Heat helps against back pain

Radon heat therapy additionally relies on low-dose radon

17/10/2013

A look at the thermometer shows that winter is just around the corner. As the days get shorter, the wind blows outside and there are freezing temperatures, many people feel an increasing amount of pulling or stinging pain in their backs. In younger, otherwise healthy people, this is usually due to lack of exercise in the winter months - who wants to jog when it's muddy and cold outside? But even people who suffer year round under the consequences of herniated discs, lumbago, sciatica or nerve constriction, increase their painkiller dose in the winter mostly considerable. Many of them are entitled to a cure that can bring much-needed pain relief, especially in winter. One option is stollen therapies. The so-called Radonwärmetherapie in the Austrian Gasteiner Heilstollen works well by its heat component, especially in back pain patients.

Cures start underground with a leash train in the patient, depending on the state of the disease lying or sitting on various therapy stations in the mountain and spend about one hour unit lying down. „Temperatures of over 37.5 degrees and high humidity up to 100 percent prevail in the tunnel“, commented Univ.-Doz. Dr. Bertram HölzI, medical director of the Gasteiner Heilstollen. „Since the body can not sweat enough due to the high humidity, the tropical climate leads to the so-called hyperthermia effect - a kind of desired therapeutic fever.“ In these conditions, aching muscles relax. In addition, the noble gas radon is released from the mountain rock in small quantities, which the spa guests absorb via the breathing air and skin. Radon has been used as a remedy in low doses for many 100 years due to its high therapeutic efficacy in various diseases. „Radon releases mild alpha rays in the body. These stimulate the body's own cell repair mechanisms and reduce the activity of inflammatory cells and painkillers“, explains Dr. Hölzl. During the two- to three-week course of treatment, patients usually visit the healing tunnel six to twelve times for one hour. The noticeable pain relief is not always immediate, but sometimes delayed a few weeks. It lasts about 9 months. Many patients go to the spa 1 to 2 times a year and in the meantime they often do not need any more pills - and freedom from pain is a blessing not only in winter.

The cure is recognized by health insurance companies and with many exist direct settlement contracts. If you take the cure as a self-payer, you have to expect about 60 EUR for one unit. (Pm)