The Physiotherm low-temperature infrared technology combines innovative approaches to making heat applications particularly gentle, efficient and safe.

To ensure well-tolerated whole-body warming, the body must have time to adapt. Blood redistribution for heat regulation must take place slowly and gradually, the body core temperature must be raised continuously and slowly from the start, but under no circumstances into the area of fever. For this purpose, the relationship between the skin surface in a thermally neutral environment and the skin surface under direct infrared radiation must be such that the arteriovenous shunts (AV shunts) do not close. 
Physiotherm has achieved this with the low temperature infrared principle. The decisive factor is the coordination of two important components: the patented infrared C ceramic radiators filled with lava sand and the cabin concept. At a cabin temperature of 30 °C and above – i.e. a thermally neutral environment – heat is supplied to the body exclusively via the back radiator.

Lava sand: The mysterious power from the earth’s interior.
With the help of the patented ceramic radiators filled with lava sand, an even and optimally adjusted irradiation field is guaranteed, which does not exceed an irradiation intensity of 100 mW/cm2 skin in the infrared C range. The size of the skin area is chosen in such a way that the AV shunts do not end and yet sufficient thermal energy enters the body.

The heat generated by the infrared radiation on the skin surface is continuously transported to the inside of the body via the bloodstream. This causes the body core temperature to rise continuously and slowly from the beginning. The body begins to gradually increase the blood flow to the periphery (muscles, skin) in order to reduce “internal heat”. The organism can adjust to this. The gradual opening of the periphery to release the excess heat corresponds to the natural form of thermoregulation. In a way, the body is given the impression that it has produced too much heat itself. After approx. ten minutes, an increase in the body core temperature of 0.1 °C is reached and sweat production begins additionally. With this concept one can certainly speak of “warming from the inside out”, which – as studies have shown – is very well tolerated. By simple heat conduction, the back area is also heated locally in depth. During a normal session of about 30 minutes, the core body temperature is increased by about 0.2 – 0.3 °C. When used as intended, unintentional generation of artificial fever is impossible.

The Physiotherm Principle makes the local (through direct heat conduction in the back area) and systemic effects (stimulation of natural thermoregulation through a slight increase in body core temperature) of infrared heat accessible in a particularly gentle manner.

Infrared cabins reduce stress:

Stress is known to almost everyone. Stress has a positive effect on our performance and motivation (eustress). But, we also need the resting phases, because otherwise the stress turns into negative stress. Burnout is a consequence of this. Burnout is no longer a rarity in our performance-oriented society. But it is not only people in professional life who are affected – often it also affects those who have to manage everything at home.

Burnout is not a sign of “weakness”! A quotation describes this very well: “Only those who have burned could also “burn out”. The disease develops insidiously and in different stages. The fully developed clinical picture can only be treated with patience, a lot of time and with individual, intensive professional care. It is therefore important to recognise the first symptoms or even better – “one’s own risk potential”. It is often possible to take preventive countermeasures with simple means or, if necessary, to seek professional help at an early stage.

The Physiotherm Principle can support successful prevention and therapy as a component of an individually tailored concept. The stress-free warming of the body relaxes the muscles, has a positive effect on the psyche and promotes stress reduction. The increase in the body’s own pain messengers and cortisol help to improve stress resistance. The time spent in the cabin can be combined with active and/or passive relaxation methods (switching off, mediation, autogenic training etc.).

An important daily exercise:

Studies have shown that 30 minutes daily of “thinking of nothing” also significantly increases the ability to cope with stress. In addition, this form of warming up from “inside out” supports the supply of the tissue and counteracts “acidosis”. Combined with daylight or coloured light adapted to the time of day, the application can also be used well to prevent winter depression.

The simple discovery is called: Heat
For thousands of years, heat has been used in many different ways to increase well-being and to alleviate numerous, especially chronic, complaints of the musculoskeletal system. Even the Egyptian high culture knew hot sand baths. In ancient times, the classical heat treatments in the thermal baths of Greece and Rome were an integral part of prevention and treatment. And one of the oldest methods of overheating the entire body has been handed down by the Indians, the sweat lodge ritual – a forerunner of our sauna.

There is also evidence from ancient Egypt and the Middle Ages of attempts to treat tumours with heat. The positive effect of heat on the general well-being is hardly questioned. Pain relief and muscle relaxation, increased blood circulation and metabolism, but also mental relaxation under the influence of well-dosed heat are generally known.

In many cases heat only alleviates the symptoms of an illness, but does not eliminate its cause. But especially for elderly people with chronic disorders, reduced blood circulation, reduced tissue supply, reduced metabolism and an increased concentration of so-called “waste products” can be the cause of the complaints. Heat applications can therefore alleviate the cause under certain circumstances. However, a promise of a cure can by no means be derived from this. By returning to the idea of seeing the human being more as a unity of body and psyche in medical terms, the various heat applications are once again receiving more scientific attention. A fairly new realization is that different heat applications have completely different effects on the human body. Depending on the ambient temperature, type, duration and location of the heat input, different reactions are stimulated in the body with regard to heat regulation: with different effects on blood circulation and tissue supply, metabolism, organs and the so-called detoxification, on the immune system as well as on the autonomic nervous system and of course on our psyche. The latter is considered to be of increasing importance, as especially in the industrialized countries lower back pain, for example, is often psychologically intensified.

Heat that works!
Heat has been used for centuries to treat a wide range of complaints. Physiotherm has been making very successful use of the positive effects of heat for over 15 years. Physiotherm is the only manufacturer in the world to offer the unique combination of low-temperature infrared technology and patented lava sand technology, which is completely tailored to the needs of the human organism. A specially developed, fully electronic system control also allows infinitely variable regulation of the infrared intensity according to the personal sensation of warmth.

Healthy and circulation-preserving sweating is thus possible from as low as 30 °C.

Regular applications are possible:

strengthen the immune system
increase the blood circulation and improve the metabolism
Relieve tensions and relieve back pain
promote the purification and detoxification of the body through intensive sweating and thus contribute to weight loss
positively influence the treatment of skin diseases
A stay in the Physiotherm infrared cabin is equivalent in its effect to a light cardiovascular endurance training.
Physiotherm infrared cabins – the ideal heat application for the home.

Get in, start and simply enjoy!

The infrared A – B – C
With the exception of lasers, for example, heat radiation sources always emit a broad spectrum of electromagnetic radiation of different wavelengths depending on their surface temperature. The infrared spectrum is divided according to wavelength into the ranges A (short wave), B (medium wave) and C (long wave).

Which spectrum emits a radiation source and  the maximum of the wavelength are defined solely by the surface temperature of the radiation source. Objects with temperatures below 350 °C emit a spectrum that is almost exclusively in the infrared C range. In order to shift the radiation spectrum significantly into the short-wave and higher-energy infrared A range, surface temperatures of over 1,500 °C are necessary – here, about 20 percent of the spectrum is in the infrared A range.

Infrared A: Short-wave IR radiation that follows the visible range

From 780 nm to 1,400 nm (nanometers)

Infrared B:

Medium wave IR radiation

From 1,400 nm to 3,000 nm (nanometres)

Infrared C:

Long wave IR radiation

From 3,000 nm to 1 million nm (nanometres)

Our skin absorbs all infrared radiation (A, B and C), of which its energy is converted into heat. While infrared B and C radiation hardly penetrates the skin at all, photons of a relatively small wavelength range of the infrared A spectrum can reach a penetration depth of up to five millimetres. However, even in this narrow wavelength band, 95 percent of infrared A radiation is already absorbed in the upper skin layers and converted into heat. Only a 5 percent share of these infrared A photons thus reaches deeper skin layers at a depth of up to 5 mm. It is therefore comprehensible that a direct heating of implants that lie under the skin (e.g. a pacemaker, artificial hip or metal screws) by the infrared radiation is excluded.

At the maximum penetration depth in the respective wavelength range, 5% of the originally emitted radiation is still detected. Thus, 95 % of the radiation emitted is already absorbed in the layers of skin above.

However, several recent studies give reason to suspect that infrared A radiation can accelerate skin aging and cause skin cancer if applied frequently over a longer period of time. The reason why this concerns especially infrared A radiation is easy to explain: Infrared A photons of a certain, narrow wavelength range – even if only very few – reach cells living in deeper skin layers which can react to this stimulus. Infrared C-radiation, on the other hand, does not penetrate as deeply and already gives off its energy to the overlying cornified skin cells. These cells, which form the outer mechanical protective layer of our skin, have no metabolism and can therefore no longer react to stimuli themselves. It is therefore assumed that the deeper infrared A-photons exert a stimulus on metabolically active skin cells, which leads to changes in cell metabolism on a genetic level (so called transcriptional changes). This means that although the infrared A-photon does not directly damage the genetic information (DNA) of the cell – the energy is not sufficient for this – the cell tries to react to the energy transmitted by the photon by changing its metabolism. If this leads to an “accident”, a disease can develop. A single “accident” may be sufficient under certain circumstances.

Medical hyperthermia:
Water-filtered infrared A radiation is used in special hyperthermia beds in which core body temperatures of up to 42 °C can be maintained for hours. Radiofrequency applicators, on the other hand, enable selective overheating even of tumors located deep inside the body. The aim of “medical hyperthermia” is thus to generate high artificial fever or high temperatures in the tumor tissue and to maintain them over a longer period of time. It is only under these conditions that immunological and possibly cancer cell killing processes are activated to a significant extent. And this is what justifies to, for example, use them in cancer therapy, alone or in combination with a standard procedure. If artificial fever is generated, this requires strict and intensive medical care of the patient by appropriately trained specialists. The application range of whole-body hyperthermia extends from additional cancer treatment to autoimmune diseases and allergies. In many cases, however, irrefutable medical-scientific proof is still pending, which is also due to the fact that required “double-blind studies” are difficult to implement for this therapy. “Medical hyperthermia”, which is practiced under the strict supervision of medical specialists, is a procedure that infrared cabins cannot and should not provide.

More information about infrared technology at www.physiotherm.com

Texts and pictures of this contribution partly from the

Company PHYSIOTHERM infrared cabins