What is Contrast Therapy?
Contrast therapy entails alternating hot and cold exposure, often in tubs of water. By combining a hot tub with a cold immersion therapy tub, people can improve their recovery time along with reducing any pain, swelling, and lactic acid buildup that may come from working out hard.
The trick is having heat therapy and cold therapy tubs close together so the transition is fast and seamless. There are few better ways to make this happen than having a set of contrast bath therapy tubs right in your home. So what other benefits might you expect?
What Health Benefits Come from Contrast Therapy?
If you're focused on continually improving your health and wellness, contrast therapy has a lot to offer
Let's uncover some of the top health benefits of a regular home practice using contrast baths.
Faster Recovery for Your Muscles
When lactic acid builds up in the body, it makes your muscles feel tired and sore. It's not easy getting motivated for a hard workout or bike ride if your whole body is stiff and cramped up.
Beyond drinking plenty of water, getting sufficient rest, and taking magnesium supplements, a regular contrast water therapy routine is essential to a faster recovery outcome.
Two research studies in 2007 concluded that contrast bath therapy helps decrease lactic acid accumulation in the body after exercise. In the study, participants who performed contrast therapy recovered from soreness and fatigue measurably better than passive interventions like simply resting or drinking water.
Diminish the Effects of Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness
Feeling extremely sore many days after working out is what's known as delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS). This comes from the damage done to muscle fibers when exercising hard. Afterward, your body is doing its best to heal and repair your muscles.
Therefore, to reduce the painful effects of DOMS, it's crucial to take as many steps as possible to help your body heal and recover. One proven method that aids athletic recovery is soaking in a hot bath before a cold water immersion session.
When researchers studied the effects of DOMS and muscle weakness after super hard workouts within the elite sporting population, they found contrast baths consistently helped reduce DOMS and muscle weakness better than passive recovery alone.
From reducing lactic acid buildup to repairing exercise-induced muscle damage, contrast water therapy is simply unbeatable.
Feel More Energetic
There have been numerous reports in the elite sporting population that contrast therapy is essential to aiding their post-game and training recovery to maintain higher energy levels.
One prominent example is a 2017 meta-analysis of contrast bathing research studies. In the analysis, it was revealed that team sports players recovered from fatigue in only 24-48 hours when a routine of contrast bath therapy was practiced post-exercise.
Decrease Inflammation and Swelling
When you injured your muscles and joints, part of your body’s response is to swell with fluid, causing stiffness and painful pressure.
Research has found that consistently performing a routine of switching between hot and cold baths helps reduce swelling, potentially alleviating chronic pain caused by joint damage. One study in 2016 examined 115 people who had suffered ankle sprains and found that contrast hydrotherapy resulted in less swelling in a mere three days after their injury on average.
Why Consider Contrast Therapy at Home?
When you've experienced the numerous body and brain benefits of contrast therapy, you'll realize why building a regular routine is worthwhile. While basic forms of contrast bath therapy can be accomplished using a regular bathtub at home, having purpose-made tubs that keep the water ready is far more convenient.
Some gyms may have tubs designated for contrast bath therapy and even offer 24-hour access, but they come with numerous potential downsides. For starters, you have to make an extra trip. You might also have to share the spaces with strangers, which can be awkward at best and downright gross at worst.
Rather than burning up time traveling to another location for contrast bath therapy, having tubs ready at home enables 24/7 access to clean and healthy equipment. Heat therapy contrasted with cold therapy is easy to attain for physical therapy right at home with RENU Therapy tubs.
With a pair of RENU contrast hydrotherapy tubs at home, both elite athletes and amateur weekend warriors can instantly gain physical and mental health benefits whenever they want. So what does contrast hydrotherapy at home look like?
How Can You Perform Contrast Therapy at Home?
- You'll need two tubs, each large enough so you can submerge your entire body. Most standard-sized bathtubs at home aren't of sufficient size, which is why purpose-built tubs are so popular.
- Next, fill each tub and track its temperature with a thermometer to ensure the ideal ratio of hot to cold water immersion.
- Grab some towels and warm clothing so you can quickly dry off and get warmed back up.
- Aim for cold temperatures in the cold plunge tubs between 39°F to 55°F. And for the hot water temperature, stick between 95°F to 113°F.
Looking back at the meta-analysis study of the research on contrast bath therapy, 95 percent of the water temperatures used were within the hot and cold water temperatures listed above. Because the water temperature matter is so crucial, always use a thermometer to gauge the water temperature if you're using a tub without a thermostat.
Exposure to water that's too cold or excessively hot can negatively impact skin blood flow rates, along with causing unnecessary pain and skin tissue damage. That's why RENU Therapy tubs make it simple to set the temperature to your safe preference and forget it.
Contrast Therapy at Home the Easy Way
Nothing beats the convenience of contrast hydrotherapy at home using tubs of your own that you know are sparkling clean. And when you expect quality that lasts, RENU Therapy has you covered.
We build all of our contrast bathtubs 100% in the USA. That's how we can give our customers the best warranty coverage on the market and achieve 100% customer satisfaction!
Our body immersion therapy tubs feature beautiful world-class designs that help you recover from strenuous exercise at the correct temperature every time.
To find out how you can benefit from contrast therapy tubs in your home, contact us at 714-617-2007 at RENU Therapy today!
