cholesterol, fat-soluble toxins, toxic heavy metals, sulfuric acid, sodium, ammonia and uric acid. The reason that infrared saunas offer 10 times the detoxification benefits of infrared heat is that the infrared light waves penetrate deep into tissues and cells, micro-vibrating and encouraging toxins to be expelled.
Finally, I offer sauna sessions to patients who are interested in weight loss; again, the clinical evidence has been solid. A recent 2010 study in the Canadian Journal of Diabetes states that infrared saunas are a valid intervention for congestive heart failure, hypertension and obesity. The researchers found that infrared sauna treatment significantly lowered blood pressure and induced weight loss, significantly reducing waist circumference, especially for patients forced to be sedentary due to medical conditions.
The reason I purchased a full-spectrum infrared sauna for my practice is that I can control the settings, ranging from near-infrared light that aids in pain and muscle relief, to mid-infrared light that assists in fat burning and weight loss, to far-infrared light that deepens the core sweat and is whole-body detoxifying. Most infrared saunas on the market offer only far-infrared heat, which does not have such a profound effect on pain relief, the number-one reason my clinic books sauna sessions.
The second reason why I bought a full-spectrum infrared sauna for my office is for pure self-indulgence! Sometimes at the end of a long day of seeing patients, I crave that long, deep, relaxing sweat to unwind. Infrared heat feels soothing and nourishing, because it is invisible light being absorbed into the body, as opposed to just baking in a hot room like normal saunas. The best way I can describe the sensation of being in an infrared sauna is that it is like lying on sun-warmed sand.
It also helps that am not the first chiropractor to tout the benefits of infrared heat. Dr. Jeffrey Spencer, 2004 Sports Chiropractor of the Year and former Olympic athlete, believes that the regular use of an infrared sauna is essential in promoting muscle recovery, reducing tension and eliminating performance inhibiting toxic burdens from the body. Dr. Spencer has worked with many high-performance athletes over the years including Lance Armstrong, Chad Reed, Troy Glaus, Tiger Woods and Bobby LaBonte.
When asked about his personal health routine in a Dynamic Chiropractic article, he said, "I make deliberate time to exercise daily, beginning with 45 minutes of qigong before the sun comes up, followed by at least an hour of cycling during the day. I also do full-body resistive training daily, take supplements specific to my needs, get regular adjustments, do Thai/Chinese massage, eat a calorie-restrictive organic diet, (and sweat in an) infrared sauna."
I am so pleased to offer full-spectrum infrared sauna treatment to my patients who experience chronic pain, knowing that they are also benefiting from the detox, cardiovascular, weight-loss and relaxation elements. Given that their full-spectrum sauna treatments are easily controlled on a touch-screen LCD in the sauna, patients can come in for pain relief even on days when my receptionist is there and I'm not in the office, which is a huge relief to them and me.
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