Masuda, Akinori, Kihara, Takashi, Fukudome, Tsuyoshi et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2005 · DOI
This study followed two ME/CFS patients who tried a type of heat therapy called far-infrared sauna (heated to 60°C) combined with warming afterward. After about 15-25 sessions, both patients reported major improvements in fatigue, pain, sleep problems, and fever. They continued the therapy once or twice a week for a year and did not get worse, even after stopping their previous medication.
Heat therapy is a non-pharmacological intervention that could offer ME/CFS patients a potentially beneficial treatment option with fewer side effects than medications. This preliminary evidence suggests thermal therapy warrants larger, controlled trials to determine if it could be a viable therapeutic approach for symptom management.
This case study does not prove thermal therapy causes improvement in ME/CFS, as only two patients were treated without a control group or blinding. The improvement could be attributable to placebo effect, natural disease variation, discontinuation of an ineffective medication, or other unmeasured factors. Results from two patients cannot be generalized to the broader ME/CFS population.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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