Saunas With Rheumatoid Arthritis or Ankylosing Spondylitis: What a Dutch Study Looked At

If you live with rheumatoid arthritis or ankylosing spondylitis, you may wonder whether a sauna can be part of your routine, and whether anyone has looked at it properly. Someone has. Here’s what a Dutch research team studied, what they reported, and how to approach heat bathing sensibly if you live with either condition.

The two conditions in brief

Rheumatoid arthritis is a long-term autoimmune condition that affects the joints.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a long-term inflammatory condition that mainly affects the spine.

Both are managed by a GP or rheumatologist, usually with medication and physiotherapy. A sauna is not a treatment for either, and it never replaces the care you already have. What it can be is a warm, comfortable part of your week, used alongside that care.

What did the Saxion study look at?

A research team led from Saxion University of Applied Sciences in Enschede, in the Netherlands, ran a pilot study of infrared sauna use in 34 people with these two conditions. It was published in Clinical Rheumatology in 2009 (Oosterveld and colleagues, volume 28, pages 29 to 34).

Seventeen people with rheumatoid arthritis and seventeen with ankylosing spondylitis each had eight infrared sauna sessions over four weeks. The team recorded pain, stiffness and tiredness, how comfortable people felt, any side effects, and their usual measures of disease activity.

What did the researchers report?

In the study’s own words, the infrared sessions were “well tolerated, and no adverse effects were reported.” Disease activity scores showed no flare-ups over the four weeks.

Participants in both groups felt comfortable on average during their sessions, and especially afterwards. The full results, including the pain and stiffness scores, are in the published abstract.

It’s worth being clear about what kind of heat this was. The study used an infrared sauna. It did not test a steam shower or a traditional sauna, which feel quite different. Our guide to what the research says about steam rooms and saunas covers the wider evidence.

Using a sauna alongside your care

If you’d like to make heat bathing part of your routine, a few simple habits help:

• Talk to your rheumatologist or GP first, especially if your condition is active or you take immune-suppressing medicines or medicines for your heart or blood pressure.
• Keep taking your treatment as prescribed. A sauna sits alongside it, never instead of it.
• Start short and build up gently, and leave the cabin whenever you feel too warm.
• Have water to hand, and skip alcohol before or during a session.

Our guide on how to use a sauna properly covers session length and cooling down. If you prefer steam, our steam showers guide explains how a home steam cabin works.

Choosing a sauna for comfort

Infrared saunas run at a lower air temperature than a traditional sauna, typically around 40°C to 60°C, which many people find easier to sit in for a relaxed session. Browse our home saunas to compare infrared, traditional and hybrid models.

Managing a health condition? Check with your GP first.

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