5 Hot Tub Hydrotherapy Benefits [Pain Relief Guide]

Randall and Kathy represent typical middle-agers on their way to becoming seniors, looking for a solution to their particular individual pain problems. Pain has become a persistent presence in their lives at work and at home. They both experience different types of aches, pains, muscle tightness, or spasms in the neck, back, shoulders, hands, legs, or feet. How can hot tub hydrotherapy benefit them?

They can always find some type of pain occurring somewhere – whether they are sitting in an office, standing still, walking, or lying down. The pain may change location, but it never goes away.

Randall is feeling the effects of old injuries and is beginning to see signs of arthritis in his hands and feet. Kathy is starting to experience symptoms of what she fears could be fibromyalgia.

Common Pain Remedies Don’t Work

Randall and Kathy are smart enough to know the hazards associated with the most common pain remedies and they don’t want the problems that often come with taking pills.

Each day, more than 1,000 people are treated in emergency rooms for misusing prescription opioids. Surveys show that 8 in 10 Americans routinely reach for over-the-counter pain pills, and 44% of us are taking more than the recommended dose.

Randall and Kathy are disappointed that neither prescriptions or OTC options have been effective remedies for them. Furthermore, they don’t want any of the side effects, including addiction.

Hot Tubs: An Ancient Prescription

There is a better way.

Hot water hydrotherapy for pain relief has been used for relief beyond 4,000 years ago. Ancient Greek, Japanese, and Native American cultures all erected buildings on top of natural hot springs. After the Romans invaded England in 43 A.D, they built a luxurious hot spring resort still operating today in the city of Bath.

In Persia, fire-heated water was poured into tubs chiseled out of solid granite. The early Japanese chose to construct free-standing wooden hot tubs. 

The warm water pain solution has been used for centuries because it works.

A Modern Upgraded Pain Remedy

The hydrotherapy of today takes the classic, time-proven hot tub and adds pressurized hot water & air jets to warm, relax, and massage your body as it rests in a buoyant state. 

Experts in sports medicine, mental health, and physical therapy now use hydrotherapy in clinical settings for treating many different conditions. 

The Arthritis Foundation strongly recommends soaking in warm water – “The research shows our ancestors got it right. Warm water makes you feel better. It makes the joints looser. And it reduces pain and it seems to have a somewhat prolonged effect that goes beyond the period of immersion.”

Regular hydrotherapy for pain relief may help relieve symptoms associated with a wide range of problems, including – injuries, post-operative recovery, difficult physical therapy, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, gout, stress, sleep disorders, muscle and joint pain, musculoskeletal disorders, tension in the lower back, and fibromyalgia. 

How Hot Tubs Heal

Heat

Warm water raises your body temperature, which dilates the blood vessels and increases circulation. That blood flow transports healing agents and nutrients while carrying away inflammatory toxins – thus healing injured tissues, reducing stiffness, and rehabilitating damaged muscles and joints.

The detoxifying process is completed through sweating, as the body eliminates toxins, microscopic cellular waste, and impurities by flushing them out through the skin.

Buoyancy

Floating weightlessly is more than just a pleasant experience. It’s therapeutic.

Dr. Daniel Hass, a physical therapy MD, explains that water supports the body by applying a mild upward pressure, which renders you up to 90% lighter. That buoyancy lessens the impact of gravity on your joints and spine while relieving tension and reducing stress on muscles – immediately alleviating pain. 

The combination of heat and buoyancy prepares your body for what comes next by helping muscles relax and expand while loosening up your joints. Once they are all extremely open and pliable, the stage is set for the real work performed by a hot tub.

Massage

Hydrotherapy is composed of that magic trio of heat, buoyancy, and massage of your relaxed body.

A hot tub can target your problem areas with an array of therapeutic massaging pulse jets, spinning jets, and specially focused neck, back, and foot jets. 

You can modulate the jet force that works out all the knots, kinks, and stiffness –  kneading your entire body. Different types of jets can provide different effects. Choose from a range of power levels from soft to deep tissue massage. Focus on each of the particular trigger points in your neck, shoulders, lumbar, legs, hands, and feet. 

Monitored trials have proven that massage therapy relieves muscle tightness and heals sore muscles. In one test, participants were asked to ride a stationary bike until muscle exhaustion. They then received massage treatment on just one leg to determine if it would heal differently than the other one. Legs that received massage treatment felt less pain and recovered quicker. 

Endorphins

Hydrotherapy triggers a natural pain prescription dispensary found inside your body. The combination of heat, buoyancy, and massage releases the “happy hormones” of dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, plus endorphins that interact with receptors in the brain to relieve pain and create feelings of calm contentment.

Endorphins are often referred to as the body’s natural painkiller. Studies conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center demonstrated that massage can reduce harmful stress hormones and instead stimulate the body to release those “feel good” endorphins.

Hot Tub Healing Anytime

To enjoy hydrotherapy, you don’t need to make an expensive reservation at a spa. You don’t have to spend the time and costs to get physical therapy at a hospital or a clinic.

Having a hot tub at home is like 24-hour access to your own personal physical therapy masseuse. No office visits, No co-pays, No appointment necessary.

Enjoy Hot Tub Hydrotherapy at Home

Are you ready for the natural relief that can come from hydrotherapy? Would you like advice from a hot tub expert?

Call our hot tub specialists at Epic Hot Tubs at 888-884-3742

In a free no-obligation consultation we can:

• Answer all your questions about hot tubs.

• Show you a selection of hot tub features and sizes to choose from.

• Look at options for hot tub placement that will complement your home and your lifestyle.

We have grown a large family of happy and relieved hot tub customers throughout the Raleigh & Durham area.

Stop hurting. Come join us.

About The Author:

Manny Brambila

Pool & Spa Expert

Manny has been in the Pool & Spa industry for over 15 years and is considered a pool, swim spa, & hot tub expert. He has been a Certified Pool & Spa Operator (CPO) since 2009 and worked 15 years in aquatic training and development for the largest pool chemical and customer care company. He also has been an outside consultant for the Pool and Spa industry in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles since 2018. In the past few years Manny has become Director of Operations for Epic Hot Tubs with a priority of providing customers with the most reliable information and best service possible.