Sports and Athletes healing | increased muscle, Less injuries
Submitted by Dr. Dana Gleeson
Every kind of athlete from beginners to the elite can greatly benefit from the healing effects of Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.). This includes sport enthusiasts ranging from iron man triathletes to the many who walk on a daily basis. With F.I.R.S.T. these athletes consistently report the following advantages:
Increased muscle, ligament and tendon flexibility and range of motion.
Increased ability to reach (stretch) for the ball as in tennis, squash or soccer.
Less injuries (strains, sprains, tearing) during their activity.
Increased cardio function including improved stamina.
Decreased lactic acid build-up leading to a quicker recovery time
The most effective treatment regime is to undergo Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.). both pre and post activity, as different healing benefits are elicited at either end of the sport.
Engaging in Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.) session pre activity is responsible for the increase in flexibility, range of motion and reach (stretch). Due to the deep penetration of the heat of the far infrared waves into the body,muscles, ligaments and tendons are warmed at a cellular level. This causes an increased lengthening effect in the muscles, ligaments and tendons, allowing for their improved ability to both stretch and maintain greater elasticity.
The athlete can therefore enter into their activity thoroughly prepared. It is this augmented ability to stretch that causes the decrease in the chance of injuries during a sport such as the sprains, strains and tearing.
Increased cardiac function and thus stamina is also widely reported. As the body heats up during a treatment, the entire cardiovascular system is dilated to increase blood flow to the surface of the skin and extremities in order to dissipate heat. This causes heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate to increase for overall improved cardiovascular fitness. The athletes find that they can perform their activities longer and tire at a slower rate.
Engaging in a Far Infrared Sauna Therapy (F.I.R.S.T.) session post activity has been proven to have advantages as well. The most significant one being the decrease in lactic acid build up. Lactic acid is what can make your muscles feel achy and sore after participating in activity. The far infrared waves penetrate deep into the muscles to increase the blood circulation to the cells. This increased blood flow both transports fresh nutrients and oxygen to the depleted muscles cells and flushes out the waste products formed including lactic acid. The subsequent recovery time is astoundingly faster.
Endurance and Performance study of effects of sauna workouts
Submitted by Dr. Chris Spooner
An Australian study looked at the effects of sauna after workouts in six male distance runners. These runners completed 3 weeks of post-training sauna bathing and 3 weeks of control training. During the study, the runners sat in a sauna immediately post-exercise for an average of 31 minutes on 12 occasions. A performance test was executed, consisting of a 15 minute treadmill run to exhaustion at the runner’s current best speed over 5 km. The test was performed on the 1st and 2nd day following completion of the sauna and control periods, and the times were averaged.
The results, while only in a small very specific group, were very encouraging.
Sauna bathing increased run time to exhaustion by 32% which is equivalent to an enhancement of 1.9% in an endurance time trial.
Plasma and red-cell volumes increased by 7.1% after sauna, relative to control with changes in plasma volume and total blood volume being associated with the increase in performance. The authors concluded that 3 weeks of post-exercise sauna bathing produced a worthwhile enhancement of endurance running performance, probably by increasing blood volume. The heat stress of a single session of sauna bathing produces dilution of the blood by increasing the volume of the fluid portion of the blood. Over time this effect decreases.
It is possible that the dilution of the blood as well as change in blood flow to the kidney can cause the body to produce more red cells via release of erythropoietin. The resulting increase in total blood volume could enhance high-intensity endurance performance by delivering more oxygen to muscles.
In Summary
Sauna bathing that can be tolerated for half an hour immediately after a training run provides an additional training benefit.
After 12 bathing sessions spread over 3weeks, endurance performance of sub-elite runners is enhanced by a useful 2%, probably via an increase in blood volume.
Elite endurance athletes may experience smaller gains from such sauna bathing