Floating as natural pain relief
People suffering from pain can gain relief with floatationFloating as natural pain relief
Improve your quality of life
Pain dramatically impacts on our quality of life. The sense of it being beyond our control can be dispiriting and living with pain can sometimes feel overwhelming.
However there are options out there which offer ways to cope. Floating can be a powerful tool for natural pain relief. When you feel able to cope your sense of suffering is reduced. As a result you have more freedom and motivation to get out there and do what you enjoy.
Find relief with floating
Floatation offers a variety of benefits for those experiencing pain, whether it be from injury or chronic conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, sciatica, or back pain.
People experiencing tension headaches have found natural pain relief through floating. Likewise, floating has been used successfully by people involved in road traffic accidents and after sports injuries, because it eases their pain and accelerates their recovery.
A wealth of research has been done into the effects of floatation on a variety of conditions, and has found significant reductions in the levels of pain reported by the participants.
“The combination of heat and weightlessness was soothing for my pain, and was beyond relaxing.”
Emma
Reducing stress reduces pain
Many people suffering from chronic pain are in a constant state of stress as a result. Ultimately if you can learn to manage your stress, you can learn to manage your pain levels.
Floating brings deep relaxation and stress relief. Furthermore, floating can reduce your personal experience of the pain, and consequently reduce your sensitivity to pain.
Break the pain cycle
Pain can cause the body to adjust the way it stands or sits, and the way it moves, in order to avoid pain.
After a while, these changed postures and movements can become habits.
Over time these changes in the way muscles and ligaments move can themselves cause problems. This can lead to other injuries and further pain.
Consequently you may adopt new postures and habits, and the cycle continues.
Floating offers a mechanism to break the pain cycle. By providing natural pain relief, floatation allows you to notice your habits and tensions, and gives you an opportunity to stretch out and relax.
Research on floating for chronic pain
Patients with daily chronic pain were recruited including some with lower back, some with shoulder pain, and some suffering chronic headaches.
On average they had suffered daily chronic pain for 7.3 years.
Patients received and average of 7 floatation sessions of between 40 and 60 minutes duration. Patients rated their pain experience using a scale of 0-6.
“Patients were able to experience periods of complete remission of pain”
From ‘REST-Assisted Relaxation and Chronic Pain‘ by Thomas H. Fine & John W. Turner, Jr., Medical College of Ohio, Toledo, Ohio
“Thoroughly relaxing but in a way that’s hard to explain. You need to try it.
I have a painful condition and found that an hour of weightlessness was wonderful and gave me a virtually pain free hour.”
Nancy
Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is a long-term condition that causes pain all over the body, Consequently it has a large impact on the quality of life of those suffering with it.
While the exact cause of fibromyalgia is unknown, it appears to be often triggered by a physically or emotionally stressful event.
Many people with fibromyalgia have found natural pain relief by floating.
Research on floating for Fibromyalgia
In 2010 Roderick Borrie PhD, Tamara Russell PhD and Stefan Schneider PhD organised a worldwide research project to gather data on the effects of floatation on Fibromyalgia.
Flotation centres in five countries recruited people diagnosed with fibromyalgia and donated three float sessions to each of them.
The participants completed questionnaires regarding their illness and their floatation experience.
The fibromyalgia study showed that flotation provided significant temporary reductions in pain, muscle tension, stress, anxiety and sadness, as well as significant increases in relaxation, feelings of well being, energy and ease of movement.
The results were presented at the 2012 Float Summit in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Floatation can greatly improve the lives of people with Fibromyalgia by significantly decreasing their pain, muscle tension, anxiety and stress.
Research on floating for back pain
Patients suffering from chronic pain consisting of aching muscles in the neck and back area participated in the study. They were randomly assigned to either a control or experimental group. The experimental group received nine floatation opportunities over a three-week period.
The most severe perceived pain intensity was significantly reduced. Floatation treatment also elevated the participants’ optimism and reduced the degree of anxiety or depression; at night-time, patients who underwent flotation fell asleep more easily.
“the most severe perceived pain intensity was significantly reduced”
From ‘Effects of flotation-REST on muscle tension pain‘ by Anette Kjellgren MSc, Ulf Sundequist MA, Torsten Norlander PhD, Trevor Archer PhD.
Floating during pregnancy
Floating is also wonderful to help with aches and pains during pregnancy. It can help you take the weight off, and enable you to relax supported and comfortable in positions not otherwise possible at this time.
Find out more about floating during pregnancy here.
“Completely relieved any discomfort I have been feeling during the late stages of pregnancy, particularly the swelling and the aches and tingling of carpel tunnel.”
Jade
Please note – people with some medical conditions should not float.
See our FAQ page for the full list of who shouldn’t float. Also here is our page about accessibility and mobility.
Floating times:
Wed - Sun 10am-8pm
By appointment
Mon - Tue closed
