- Hyperthermic conditioning: A number of studies have found that hyperthermic treatments are useful for treating chronic pain.
- One study reported that 22 subjects being treated for chronic pain and anger exhibited diminished pain behaviors and had statistically lower anger scores. (Masada, A., Koga, Y. et al, PsychotherPsychosom 2005;74:288-294.)
- A 2009 study published in Clinical Rheumatology evaluated pain in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). 30-minute hyperthermic sessions at 131ºF twice weekly for 4 weeks provided a statistically significant reduction in pain, stiffness and fatigue in all participants.(Oosterveld FG, Rasker JJ, Floors M, et al., Infrared sauna in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. ClinRheumatol 2009;28:29-34.)
- In additional studies in subjects with rheumatoid disease, 40% to 70% of participants reported that hyperthermic conditioning alleviated pain and improved joint mobility. Hyperthermic conditioning relieved pain in 22 of 74 subjects with chronic neuropathic pain. (Nurmikko T, Hietaharju A. Effect of exposure to sauna heat on neuropathic and rheumatoid pain. Pain. 1992;49:43–51;Isoma¨kiH. The sauna and rheumatic diseases. Ann Clin Res. 1988;20:271–275;Nurmikko T. Neuropathic pain. University of Tampere, Finland, Thesis; 1991).
- Vibratory Stimulation:
- The pain relieving effect of vibratory stimulation was studied in 731 patients suffering from acute pain (135 patients) or chronic pain (596 patients). Most of the patients had previously undergone treatments of various kinds without sufficient pain relief. The effect of vibratory stimulation was assessed before, during and after stimulation using different rating scales. 70% of the patients reported reduction of pain during vibratory stimulation. In many patients there was a clear relation between the degree of reduction of pain and the intensity of pain before the beginning of stimulation. The study determined that to obtain a maximal duration of pain relief the stimulation had to be applied for 30-45 minutes. Many of the patients experienced pain relief lasting for more than 3 hours (but in many patients the pain relief lasted for 12 hours or more). There was a good correlation between the degree of pain relief and its duration. In patients who experienced a pain reduction of 50% or less the pain relief generally lasted for less than 6 hours while in patients who experienced pain relief of more than 50% it lasted for more than 6 hours. Lundeberg TC Acta Physiologica Scandinavica. Supplementum [1983, 523:1-51] Type: Clinical Trial, Controlled Clinical Trial, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov’t.
- Another study found that the use of safe and simple commercially available massagers to produce vibration anesthesia was effective for minimizing discomfort from dermatological procedures. Kevin C Smith MD, Stephen L Comite MD, Suprina Balasubramanian, Alan Carver MDa and Judy F Liu, Vibration anesthesia: A noninvasive method of reducing discomfort prior to dermatologic procedures, Dermatology Online Journal 10 (2): 1.
- Another study determined that whole-body vibration exercise was useful in reducing chronic back pain. The study suggested that pain relief was likely associated with the relaxation the back muscles in post-menopausal osteoporotic women treated with alendronate. Iwamoto, J., Takeda, T., Sato, Y., Uzawa, M., Effect of whole-body vibration exercise on lumbar bone mineral density, bone turnover, and chronicback pain in post-menopausal osteoporotic women treated with alendronate Journal Aging Clinical and Experimental Research Volume 17, Issue 2 , pp 157-163.
APL (American Performance Labs) is a research group dedicated to the collection, analysis, and dissemination of published research and articles on the science of hyperthermia and the various applications, technologies and protocols for the use of hyperthermic conditioning.