Is your sauna a breeding ground for germs?

Massage and sauna parlours are common gathering areas where men and women frequent in order to relax and unwind. However, many such establishments in Kampala fail to meet the minimum standard requirements required for the health and safety of their clients. 

Many times, these clients are victims of unsanitary and careless mistakes that occur in such places causing them to suffer serious skin, face and body infections, which require expensive medical treatment and care.

Any place that is frequented by many people can harbour disease-causing organisms. However clean they may look, saunas and massage parlours might have germs on their door handles, towels, chairs, mats, lockers, showers, bed sheets and equipment used and need to be sanitised, cleaned with a detergent such as jik, heat or radiation in order to kill the germs.

Infections
These germs, according to Dr Vincent Karuhanga, a general physician at Friends’ Poly Clinic, can cause infections such as viruses that cause common colds, fungi that can be found in between toes causing athlete's foot as well as bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

Since saunas are usually hot, some people expect that they are clean enough but according to Dr Karuhanga, there are some germs such as spores of fungi which cannot be killed by such ordinary heat.

“Saunas are usually just too hot for the human body but not hot enough to kill the germs such as haemophilus and streptococcus. It is, therefore, important that such places do thorough cleaning and sanitization,” he says.

Dr Karuhanga also warns about skin-related infections that a massage therapist can pick up or transfer to their client or fungus-related injuries caused by failure to properly clean or maintain the facilities. 

Such infections can be moderate to serious and can include the spread of certain sexually transmitted diseases such as herpes, which can spread if the mats, towels or other amenities are not properly cleansed or the use of infected equipment or acquired due to negligence by your masseuse. 

It is recommended that the massage therapist wears gloves to avoid the spread of these skin diseases. 

Injuries 
Since the floor is usually wet and slippery, one can easily fall at a sauna, sustaining traumatic fractures and several other injuries. Some people can sustain injuries caused by excessive heat, especially if the temperatures are too high. 

Sauna and massage spa injuries include injuries obtained from the spread of infection and injuries from improper care by the massage therapist. 

Dr Godfrey Basoita, a physiotherapist at Mulago National Referral Hospital, says it is true that a massage done by a non-professional can cause some problems. Massages essentially must be done in a certain way and for a particular clinical purpose.

One needs a massage if they have migraine headaches, pain due to musculoskeletal problems, stress once they are stressed, poor drainage of tissue fluids due to lymph edema and poor blood circulation.

“There are several massage techniques that are applied to address the different situations. Unprofessional massage therapists do not know what technique is used for a particular condition and may end up injuring nerves and spinal cord damage,” Dr Basoita adds.

See a doctor
If a client has pain, swelling, edema, temperature after an injury, they should see a healthcare professional who will recommend a scan. Such may be symptoms of a blood clot. If an area with a blood clot is massaged, it can cause dislodging of the clot and may move to the heart causing a cardiac arrest or even death if not handled as an emergency.

“It is important that massage parlours employ professional physiotherapists because such a person would discern whether or not to massage a client, depending on the signs and symptoms they present with at the massage parlour,” says Dr Basoita.

He also notes that some of the massage therapists do not understand the anatomy of the body. Some nerves are superficial or bundled nerves and any rubbing, unnecessary stretches or extreme force can hurt the body causing soft tissue injuries and irritate the skin. Sometimes one can develop fractures.

Caution 

Dr Vincent Karuhanga, a general physician, says it is important that people with diabetes, high blood pressure, blood vessel diseases and heart diseases ask their doctor before they go for a massage or steam bath. This is because some of these diseases may be worsened by high temperatures or massages. 

Also, people with thyroid diseases have problems controlling heat. Those with coronavirus, common colds should not go to such places until they are well.

“After the sauna, it is important to take lots of fluids in order to replace the fluids that you might have lost through sweating. Never go to the swimming pool immediately after a steam bath because a fast cooling of the body is dangerous and can worsen the heart problems,” he says. 

Consuming alcohol after a steam bath is unsafe since it causes enlargement of blood vessels on the skin, causing more sweating and a fall in blood pressure.