Can a Sauna Help Your Muscles and Joints? What the Evidence Actually Says
Saunas have been used for centuries, particularly in Finland, where sauna bathing is part of everyday life.
Today, they're increasingly popular in gyms, spas and wellness centres. But beyond helping you relax, could spending time in a sauna actually benefit your muscles, joints and overall musculoskeletal health?
The answer is possibly - but the evidence is more nuanced than some of the claims you might see online.
Sauna use may help with relaxation, stiffness and the perception of pain, and there are some encouraging findings in people with certain chronic musculoskeletal conditions. However, it shouldn't be viewed as a treatment for an injury or a proven way to speed up muscle recovery.
What Happens to Your Body in a Sauna?
A sauna exposes your body to high temperatures, causing your skin and core temperature to rise.
Your heart rate increases, your blood vessels widen and you sweat as your body tries to regulate its temperature.
Heat exposure also affects how we perceive pain and can make stiff muscles and joints feel more comfortable temporarily.
This is one reason heat has been used for many years as a way of managing muscle and joint discomfort.
Can Heat Help Stiff Muscles?
If you've ever had a hot bath after a long day and felt that your muscles loosened afterwards, there's a good reason for that.
Heat can increase blood flow to the skin and superficial tissues and can influence the way pain signals are processed. It can also make movement feel more comfortable.
For someone who wakes up feeling stiff or whose muscles feel tight after exercise, a sauna may therefore provide temporary relief.
However, it's important to distinguish feeling better temporarily from actually treating the underlying cause of pain.
A sauna isn't going to repair a tendon injury or correct the reason a joint is painful. It may simply help you feel more comfortable for a while.
What About Muscle Recovery After Exercise?
This is where some of the claims surrounding saunas become more complicated.
Sauna bathing has been studied as a possible recovery strategy for athletes and active people. Heat exposure can produce changes in cardiovascular function and other physiological responses, and there are plausible reasons why it might influence recovery.
However, a recent systematic review found that the evidence for using post-exercise heat exposure to improve recovery is still uncertain. Studies have been relatively small and have used different types, temperatures and durations of heat exposure.
So, while a sauna after exercise may feel great, we can't currently say with confidence that it makes your muscles recover faster.
Your recovery still depends on the fundamentals:
Adequate sleep
Sufficient nutrition and protein
Hydration
Appropriate training loads
Rest and recovery between sessions
Think of the sauna as something that may complement these things rather than replace them.
Could Saunas Help With Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain?
There is some encouraging evidence here.
Research into heat and thermal therapies has found potential benefits for pain and stiffness in some chronic musculoskeletal conditions. Small studies have also found that infrared sauna treatment can temporarily improve pain and stiffness in people with conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis.
However, these studies are generally small, and different studies use different forms of heat therapy. This makes it difficult to know exactly how effective sauna bathing is on its own.
The evidence is therefore promising, but not strong enough to say that sauna therapy is a proven treatment for musculoskeletal conditions.
What About Back Pain?
Heat is commonly used to help people with back pain feel more comfortable.
Research into thermal and spa therapies has found some improvements in pain and function in people with chronic low back pain, although the evidence varies in quality and much of this research isn't specifically about sauna bathing.
This doesn't mean that sitting in a sauna will "fix" back pain.
It may simply be one way of temporarily reducing discomfort and making movement feel easier.
And movement itself is an important part of managing many musculoskeletal conditions.
Can a Sauna Make You Feel Less Sore?
Possibly.
Heat therapy has been shown in some studies to reduce the perception of muscle soreness following exercise. However, much of this research has looked at hot packs or hot-water therapy rather than sauna use specifically.
So it's reasonable to say that a sauna may help you feel less stiff or sore, but we shouldn't assume that it has the same effect on muscle recovery as other forms of heat therapy.
Does a Sauna Reduce Inflammation?
This is one of the claims you'll frequently see online.
The reality is more complicated.
Heat exposure causes a number of physiological changes, and there is ongoing research into how repeated sauna use may affect inflammatory and cardiovascular markers.
However, we don't currently have strong evidence that sitting in a sauna meaningfully reduces the inflammation responsible for a particular musculoskeletal injury.
It's therefore better to avoid thinking of sauna as an "anti-inflammatory treatment".
And claims that sauna use "flushes toxins" from your muscles aren't supported by good evidence either. Your liver and kidneys already play the major role in processing and removing waste products from your body.
Could a Sauna Help You Move More?
This may be one of the most useful ways to think about sauna use.
If heat temporarily reduces stiffness or discomfort, you may find that movement afterwards feels easier.
For example, someone with stiff joints might find that gentle mobility exercises feel more comfortable after warming up in a sauna.
The sauna isn't doing the strengthening or rehabilitation - but it may make movement feel more comfortable.
How Often Should You Use a Sauna?
There isn't currently a universally established "best" sauna routine for musculoskeletal health.
Research studies vary considerably in terms of temperature, duration and frequency, so it's difficult to recommend a specific programme for treating pain or improving recovery.
If you enjoy using a sauna and are otherwise healthy, there's no evidence that sitting in extreme heat for as long as possible provides greater musculoskeletal benefits.
More isn't necessarily better.
Is Sauna Use Safe?
For most healthy adults, sauna bathing is generally well tolerated, but it isn't completely risk-free.
The main immediate concerns are dehydration and changes in blood pressure, particularly because sweating causes fluid loss and heat causes blood vessels to widen.
You may experience dizziness, light-headedness, headache or nausea if you become overheated or dehydrated.
To reduce the risk:
Drink plenty of fluids.
Avoid alcohol before or during sauna use.
Don't stay in if you feel dizzy or unwell.
Allow yourself time to cool down afterwards.
Don't feel that you need to tolerate extreme temperatures or prolonged sessions.
If you have a cardiovascular condition, significant blood pressure problems or another medical condition that could be affected by heat exposure, speak to your healthcare professional before using a sauna.
The Bottom Line
Saunas aren't a cure-all, but there is some evidence that heat exposure can help with relaxation, stiffness and the perception of pain. There are also promising findings in some chronic musculoskeletal conditions, although more research is needed to understand exactly how much benefit sauna use provides.
What we do know is that a sauna shouldn't replace the things that have the strongest evidence for keeping your muscles and joints healthy: regular movement, strength training, good sleep and appropriate recovery.
So, if you enjoy using a sauna, enjoy it. It may not be a miracle treatment, but taking some time to slow down, warm up and relax can certainly have a place in a healthy, active lifestyle.
And perhaps that's one of the simplest benefits of all: sometimes, looking after your body means giving it permission to slow down.
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