Fibromyalgia: Could a Hot Tub Help?
For those who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, they know how painful this condition can feel.
The chronic pain that is felt throughout the body can make everyday activities harder than ever to complete.
Many sufferers find that they are limited as to how much they can do during their day, changing their life for the worse.
While those who have this are often prescribed medications to help control some of the symptoms that are associated with fibromyalgia. One of the most common issues that is not helped with medications is the pain.
In fact, those who have fibromyalgia who are taken medications to help control their illness often state that the pain is still not numbed.
Those who have fibromyalgia may have days in which just the slightly touch on the forearm is going to cause intense pain.
It has often been described as a burning and pain mixed together just from the slightest touch.
This is due to the pressure points that are throughout the body that are causing the pain to flare up from time to time.
Dealing with the Pain
One of the most common questions that doctors are asked is how can fibromyalgia patients deal with the pain of this illness?
There are many recommendations that are given by the medical community. These recommendations include:
Exercise every day to help keep the oxygen and blood moving through the muscles, which can help many people avoid the pain of their muscles tightening up.
Be sure that you are getting enough rest to avoid muscle weakness.
Take over the counter anti-inflammatory medications to help ease the pain that you are feeling, such as Ibuprofen.
Consider getting a massage every once and while to help relieve stress and muscle tension that could be causing the pain to be worse every day.
However, as more and more people are finding out about this illness and learning just what all this illness entails, they are looking at hot tubs.
Could a hot tub be a way to help relieve pain? Are these safe and effective treatment plans that fibromyalgia sufferers should be considering?
A Study on Hot Tubs
To answer whether hot tubs could help those fibromyalgia patients, you must first look at the study that looked at how effective hot tubs were when it came to treatment.
In this treatment, 42 patients who were diagnosed with fibromyalgia were utilized. These patients were split into two groups.
One group received no hot tub therapy, while the other half do receive time in the hot tub.
After three weeks of working with these people, it was found that those who had been using the hot tub were reporting less pain when compared to those who had not been using the hot tub. These results were still seen up to six months after the study concluded.
So yes, hot tubs could prove to be beneficial to those who have fibromyalgia. And it seems that these benefits could last well into the future.
How Hot Tubs Help Fibromyalgia
What is it about hot tubs that make them great for fibromyalgia sufferers? It is simple: the warm water and jets that are found in these hot tubs.
This is often referred to as hydrotherapy. When these two elements are combined, they can help to ease muscle pain, tension that is being held in the muscles, and help to lower stress levels.
And those who have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia know firsthand that the more stress they have, the more pain that they experience.
IN addition, hot tubs are going to help relax the person, thus they are great for those who suffer with insomnia.
Fibromyalgia sufferers often find that using this at night a few hours before bed, is a great way to get their mind and body ready for a restful nightâs sleep.
A restful sleep is a necessity for those who suffer with fibromyalgia, as this is often hard to come by, so any way that you can encourage this is going to be the way to go.
What Type of Hot Tub Should You Consider for Fibromyalgia?
For fibromyalgia sufferers, the idea of having their own hot tub probably is interesting. After all, the studies show that this can benefit a person and logically it can be seen why these works so well for this illness.
However, what elements of a hot tub should you be looking for? Especially when your main objective is to get relief from fibromyalgia?
There are numerous types on the market, so you must ultimately decide this for yourself. However, there are a few suggestions as to what elements to look out for:
1- Consider a hot tub that has an adjustable temperature. Many fibromyalgia sufferers feel heat and cold more than your typical person. Thus, being able to control this temperature can be a great bonus!
2- Consider the type of seating that is offers, as fibromyalgia patients will want something that is contoured. Due to the way, this illness affects the muscles and bones, carefully contoured seats just offer more comfort, which is what every fibromyalgia patient should be aiming for.
3- Where are the jets located? Find a hot tub that has jets that are located in the lower back for one, and in the other painful areas of your body. These jets are great for relaxing muscles where you are feeling the pain the most. Motion Jets offer the greatest massage.
4- Consider the size of the hot tub, as you need to ensure that you can accommodate a hot tub of a certain size.
However, they make hot tubs of various sizes, so you should be able to find one that fits not only the room that you have, but the budget you have as well.
For those who suffer with fibromyalgia, hot tubs could be the one way to start feeling better and get back to your normal life.
With pain being one of the main symptoms of this illness, it is nice to know that a hot tub could help to give you the same benefits of massage and a pain reliever!
Source: www.fightfibromyalgia.net/
