A Key Tool For Athletes: Portable Infrared Sauna
Portable infrared saunas are showing up in locker rooms and gyms around the country. They are being used as an integral part of pre-workout warm ups, post workout conditioning and injury recovery procedures.
An infrared sauna is perfect as a “heat therapy room” for athletes looking for a pre-workout activity to warm up muscles and increase flexibility. A quick session in a portable infrared sauna before a competition will give an edge to the physical abilities of an athlete while also helping to prevent injury.
Tissues that are heated to 112 degrees Fahrenheit and then stretched, retain roughly 0.5-0.9% of their length indefinitely. Thus 20 stretching sessions can result in a 10-18% increase in the length of tissues that are stretched in conjunction with infrared heat. (Justus Lehmann M.D., Williams and Wilkins, Therapeutic Heat and Cold.)
A portable infrared sauna’s deep and penetrating infrared heat relaxes tired, sore or damaged athlete muscles, which creates numerous benefits. The infrared heat will bring about better circulation by dilating the blood vessels which will in-turn assist tired and torn muscles in repairing and strengthening themselves. Additionally, the resulting decreased swelling, reduce lactic acids and loosening of muscles will lessen the pain of worn and tight muscles.
Athletes with serious injuries such as sprains should follow the normal process of cold/compression after immediate injury. After the normal treatments have been administered the deep penetrating infrared heat will speed and ease the pain of recovery.
Infrared heat also works in to the ailing joints of an athlete. By relaxing the muscles around the joints, less pressure and strain is put on the area. The joints are notoriously problematic for lacking circulation. The increased circulation coupled with the relaxed surrounding muscles improves the ability of blood flow in to joints which will greatly enhance the speed of healing and repair.
As a result of injuries or a lack of time, many athletes struggle to stick to their workout schedules. Infrared saunas are a very effective tool to stay fit. The accelerated heart rate brought on by the infrared heat offers an fast, low impact cardiovascular workout for those time when you can’t get one the traditional way. According to the American Medical Association (AMA): “Many of us who run do so to place a demand on our cardiovascular system…. Regular use of indoor saunas may impact a similar stress on the cardiovascular system, and its regular use may be as effective, as a means of cardiovascular conditioning and burning of calories, as regular exercise.”
A detailed report in JAMA explains that infrared saunas burn around 500 calories per sauna session on average, making an infrared sauna a great method to born calories, get rid of fat cells and stimulate the metabolism. Although extremely effective, infrared saunas should not be considered a 100% replacement for standard cardiovascular workouts. They are extremely useful as a warm-up, post work out therapy and method to stay fit while your body heals from injury.
It would seem that infrared saunas will only get more popular among athletes. The long term viability of these saunas is a direct result of their ability to well prepare athletes’ bodies, condition them after a workout, and then speed their recoveries.
To find out even more information about how athletes everywhere are benefiting from infrared saunas, visit HEALTHandMED.com
Article source:Slim Index