Medical Community Supports Hot Tubs as Healing Tools

It’s easy to see that the medical community is highly supportive of the way that hot tubs have healing properties that are derived by simply relaxing in them.

Athletes and trainers have discovered the benefits of using the whirlpool qualities with hot water to soothe athletes for years. Often the nightly news will show a story featuring an athlete who is feeling sore in a specific area. We can be sure to spot him somewhere in the background, sitting next to a big aluminum-looking tub with his injury submerged in the water. Coaches and trainers have known for years what the medical community is just now advocating; healing occurs when you allow submersion in hot water. No medications, no drugs, no shots, just some hot water. Imagine that.

Aren't we just amazed by professional athletes’ bodies that seem to be able to endure anything? Watch one game on Monday night football to gain a respect and appreciation of what those guys put themselves through for the sake of the game. You’ll start to understand that if they find a healing property in hot water, why shouldn't we?

I remember the older movie North Dallas Forty, which is about the Dallas Cowboys' football team. There’s a specific scene where the camera angle makes you feel as though you are the player and experiencing what it would be like in that moment to be the professional football player running that ball to victory. It was incredible! It was painful to watch the men who easily weighed more than 200 pounds, with cleats on their feet, stepping on one another to get that football. Immediately after the game, it did not show the players at a bar, enjoying a beer together or at home with their families. What we saw was probably a lot more like the reality of players; they were bandaged up, moaning because of their sore muscles and they were neck high in a hot tub because they knew, without a doubt, that by sitting in hot water they could reap some of the benefits of healing without the need for drugs.

For centuries the trainers and coaches of great athletes have been using the hot tub method for healing. Now in the 21st Century the medical community has hopped on board and backed the findings that sitting in a hot tub will help to repair and sooth sore muscles.  

The medical community not only sees the benefits for athletes but have extended their support for those with various medical conditions. People with diabetes have been known to reduce their blood sugar with a consistent use of a hot tub. Stroke patients have been able to feel that almost-normal feeling they had before their stroke when they are in a hot tub.  The US National Library of Medicine has even came out with a publication regarding patients with hypertension in support of hot tubs.  Doctors have also begun prescribing water therapy treatment for patients.  You can even do a tax deduction for the cost of the hot tub if it was prescribed.  For more information on the IRS tax credit please see IRS publication 502.

Although the medical community was slow to endorse hot tubs as viable tools in the healing process, they have now come to the same conclusion as athletes, trainers, and coaches and that's progress.