Gain Important Athletic Benefits
Both professional and "weekend" athletes can use their hot tubs to aid in repairing sore muscles and injuries. Neck and back pain, sports injuries, muscle pulls, spasms and soreness are often eased simply by a quick dip in your hot tub.
Your hot tub can also be used as preventive medicine. Water's therapeutic powers lie in its ability to alter the body's blood flow. According to an article in Tennis Magazine, "When you immerse yourself in the hot water of a whirlpool, the temperature of your skin and muscles rise, causing blood vessels to dilate and thus increases blood flow to the skin and muscles. Turn on the whirlpool jets and the pulsating water massages the skin, increasing blood flow even more. The result? Your skin and muscles loosen and relax from the increased blood circulation.”
You can improve your athletic performance by using your hot tub both before and after you exercise:
Before You Exercise. Soaking in a hot tub before exercising relaxes your body and loosens muscles, making exercise easier and reducing the risk of injury. A pre-exercise soak will also help improve performance. In fact, some golfers swear it has actually taken a couple of strokes off their game.
After You Exercise. Soaking in a hot tub after exercising is a great way to wind down and relax your muscles. The hot, swirling water embraces you . . . massaging your neck, shoulders, arms, back, thighs, calves, and feet. But most importantly, hot tub use after you exercise will greatly reduce or even eliminate the stiffness typically felt the next day.
Important Note. If an injury occurs, it is essential to apply ice to the swollen area first. Never get into a hot tub when you have swelling! Allow ample time for the swelling to reduce before soaking in your hot tub. The warm, circulating water will speed healing to any damaged tissue as well as bringing much-needed nutrients to the problem area.
Soothing Relief for Arthritis Pain
Approximately 43 million people in the United States suffer from some form of arthritis pain. The good news for these victims is that there are safe and effective ways to both minimize the discomfort and prevent further damage.
According to a publication from The Arthritis Foundation, Spas, Pools, and Arthritis, "Regular sessions in your hot tub help keep joints moving. It restores and preserves strength and flexibility, and also protects your joints from further damage. Exercise can also improve a person's coordination, endurance, and the ability to perform daily tasks, and can lead to an enhanced sense of self-esteem and accomplishment."
"A hot tub fulfills the need perfectly . . . providing the warmth, massage, and buoyancy that is so necessary to the well-being of arthritis sufferers. The buoyancy of the water supports and lessens stress on the joints and encourages freer movement. Water exercises may even act as a resistance to help build muscle strength."
Immerse Yourself in Healing
From the moment your body becomes immersed in a warm spa, it begins to experience mild changes that make you feel better... Dipping your body into water of any temperature makes you feel weightless and, because of a change in hydrostatic pressure, can help dull any pain you may be feeling.
But what separates soaking in a hot spa from treading water in a pool - or even soaking in a warm bath - is the fact that the warm temperature is sustained. Medical experts say that, over time, this brings about changes in your circulatory system that affect other aspects of your body's operations.
Your body's first reaction to being immersed in hot water is to try to get back to its normal temperature by pumping the heart faster, so as to bring blood to the surface and, normally, disperse extra body heat into the air. This causes a temporary increase in blood pressure.
But because spa water is maintained at a high temperature - and because water is one of the most effective conductors of heat - the blood being carried to the body's surface is warmed, rather than cooled. The longer the soaker remains in the spa, the more times the blood cycles through the body - and the deeper into the body the warm temperature is carried. Studies have shown that immersion in a spa maintained at 104 degrees can raise the core body temperature to 102 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 20 minutes.
After a few minutes, the warm blood causes the blood vessels to dilate, lessening the resistance to blood flow and dropping the blood pressure. As the body goes through this process, several benefits are enjoyed - most of which are enhanced further by the jet action:
Muscle relaxation. This occurs when the warm blood reaches deeper and deeper into the muscles, causing the vessels to expand. The muscle-relaxation effects of hot water also help deaden muscle pain by easing any pinching of nerves or blood vessels, and by helping the muscle rid itself of lactic acid and other metabolic wastes.
Temporary pain relief. As the body tries to register a temperature change, the central nervous system becomes depressed, contributing to muscle relaxation and temporarily relieving, or at least lessening, pain. This can happen with any drastic change in temperature - hot or cold - but most people are more comfortable sitting in warm water than holding an ice pack. (Remember, for recent injuries where there is swelling or broken skin, an ice pack is more suitable.)
Bodily cleansing. In trying to regain its normal temperature, the body will begin sweating so that moisture on the skin will evaporate and cool the body. But this process also helps rid the body of toxins.
Priming the muscles. By relaxing muscles, hot water helps increase their range of motion to allow for gentle exercise and stretching in the spa.
Promotion of healing. The jet action found in spas can promote healing by providing even more oxygen to the area than is provided by warm water alone. The heat and pressure from the jets can also raise the level of antibodies and white blood cells delivered to the area, promoting the destruction of bad cells and stimulating the formation of new tissue.
Help for insomnia. It has been found that sleep deepens as body temperature falls. As a result, some medical experts recommend that anyone wanting to induce sleep (especially those being kept up by pain) soak in water of approximately 103 degrees Fahrenheit about two hours before bedtime.
Please note: You can, of course, get too much of a good thing. Soaking in a spa raises your core temperature without discomfort. This isn't healthy for more than a brief period - and for some people it's not OK at all. The hot-water industry recommends that you soak no longer than 15 minutes at a time, refrain from performing rigorous exercise in hot water, and, if you have a medical condition, consult your doctor before taking a dip.
