Therapeutic Effects of Sauna Yoga in Patients with Chronic Pain

The objective of this thesis was to identify effects of Sauna Yoga in patients with chronic pain, using sleep and enjoyment of life as specific measures. Chronic pain is a severe health issue within Western society, causing massive health costs annually. Understanding about pathophysiology underlying chronic pain has increased over the last decades, and growing evidence supports claims that in chronic pain, pain experience is widely affected also by biopsychosocial domains. Sauna Yoga is an exercise method based on mindfulness and yoga. It consists of sim-ple exercises, conducted in sauna settings in temperature of 50°. Sauna Yoga is a Finnish intervention, yet to be researched. Positive feedback from people who have took part in Sauna Yoga has given an indication to conduct research about it, and to introduce it to new possible target groups. Thesis was done in cooperation with Sauna Yoga instructors Elina Höckert and Erika Santala. Practical part of the thesis was conducted as a quantitative research. During a 6-week Sauna Yoga intervention period participants took part in instructed sessions once a week. Results showed mean values of the scores to be lower post-intervention, but however they are not statistically significant. This was because of the large deviation among individual scores, of which some where more negative post-intervention. Conclusion of the study was that Sauna Yoga can have slight positive affect in what comes to improvement in sleep and enjoyment of life in patients with chronic pain. However, because of large variation in results it seems effects of Sauna Yoga are also highly individual. Because of the small sample size, more research needs to be conducted about Sauna Yoga to conclude whether or not its use as a form of therapeutic exercise is effective among people with chronic pain