Back pain relief can be found in a hot tub.
You’ve seen people through history soaking in hot water for relaxation and stress relief, but what about back pain?. Various cultures discovered that spending a good amount of time in warm mineral springs seemed to have positive effects on the person that was relaxing in it, such as soothing and rejuvenating the body and mind. However, the precise reason why being in hot springs or hot tubs provided these benefits wasn’t known. As of the last few years, researchers and physicians set out to discover the reasons and effects of why it feels as good as it does to relax in a hot tub or bath. What they discovered was enough to show beyond doubt that soaking in hot water has a very positive effect on your body.
Dr. Bruce Becker, a physician and research professor at Washington State University, is leading the efforts to truly understand the effects of being in warm or hot water and to use the information that they obtain to make effective and new therapeutic applications. Dr. Becker has expressed the end goal of his research, “You know when you come home from a long day at work and you’re stressed out?” he says. “You want to sink into a hot bathtub and go, ‘Ahhh.’ I’m trying to figure out what the hell that ‘Ahhh’ is all about.” This research is still ongoing, but they do show many impressive health results from soaking in warm water that have many benefits.
This effort has discovered that exercising in water can help relieve pain from back problems, hip problems, and other disorders. Researchers in Spain and Belgium in 2016 found that 10 treatment sessions of water-based Ai Chi led to very noticeable improvements in the pain perception, vitality, emotional health, and general quality of life of each participant. There are quite a few reasons why exercising in water is very beneficial for people with chronic pain conditions. For one thing, “the buoyancy of the water essentially offloads almost all the weight that’s on your bones and joints,” Dr. Bruce Becker explains. This means there’s very little impact on your bones and joints when you exercise in water. Plus, “the pressure of the water tends to reduce swelling in injured tissues because of the compression, which changes circulatory patterns in the body”, he says.
In 2012, a study from Spain found that deep-water running had a significant effect in lessening pain and disability among people that have back pain. Deep-water running is quite effective at reducing pain because of it minimizing the pressure and compression of a person’s spine. This lets people work harder for far more time, and even have a lower heart rate while doing so. Along with this, it lowers the fear of movement, a common issue for people that have low back pain. Fear of movement can be a significant challenge for people that have chronic pain, and moving in water is a situation far less intimidating for people with this fear because it has soothing effects, and they know it will soften the impact and pressure on their joints and muscles.
Sweetwater Hot Tubz of San Antonio has a full line of not only hot tubs but endless pools. We can help you relax and might even take away some of your pain by finding a tub for just about any budget.