Researchers have found that dry sauna benefits are a groundbreaking new technique for neuropathic pain. They believe infrared light, particularly near infrared light, could be very beneficial to provide effective relief for a very difficult condition to treat.
What is Neuropathic Pain?
Neuropathic pain arises from damage or disease in parts of the nervous system. The exact symptoms are different from person to person, and they go from odd sensations to extreme pain.
Typical symptoms of neuropathic pain are the following:
- Problems sleeping
- Depression
- Muscle weakness
- Burning
- Headache
- Pain
- Pain with movement
- Finger pain
- Toe pain
- Hand pain
- Foot pain
- Lower back pain
- Upper back pain
- Sharp pain
- Shocking pain
- Extreme sensitivity
- Loss of feeling
- Numbness
- Tingling
- Electric pain
- Pins and needles
There are even some people who receive considerable discomfort, whereas for some people, moving just an inch can bring about agonizing pain.
In the United States alone, one out of ten Americans is affected by neuropathic pain. Furthermore, neuropathic pain still does not have any safe and effective treatments that work for everyone.
Generally, individuals with neuropathic pain will cope with their symptoms with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, anti-epileptics, and opioids which all have nasty side effects and none of these medications are even effective at all. Continuously, opioids are notorious for having a high risk of addiction.
If you suffer from nerve damage, or sometimes known as peripheral neuropathy, the damage caused to these nerves interrupts communication between the brain and other parts of the body and can disrupt muscle movement, and hinder normal sensation in the arms and legs.
Obviously, how can we forget to mention that when you have nerve damage, you are in quite a bit of pain. Oftentimes, the numbness is so bad that you could literally stick a needle in the part of the body which aches, and not feel a thing. There are other times it feels like someone is hitting you with a baseball bat, in the meantime passing a flame of heat across the same area.
How To Treat Neuropathic Pain?
In the past, researchers trying to discover potential treatments started to focus on targeting specific molecules that are associated with pain pathways. Even though there has been some progress, this method has not shown any advantages.
The reason for this appears to be that when one or two of the molecules that are generating pain are blocked, others move in and take their place.
At the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Rome, Italy, researchers have designed an innovative approach to neuropathic pain. Their most recent discoveries have been published in the journal Nature Communications. Paul Heppenstall, Ph.D., led the research utilizing a whole new approach.
Instead of looking for molecular messengers, they determined the subgroup of nerve cells that are responsible for oversensitivity to pain, and they focused their efforts on subduing these overacting cells.
They revealed that a subpopulation of sensory neurons that indicate a receptor called tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB) is at the helm of producing disproportionate levels of pain.
To prompt these nerves, the team created a light-sensitive chemical that distinctively sticks to TrkB receptors. They injected this chemical into mice’s skin which has neuropathic pain.
When the chemical bonds to the receptors, they hit it with near infrared light. This made the nerve endings to retract from the surface of the skin, making them less likely to set off.
Can Infrared Saunas Help Nerve Damage?
Yes, people who have nerve damage can benefit significantly from dry sauna benefits. Fortunately, no matter the cause of your nerve pain, whether it is from an injury, diabetes or autoimmune disease, the sauna health benefits have been evident. Studies so far have revealed that infrared light can help repair nerve damage. In fact, researchers in Japan were able to demonstrate that damaged nerve cells that were exposed to infrared light for at least an hour every day for three weeks successfully reproduced.
Further studies conducted on rats that had nerve damage exposed them to infrared heat therapy for 30 minutes a day, 5 times a week for 2 weeks. The researchers revealed that the animals that were exposed to infrared light had more nerve repair than the rats that were not. These studies and many others indicate the fact that infrared light can actually repair nerve damage.
How Does Infrared Light Therapy Alleviate Pain?
There are a few thoughts by scientists as to how infrared light therapy alleviates pain. One of these beliefs is that infrared light can turn the heat that is already in the body into radiation that then goes on to correct any imbalances in the body. Additionally, if there is a pain in a part of the body, the radiation created by infrared light with correct it.
Furthermore, dry sauna benefits for nerve damage is possible because of the release of a specific chemical in the body, which fights off inflammation. Keeping inflammation at bay also helps to reduce pain as well.
Sauna Health Benefits: Who Can Enjoy it?
Infrared light therapy has been proven to be a very effective tool for nerve pain and sensation loss, no matter what was the origin of the cause.
This signifies that infrared energy can help all types of nerve pain and root causes for neuropathy such as the following:
- Local nerve pain
- Peripheral neuropathy
- Facial nerve problems
- Nerve pain from chemotherapy
- Shingles
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Lyme Disease
- Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
- Nerve pain from hypothyroidism
- Diabetic neuropathy
- Non-diabetic neuropathy
- Fibromyalgia
- Idiopathic neuropathy
If you have nerve pain, an infrared sauna session can provide immediate pain relief, which lasts as long as six hours! For some individuals with severe nerve damage, the pain begins to fade away after a week or two of everyday use.
Infrared sauna therapy not only reduced the pain but also speeds up the healing process. The light and heat from infrared heat increase blood flow to the affected nerves. So, you might be pleasantly surprised that your pain and numbness can completely go away for the long term with the use of your infrared sauna.
