Clinical Studies

Microvascular Function – The Physiological Society

Heat therapy increased flow-mediated dilatation, reduced arterial stiffness, reduced mean arterial and diastolic blood pressure, and reduced carotid intimae media thickness, with changes all on par or greater than what is typically observed in sedentary subjects with exercise training.

Brunt, Vienna E., Matthew J. Howard, Michael A. Francisco, Brett R. Ely, and Christopher T. Minson. "Passive Heat Therapy Improves Endothelial Function, Arterial Stiffness and Blood Pressure in Sedentary Humans." The Journal of Physiology 594.18 (2016)

Rheumatoid Arthritis – Journal of Ayurveta and Integrated Medicine

A 48-year-old married woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2007, came to our hospital in July 2014 with the complaint of severe pain and swelling over multiple joints, especially over small joints, which was associated with stiffness, deformities of fingers and toes, with disturbed sleep and poor quality of life for the past 7 years. Treated with EMMS therapy

Mooventhan, A., Geethab Shetty, and N. Anagha. "Effect of Electro-acupuncture, Massage, Mud, and Sauna Therapies in Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis." Journal of Ayurveda and Integrative Medicine J Ayurveda Integr Med 6.4 (2015)

Heat Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes – Laboratory of Cellular Physiology

Human studies indicate that heat therapy reduces fasting glycemia, glycated hemoglobin, body weight, and adiposity. Animal studies have indicated that nitric oxide and the increase in heat protein expression is involved in the improvements induced by heat therapy on insulin sensitivity, adiposity, inflammation, and vasomotricity.

Krause, Mauricio, Mirna Stela Ludwig, Thiago Gomes Heck, and Hilton Kenji Takahashi. "Heat Shock Proteins and Heat Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes." Laboratory of Cellular Physiology 18.4 (2015)

Skeletal Muscle Growth – American Journal of Physiological

Heat therapy has been shown to promote capillary growth in skeletal muscle and in the heart in several animal models. We evaluated the acute effect of lower body heating and unilateral thigh heating on the expression of angiogenic regulators and heat shock proteins in healthy young individuals.

Kuhlenhoelter, Alisha M., Kyoungrae Kim, Dustin Neff, Yaohui Nie, A. Nicole Blaize, Brett J. Wong, Shihuan Kuang, Julianne Stout, Qifan Song, Timothy P. Gavin, and Bruno T. Roseguini. "Heat Therapy Promotes the Expression of Angiogenic Regulators in Human Skeletal Muscle." American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 311.2 (2016)

Muscle Soreness – Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine

To assess the impact of heat applied immediately after or 24 hours after exercise on delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in large skeletal muscle groups measured by subjective and objective means.

ficacy of Sustained Heat Treatment on Delayed-Onset Muscle Soreness." Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine (2016)

Knee Pain – Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research

This study examined if the use of continuous heat at home between physical therapy sessions at a clinic resulted in better therapy outcomes in patients with chronic knee pain

Petrofsky, Jerrold S., Michael S. Laymon, Faris S. Alshammari, and Haneul Lee. "Use of Low Level of Continuous Heat as an Adjunct to Physical Therapy Improves Knee Pain Recovery and the Compliance for Home Exercise in Patients With Chronic Knee Pain." Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 30.11 (2016)

Pain Relief in Primary Dysmenorrhea – Department of Medical Rehabilitation

The present systematic review aimed to synthesize evidence for the effectiveness of heat therapy interventions from randomized trials. Six relevant databases were searched for studies on heat therapy for primary dysmenorrhea. Menstrual pain intensity and quality of life were the primary and secondary outcomes respectively.

Igwea, Sylvester Emeka, Chidinma Samantha Tabansi-Ochuogu, and Ukachukwu Okoroafor Abaraogu. "TENS and Heat Therapy for Pain Relief and Quality of Life Improvement in Individuals with Primary Dysmenorrhea: A Systematic Review." Department of Medical Rehabilitation 24 (2016)

Body Mass Loss – The Scientific World Journal

The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and body mass loss (BML) induced by thermal stress in a dry sauna.

Podstawski, Robert, Tomasz BoraczyÅski, MichaÅ‚ BoraczyÅski, Dariusz Choszcz, Stefan MaÅkowski, and Piotr Markowski. "Sauna-Induced Body Mass Loss in Young Sedentary Women and Men." The Scientific World Journal 2014 (2014)

Muscle Regeneration – National Center for Biotechnology Information

Hyperthermia therapy has recently emerged as a clinical modality used to finely tune heat stress inside the human body for various biomedical applications. Nevertheless, little is known regarding the optimal timing or temperature of heat stress that is needed to achieve favorable results following hyperthermia therapy for muscle regeneration purposes. The regeneration of skeletal muscle after injury is a highly complex and coordinated process that involves a multitude of cellular mechanisms. The main objective of this study was to characterize the effects of hyperthermal therapy on the overall behavior of myoblasts during myogenic differentiation.

"Controlled Heat Stress Promotes Myofibrillogenesis during Myogenesis." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d. 8 Nov. 2016.

Relaxation – Department of Anesthesiology and Applied Physiology

Can heat, as a common tool be used in the treatment of muscular disorders such as stiffness or myalgia. Clinical data as well as in vitro experiments demonstrate that increased temperatures lead to a head-related myofacial relaxation. Investigating the differential effects of the skeletal muscle fibers and the facial structures.

"The Role of Fascia in Resting Muscle Tone and Heat Induced Relaxation." Journal of Bodywork and Movement Therapies, Department of Anesthesiology and Applied Physiology 12.4 (2008)

White Blood Cell Profile Levels – U.S. National Library of Medicine

The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of sauna bathing on a white blood cell profile, cortisol levels and selected physiological indices in athletes and non-athletes. The study evaluated 9 trained middle-distance runners and 9 male non-athletes. The subjects from both groups participated in 15-minute sauna sessions until their core temperature rose by 1.2°C (mean temperature in the sauna room was 96° ± 2°C; relative humidity was 15 ± 3%) with a 2 minute cool down with water at a temperature of 19-20°C.

Effect of a Single Sauna Session on White Blood Cell Profile and Cortisol Levels in Athletes and Non-athletes." Journal of Human Kinetics. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d.

Detox Programs– U.S. National Library of Medicine

According to our nationwide survey of Naturopathic Physicians regarding use of detoxification, approximately 80 percent of NDs (Naturopathic Doctors) use some type of detoxification interventions in clinical practice on a regular basis. Of the interventions used, 66% of respondents reported using sauna therapy. Of the conditions treated, over 80 percent of practitioners use sauna-based detoxification for “general cleansing/preventive medicine.” This protocol will utilize a sauna as the primary method of detoxification. Detoxification therapies used by NDs may serve as an adequate means to reduce the body burden of synthetic chemicals found today in humans; however, scientifically rigorous research is needed to determine the safety and efficacy of these therapies.

PubMed - NCBI." National Center for Biotechnology Information. U.S. National Library of Medicine, n.d.