Saunas for Pain Relief: Alleviating Muscle Tension, Joint Pain, and Headaches

Besides supporting relaxation, saunas can help relieve joint pain, muscle tension, and headaches. Both traditional and infrared saunas have tremendous pain management benefits. However, the latter is more effective, as the infrared light penetrates the body tissues, providing direct heat, which benefits joints and muscles. Learn how saunas help alleviate joint pains, headaches, and muscle tension. 

Sauna Therapy for Muscle Tension and Joint pain

Sauna heat can increase blood flow in the muscles, relieving muscle soreness and tightness. Upon entering the sauna, the body temperature rises, resulting in blood vessel dilation. Increased blood flow helps deliver essential nutrients and oxygen to the muscles and promotes fast recovery. Further, sauna heat can reduce muscle tension, facilitating muscle relaxation. Here are the benefits of sauna heat for relieving muscle tension and joint pain. 

·       Easing Muscle Tension

Sauna heat therapy helps relieve chronic and acute pain by encouraging the discharge of endorphins, the hormones the body releases when it feels stressed or in pain. Muscle tension is usually the pain you feel when you have joint pain. During a sauna session, the heat penetrates muscles, joints, and tissues, easing discomfort and supporting muscle relaxation.

·       Enhanced Exercise Tolerance

If you’re struggling with joint pain and want to move around to ease the pain, you can adopt sauna therapy to speed up recovery. Exposure to the sauna heat can enhance cardiovascular functioning, which is critical for endurance sports. Further, saunas help athletes improve performance and boost endurance through heat acclimation, promoting muscle growth and improving muscle recovery. 

·       Increased Muscle Recovery

Experts opine that the heat in infrared saunas can speed up muscle recovery after a workout. Further, studies suggest that infrared light minimizes delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) by reducing inflammation resulting from muscle damage. Reduced inflammation accelerates recovery, leads to less pain, and enhances muscle performance during recovery. 

·       Enhanced Protein Content and Muscle Strength

The muscles around your weight-bearing joints must be strong to ease pressure from the cartilage and bones of the joint and ease pain. Sauna heat therapy has been found to promote the accumulation of protein content while supporting muscle growth even without physical exercise. Animal studies have revealed that sauna heat can improve muscle regrowth. Again, heat therapy before exercise can increase the impact of exercise on muscle remodeling, leading to increased muscle protein levels. 

·       Metabolic and Detoxification Benefits

Regular sauna sessions help detoxify the body by flushing out toxins through sweating, reducing pain and chronic inflammation, and promoting overall health. This process helps deploy obesogens from fat cells and expel them through sweat. Obesogens are chemicals that interfere with hormones and metabolism to promote obesity. Increased metabolic rate during sauna therapy also results in more fat and calorie loss, reducing joint stress and pain. 

·       Tissue Repair

Exposure to sauna heat triggers multiple responses across the body, such as the discharge of growth hormones that support regeneration or tissue repair, easing muscle and joint stiffness or pain. 

It’s worth mentioning that there’s no universal solution for joint pain and muscle tension. However, sauna sessions are effective for a large percentage of users. They are a non-intrusive way of promoting circulation and relaxation and reducing muscle tension and joint pain. However, it’s essential to consult your doctor before incorporating sauna therapy into your pain management routine. 

Saunas for Headache Relief

Recent studies show that people who experience migraines and tension headaches can benefit from using the sauna regularly. Further, research has revealed that all-around sauna therapy can reduce the intensity of pain in people who previously experienced episodes of severe cluster headaches. 

According to a study published by the NCBI (US National Institute of Health), regular sauna therapy is an effective solution for reducing the intensity of headache pain in Chronic tension-like headaches (CTTH). This study classified 37 people who experienced chronic tension headaches into two categories. While both categories received educational advice and material related to their headaches, one of the groups attended regular sauna sessions for eight weeks. 

At the end of the study, an evaluation was done for both groups, and the group that participated in regular sauna sessions showed more symptom relief than the group that did not attend sauna sessions. The group that was exposed to sauna sessions experienced reduced sleep disturbances and painful cluster headaches. 

Why is the Sauna Effective for People Struggling with Severe Headaches?

During sauna sessions, the body experiences biochemical changes, affecting the brain wave expression and the autonomic nervous, cardiovascular, and circulatory systems. Using the sauna during a spell of severe headache triggers:

• Enhanced discharge of serotonin, beta-endorphins, and dopamine
• Improved oxygenation of the cells
• A deep state of restful sleep
• Reduced muscular tension
• Detoxification from toxic substances

Sauna heat can influence brain performance while affecting the discharge of neurotransmitters. Due to their natural opioid properties, the production of serotonin, beta-endorphins, and dopamine is crucial in treating different types of headaches. Regular exposure to sauna heat increases the production of neurotransmitters, reducing the intensity of headaches while allowing you to sleep better. 

Serotonin is essential for enhanced sleep. Low serotonin levels result in low levels of melatonin, which disrupts sleep. Lack of adequate restful sleep triggers increased tension in the body, augmenting the intensity and frequency of headaches.

On the other hand, toxins in the body resulting from bacterial infection, lactic acid, and heavy metals can trigger a stress response that impacts the autonomic nervous system, keeping the mind alert. However, exposure to sauna heat helps increase the internal body temperature, triggering a massive sweat discharge. Sweating flushes out harmful toxins from the body, promoting relaxation and easing headaches. With regular sauna sessions, you can change the intensity, duration, and frequency of headaches. 

Importance of Hydration in Relieving Headaches

Despite the positive impact of regular sauna sessions, hydrating sufficiently is crucial due to the intensive sweating involved. Hydrating augments the benefits of sauna bathing. Consider drinking sufficient water at least 24 hours before your sauna session. Continue hydrating during and after the session. If you’re considering sauna bathing to treat severe headaches, drink lots of water before, in between, and after your sauna bathing sessions.

Alternative Methods of Alleviating Muscle Tension, Joint Pain, and Headaches

Combining sauna therapy with alternative pain management methods can increase its effectiveness. Here are alternative methods to help you manage pain.

·       Cold Therapy

Cold packs help numb the affected muscles or joints, reducing tenderness and pain. They can also reduce inflammation and swelling. Consult your chiropractor or physical therapist for the best cold therapy method to penetrate deep into the tissue and muscle. 

·       Physical Activity

Exercising is crucial in disrupting the brutal cycle of reduced mobility and pain in some severe conditions like fibromyalgia and arthritis. Gentle aerobic workouts like cycling, swimming, and walking can go a long way in managing pain. 

·       Occupational and Physical Therapy

Occupational and physical therapies can be ideal solutions for managing pain. Your physical therapist can guide you through various workouts to enhance or preserve your mobility and strength. An occupational therapist can help you master the art of performing different daily activities without worsening your symptoms.

·       Body and Mind Techniques

These techniques include breathing exercises, mindfulness, and meditation. They can help you regain a perception of control over your body and reduce the fight-or-flight response, which can worsen severe joint pain and muscle tension. 

Finally 

Sauna therapy is an effective pain management solution. The sauna heat dilates and relaxes blood vessels, increasing circulation and helping reduce muscle soreness, tension, and joint pain. Sauna heat also loosens muscles, effectively easing chronic cluster headaches.