Warm Water Improves Breathing
Feeling short-winded and hungry for air? Breathing difficulties are common in people with fibromyalgia and two different therapies relieve this problem. Warm water therapy is one approach while the other involves strength-training your respiratory muscles, and they both reduce fibromyalgia symptoms.
Spa Jets Vs. Heat
When you sit in a hot tub, which works best to improve breathing and ease tight chest wall muscles in fibromyalgia: the massaging jets or the warm water? A research team in Turkey set out to answer this question.1
Twenty patients received hydrotherapy. Basically, they immersed their body in a whirlpool with jets but only lukewarm tap water. Another 20 fibromyalgia patients sat in warm water containing minerals but without the jets used in the hydrotherapy group.
All patients received daily treatments for three weeks. Pain scores and lung function tests were measured before the study began and again after the therapy. In addition, patients were evaluated six months later to determine if the benefits of either treatment persisted.
Lung function tests and perceived ease of breathing improved in both fibromyalgia treatment groups, but more so in the warm water therapy group. However, the latter group demonstrated the greatest benefits in lung capacity and ease of breathing at the six months. Warm mineral water without jets is best.
Respiratory Muscle Training
Warm water relaxes your chest muscles (intercostals) to make breathing easier. However, another study shows fibromyalgia patients can improve their breathing by strengthening their diaphragm and chest wall muscles.2 It’s a technique called respiratory muscle training or RMT. Patients performed a 30-minute RMT exercise routine three times a week for 12 weeks.
Curious about what the exercises entail? Check the YouTube video at the end of this article.3 It’s only 13 minutes long, so you can cycle through it twice to simulate the study exercises.
At the end of the RMT sessions, lung capacity improved along with physical function while pain and fatigue decreased. So, if you do not have access to a spa, RMT is an alternative method for people with fibromyalgia to reduce breathing difficulties. Or consider performing both therapies to reap even greater benefits. One more point: better lung function reduces your vulnerability to upper respiratory infections.
Warm Vs. Hot Water
If you can handle the heat, hot water (104°F) offers more benefits to fibromyalgia patients than warm water.4 Patients in the study immersed their body in hot water for 45 minutes three times a week for four weeks. Pain, sleep, and physical function all improved along with benefits in immune system function.
The researchers measured the blood levels of heat shock proteins known to modulate the immune system. After four weeks of heat therapy, a heat shock protein that triggers the production of inflammation promoting substances decreased. Conversely, other heat shock proteins that fight inflammation significantly increased.
If your fibromyalgia symptoms are too severe to exercise, hot water therapy offers an alternative treatment approach. And not only does it reduce symptoms, but it also appears to improve immune system function. Whether this leads to reduced susceptibility to infections remains unknown, but it probably doesn’t hurt (unless your infections are external).
Consult your physician about heat therapy in case you have any medical contraindications (diabetes, inflamed joints, or skin conditions).
Soaking it Up
If you struggle to catch your breath, you do not need whirlpool jets to ease your breathing difficulties. Hot tubs with jets are expensive. A small inflatable unit will do the job and it is less costly (roughly $500 but it uses a lot of electricity). Alternatively, soak in warm bath water for 20 minutes each day. You can add Epsom salt if you wish to simulate the mineral water used in the first study.
Better yet, combine warm water and respiratory therapies to reap the greatest benefits in lung function. And if you don’t have contraindications, consider nudging the temperature up a few degrees for more symptom relief. The warmer water temperature also improves immune system function and might help you kick infectious agents to the curb.
Symptoms | Medications | Diet & Nutrition | Muscle Pain Relief | Fibro Friendly Exercises
References for Warm Water Improves Fibromyalgia Breathing
- Kesiktas N, et al. J Back Musculoskel Rehabil 24:57-65, 2011. Free Abstract
- Tomas-Carus P, et al. Clin Exp Rheumatol 40:1119-26, 2022. Free Report
- Respiratory muscle exercises by a respiratory therapist – YouTube Video
- Chadwick AL, et al. Front Pain Res 6:1526491, 2025. Free Report