Posts Tagged ‘Bath’

About your muscles – dangers of chronic muscle tension.

Muscles are attached to bones, and move the bones only by contracting. This is why muscles are arranged in pairs. Muscle tissue is made up of a multitude of tiny fibers, shaped like threads. It is the contractile action of these fibers that causes a muscle to shorten, and thus move the bone to which the muscle is attached.
Unfortunately, muscular tension is not always under control. When you are driving, typing, viewing a computer screen for hours, the muscles of your back, neck and shoulders may tend to tighten up, even if you do not want them to tighten up.
Adequate blood supply is necessary for all living tissue. When a muscle is in a relaxed condition, its muscle fibers are spaced relatively far apart. there is plenty of room for blood to circulate amongst the cells of the fibers. When contracted, the muscle fibers are more densely spaced, leaving less room for blood to circulate. veins and arteries, as well as nerves, are constricted. Less oxygen and nutrients enter the muscle tissue, and waste products accumulate as less can be carried away by the decreased blood flow.
Maintaining even a partial state of contraction over a long period of time can have numerous negative effects. The build up of waste products especially lactic acid, can cause pain and a tendency to cramp.
A more serious problem is that a chronic state of contraction can make the muscle fibers permanently shorten, reducing the range of motion that is possible without tearing the the muscle fiber. This leads to torn muscles. Once the fibers of a muscle have been torn, they do not always grow back as normal fiber. Instead, they can be replaced by a scar tissue which does not relax and contract as does normal muscle fiber.

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Hot water therapy-physiological effects, indications, precautions

Heat tolerance is one of those individual preferences. The hot water has many physiological effects.

Physiological effects of Hot water
- A temporary increase in blood pressure is noticed.
- Superficial circulation is increased.
- Blood supply to muscles in increased.
- Sedation of sensory motor neurons and pain relief.
- Respiration rate is increased.
- Sweating is promoted and there is an increase in elimination of metabolic waste.
- Muscle relaxation and relief of muscle spasm.
- Heart rate is increased.
- Blood volume is increased.
- Metabolism is increased with more oxygen reaching to tissues and increasing carbon dioxide production.
- Immune system is stimulated.
- Increased anti body production.

Indications of Hot Water therapy
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Sprains and strains
- Stiffness
- Muscle spasm
- Muscle tension
- Bruises
- Neuralgia

When Hot Water Therapy should not be done ?
- Malignancy
- Active Tuberculosis
- Fever
- Severe hydrophobia
- Vascular disease
- Skin rashes or skin infections
- Acute bleeding
- Open wounds
- Seizures
- Severe cardiac complications
- Thermal nerve deficiency

Precautions using Hot Water Therapy

- Pregnancy
- Injury
- Diabetes
- Obesity or physical disability
- Cardiac history
- Loss of sensation

The magic of hot water – Hot water therapy

There is something very magical about hot water. Slipping in to a warm bath allows you to be supported and buoyed up, warmed and nurtured to the core. It reminds you to let go of your mental and physical tension, to give up all the striving and activity, to just be held by the penetrating warmth.
The advent of the modern bathroom has brought hot water into almost every home. It’s easy to become accustomed, even blase, to the ubiquity of hot water, and forget some of its healing benefits.
When you first encounter hot water in shower, the tub, it takes your body a few minutes to adjust to the new temperature sensation. An increase in blood pressure will be experienced. Blood rushes to the skin, where it is warmed by the hot water. This causes the blood vessels to expand and the blood pressure to drop back down. The rush of warmed blood then penetrates deeper into the tissue below the skin, bringing more oxygen. It also brings a soothing, relaxing sensation as the warmed blood continues to expand more vessels. even chronically tight muscles, which are responsible for much back pain, begin to relax. That allows the free movement necessary for exercise and stretching.
As heat goes deeper, the body temperature increases to as high as 99 degree F or more. The rate at which the body uses oxygen and excretes waste material increases, and so does your heart rate and respiration.
When you submerge yourself in a bath, a pool, or a whirlpool, you experience a kind of weightlessness. Your body is relieved from the constant pull of gravity. Water also has a hydrostatic effect. It has a massage-like feeling as the water gently kneads your body. Water, in motion, stimulates touch receptors on the skin, boosting blood circulation and releasing tight muscles.