HOT WATER IMMERSION

Full body immersion into the hot water of at least 104’F will provide the kind of benefits you’re hoping to get from heat therapy.

Heat therapy by submerging yourself into a hot tub, spa, jacuzzi, or hot springs can help with arthritis, diabetes, stress, pain, insomnia, weight loss, and self-healing(5).  It also works wonders on your body if you’re stiff. Chronic muscle pain, fibromyalgia, and even flu pain can be all helped with a hot bath or hot shower.

Not all hot tubs qualify as therapeutic heat. Most recreation centers which place their hot tubs near leisure pools will run their water a bit too cool for any therapeutic benefit. It’s often not easy finding a hot tub that’s 104 degrees or warmer. Dry saunas and steam rooms might be easier to find. Make sure when you discover a place with therapeutic heat, then pay a visit at least once per week for four weeks straight to get a feel for how it benefits you.

HOT AIR IMMERSION

Steam rooms, dry saunas, and infrared saunas offer heat therapy in the form of air that’s 170’F or hotter. Infrared saunas will eventually replace hot rock saunas because they are more efficient at getting the heat to penetrate your skin. Quite often, you’ll see people doing their stretching in the steam room or sauna because the heat loosens up muscles considerably.

If you’re out to gain maximum benefit from therapeutic heat, then you should think about combining it with essential deep breathing/conscious breathing, alternating heat with cold (go jump in the cold pool), and some stretching either while you’re in the heat or immediately afterward.

ou should especially stretch your shoulders and hamstrings. Use a corner of a pool in the 3-foot end to pull into deeper stretches while cooling off, and pay attention to where your tension is at and try to get at it with gentle stretching or self-massage.

Stretching does not need to be painful. Stop thinking of stretching as “tearing or ripping” the muscles apart. The secret to stretching is in willing your muscles to relax into new positions.

By the way, stretching in general is a whole world easier and less painful after a session of heat; even more so with a dose of Medical Marijuana edibles.

Full-body therapeutic heat is a great way to prepare for other therapies, such as tissue massage, trigger point massage, and all forms of meditation, yoga, or even tai chi. If it’s winter time and you’ve got snow on the ground, you can combine heat and cold therapy as one of the most aggressive methods for reducing chronic pain by going outside to lay in the snow for ten minutes, followed by a hot bath or shower.

Hot springs are better than hot tubs because they usually don’t have toxic chemicals like chlorine, and they have beneficial minerals which are healing in nature. People travel from all over the world to heal themselves at Colorado’s Glenwood Hot Springs Pool, built in 1888 by the Army Corps of Engineers.

Hot springs are also usually much less available. Alternatives include saunas and steam rooms. A hot sauna can give you nearly the same benefits without immersion into water. Steam rooms are a completely different experience than dry saunas, but both make you sweat. It’s up to you and what’s available in your area for heat treatments.

For many folks, full-body therapeutic heat will be having you feeling great! The $7-10 spent for each visit to a nearby recreation center is the best bang for your therapy buck. In 60-90 minutes, you’ll feel 1000% betterget and will be able to get all the kinks and knots out of your muscles. Your body will get revved up with maximum blood flow and oxygen as heat provides a cardiovascular workout.

If you’re feeling stiff, you might try sitting in a hot tub for a while. Stay long enough to melt away all your tension and pain, but be sure to cool off regularly so you don’t overdo it. You need to remain in there long enough for the heat to melt your knots, release your tension and allow you to relax. This can’t happen in just 5 or 10 minutes, so plan to give it an hour or more as part of a self-care therapy session.

Adding a trip to the hot tub, assuming it’s therapeutic heat, is something you could rotate into your chronic pain management practice at least once per week or every other week.

To experience benefits from immersing yourself in heat, you better prepare yourself mentally. The whole point of spending time in therapeutic heat is for self-healing purposes. If you’re there just to relax and socialize, then don’t expect to experience any healing benefits other than general relaxation. You need to stay in the heat long enough to maximize self-healing potential, and use the time to kill three birds by practicing deep breathing and mental focus techniques.

You want to bring your full awareness into your body so that you can focus on healing yourself, and you can’t do that if you’re spending time with idle chit-chat. So if you plan to make some serious progress, you’ll need to wear earplugs and consider humming to yourself to keep out the noise of other folk’s conversations.

When you’re in a public place expecting to focus on healing yourself, it’s hard to focus on your healing if you’re forced to listen to all the conversation around you, so just get comfortable taking steps to minimize distractions. You get more benefit by concentrating your conscious awareness on your body so that you can work on getting all those knotted muscles relaxed.

IN other words, don’t do a lot of talking and listening when you should be doing deep breathing, focusing on your mindbody, and willing yourself to feel better.