Heat therapy utilizing complete body hyperthermia is a very famous treatment and has been widely used during the past several decades. Rheumatoid arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis are very complicated and dangerous conditions which are life changing for suffers.

1. Pain reduction for rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing
spondylitis sufferer
Heat therapy utilizing complete body hyperthermia is a very famous treatment and has been widely
used during the past several decades. Rheumatoid arthritis and Ankylosing Spondylitis are very
complicated and dangerous conditions which are life changing for suffers. A number of studies
have been done to find cure for these vicious diseases and the good news is that recently Saxion
University of Applied Sciences located in Holland has come up with research indicating the
benefits of using saunas for treating both these diseases. Results of the study showed that there was
a major decrease in pain, stiffness and tiredness in patients by using the sauna treatment.
The research was done to find solutions to these questions:
• Whether heat exposure in a sauna has beneficial impact on various body parts and bodily
problems like stiffness, aches and tiredness?
• What is the impact of the socially and physically?
• Does the sauna have any sort of negative impact on the human body and whether it causes
any discomfort both short and long term?
Heating for Healing
Stimulation of Senses
In the research mentioned above, a total of 17 rheumatoid arthritis and 17 ankylosing spondylitis
patients were given treatment for more than four weeks in eight sauna sessions. Results of the
above mentioned treatment showed that aches and stiffness were minimized and improvement was
easily measurable and reported by all the participants. Fatigue was also decreased a great extent

2. during the whole treatment.
The important thing is that no negative impact of the treatment was found and that no negative
changes in disease’s activity were seen. The results showed that both aches and stiffness were
decreased to a measured level and the disease itself didn’t become worse. Both rheumatoid arthritis
and ankylosing spondylitis patients felt comfortable after being treated, Fifty nine percent were
reported as feeling comfortable and twenty nine percent of the patients were feeling very
comfortable after the treatment.
Research Results
The research showed that both ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis patients that had
been given treatment by sauna showed sufficient improvements on a short term basis and showed
clinically relevant beneficial effects during the research. The treatment and research also showed
the patients didn’t have any bad or negative long term issues with this treatment and that the
patients also exercised good tolerance to the treatment with no discomfort.
Major things to be noted in the study include that the sauna gave compact to the patient and
brought the patient’s body to complete body hypothermia. Both rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing
spondylitis patients enjoyed the experience; they felt less pain and better physical movements
during the treatment. Inflammation was also not seen during the treatment. Another positive impact
was that patients lost 0.1 to 0.4 kilograms during treatment. Overall blood pressure was also
decreased and this was probably due to the heat treatment.
Ankylosing Spondylitis
It is a disease that causes inflammation, and also fuses spinal bones with each other. Around one
out of every thousand people in the United Kingdom are suffering from this disease.
Rheumatoid Arthritis
It is an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation in joints, and it also causes damage to tissues.
The disease is a lot more common in women as compared to men. Around 0.8 percent of United
Kingdom’s total population have been affected by this disease.
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