Hot Tub Benefits for Arthritis

When it comes to arthritis, the stiffness and pain can be incredibly frustrating.

Fortunately, in addition to pain management and physical therapy, another great option exists for helping alleviate that pain and stiffness: hot tubs and spas.

Not only does the Arthritis Foundation recommend warm water therapy, but their support is backed by research.

Hydrotherapy

Hydrotherapy is using warm water to help relieve ailments or health conditions, and its use dates back centuries. In more recent medicine, however, that use has been backed by data.

In particular, hot tubs and spas help circulate warm water around your body, which helps your blood circulate, thereby easing pain, soreness, inflammation, and more.

What are things to look for if you’re interested in hydrotherapy?

Check out our list of tips below:

• Ease of access. If one of your problems is limited mobility or stiffness, you want to be sure that your hot tub or spa access is not going to be difficult. Low-profile settings that you can get in and out of easily are definitely easier to use.
• Adjustability. Ideally, any jets you use can be adjusted, so you can have a powerful flow when you need it or a gentler pressure when that’s what your body needs. The ability to adjust the intensity of the hydromassage is key for helping manage the effectiveness of your hydrotherapy.
• Varied seating. The ability to adjust how you sit is also important. If you can lounge at various angles or sit upright, you can additionally adjust how the jets and water touch your body, which is an additionally important variation in controlling your therapy. If you are given the opportunity to use a hot tub or spa with leg and foot jets, that’s an added bit of variable therapy.

To get the best hot tub benefits for arthritis you need three elements. Those three elements are buoyancy, heat, and massage. 

Buoyancy takes pressure off your body, and specifically on your joints, which allows them a chance to relax. Additionally, that loss of pressure against the arthritic joints makes movement easier.

Heat helps stimulate blood flow, which is key to reducing both pain and inflammation.

And massage can help reduce tightness, soreness, and alleviate discomfort as it helps muscles relax further than heat alone might.

To quote Arthritis Today, the Arthritis Foundation’s flagship magazine:

“Research has shown warm water therapy works wonders for all kinds of musculoskeletal complaints, including fibromyalgia, arthritis, and low back pain.”

Given all the ways that hydrotherapy can help you, what are you waiting for? Shop Freeflow Spa's today: