Millions of people in the US struggle with chronic back pain each year. In fact, eight out of ten adults will experience some form of back pain during their lives.
Whether acute or chronic, back pain can be debilitating. It’s one of the most common kinds of pain that causes people to miss work or seek medical attention.
Conventional treatments for back pain include prescription drugs, chiropractic care or invasive surgery. But these time-consuming pain interventions often don’t bring complete relief. Because of this, more people are searching for alternative options to help alleviate their pain.
Float therapy is a holistic, drug-free option for managing a variety of health conditions, including back pain. Used in conjunction with other treatment methods, float therapy can provide the relief your aching back desperately needs.
Check out this guide to learn how floatation can get your pain back in check so you can live a fuller life.
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Can floating help with back pain?
Float therapy, which is also called REST (restricted environmental stimulation therapy), is incredibly beneficial for easing different types of back pain. During a float, patients float in water saturated with Epsom salt.
The highly concentrated salt water, which Krysus heats to skin temperature, enables the patient to effortlessly float with gravity-defying sensations that helps alleviate pain.
Back pain is particularly responsive to floating because the salt water allows you to feel fully supported — there’s no weight or pressure on your back.
Floating gives your back a break from gravity and pain, allowing your spine to decompress naturally and your muscles to fully relax. Relaxing your muscles improves blood circulation, which can reduce inflammation and encourage healing throughout the body. Plus, the minerals in Epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) are known for their therapeutic benefits, which can help reduce muscle inflammation even more.
During your float, you’ll relax in a uniquely peaceful, stimulus-free environment. The float pod is also known as an isolation cabin or sensory deprivation tank because the air and water are heated to skin temperature, so you can’t easily distinguish your body from your surroundings. As you settle into your float, sound and light gradually diminish, allowing you to fall into a state of deep relaxation.
Thanks in part to the tranquil environment, float therapy sessions can calm the nervous system and decrease the production of the stress hormone cortisol. By reducing excess cortisol, the body becomes less stressed and more able to focus on the healing process.
In our fast-paced world, there are few places where you can get a restorative, healing experience like the kind offered through floating.
This study suggests that float therapy has a direct and positive effect on reducing chronic back pain. While patients shouldn’t view float therapy as a panacea, a float can relieve a variety of back pain symptoms.
What types of chronic pain can float therapy manage?
Chronic pain can be debilitating, and many people feel discouraged by their lack of treatment options. But in addition to alleviating upper and lower back pain, float therapy can help manage the symptoms of several other sources of chronic pain. People with arthritis, fibromyalgia, and sciatica benefit from float therapy, too.
Arthritis
Arthritis is a condition that affects the joints and causes pain, stiffness, and swelling. Float therapy can help people suffering from several types of arthritis, including rheumatoid and osteoarthritis.
The float tank creates the sensation of a zero-gravity environment, which can relieve the strain and stress on aching, arthritic joints. Plus, the highly concentrated Epsom salt water can boost magnesium levels in the body, which helps protect muscles, bones, and connective tissue. Relaxing and floating in the tranquil environment of a flotation tank can also alleviate the stress that makes arthritis symptoms worse.
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a syndrome that affects the body’s muscles and connective tissues that can cause widespread pain, chronic fatigue, insomnia, and cognitive issues. Patients who suffer from fibromyalgia pain also experience high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression.
While researchers don’t fully understand the root of fibromyalgia pain, flotation therapy can help mitigate symptoms. Some of the potential benefits of floatation therapy for fibromyalgia include:
- Promoting sleep to alleviate fatigue and insomnia
- Lowering stress response, which can decrease pain sensitivity
- Increasing the brain’s production of the feel-good chemical dopamine
- Relaxing muscles that can tense up as a pain response
Sciatica
Sciatica is pain from an injury or irritation to the sciatic nerve, which is the longest and largest nerve in the body. The term “sciatica” commonly describes any pain that originates in the lower back or buttocks and radiates down the leg. The pain can range from mild to severe and cause temporary muscle weakness, numbness, or an uncomfortable pins and needle type of sensation.
For many people, sciatic pain gets worse when they sit or drive. While the exact cause of sciatic pain varies, floatation therapy helps relieve pain, whether you feel pain lower in your legs or you feel pain upper in your back.
Some of the potential benefits of floatation therapy for sciatica include:
- Releasing pressure from the irritated or injured nerve
- Temporarily correcting the body’s alignment
- Relaxing the muscles surrounding the sciatic nerve.
Minimize back pain: Book a floating session online now
Even though back pain is exceedingly common in American adults, you don’t have to suffer. Float therapy can help you achieve the rest and relaxation your body craves.
While flotation won’t cure back pain by itself, it can be an essential ingredient to a holistic approach to healing. At Krysus HP, patients with acute injury or persistent back pain experience the soothing benefits of float therapy in our private, state-of-the-art floatation pods.
Book a session today and float your way toward the healthy lifestyle you deserve.
