According to the Weight-control Information Network, 68 percent of American adults age 20 or older are overweight or obese with a body mass index of 25 or higher. Treating obesity has become a major focus of health care and people are often willing to try anything.

Massage therapists use deep tissue massage to produce changes in your posture, movement and flexibility. It increases your range of motion, reduces pain and stimulates blood flow. Because of all the beneficial effects of deep tissue massage, it might be hard to believe that there are times when it isn't a good idea.

Saunas have been used throughout the world for health benefits for thousands of years. Sweating has been proven to effectively flush toxins and disease out of the system while maintaining optimum health of the body.

While sweating during exercise or hot weather is normal, some people experience intense sweating for other reasons, including shyness or habits such as eating hot foods. Excessive sweating can be embarrassing and lead to problems with self-esteem.

The benefits of bathing in a sauna or steam room include stress reduction, muscle relaxation and pain relief. Sweating in a sauna cleanses your pores and can make your mind and body feel energized.

Regularly applying warm steam to the face is a truly beneficial beauty treatment available to anyone. Whether applied during a professional facial in a spa or at home under a tented bath towel, facial steam applications give you multiple skin health and beauty benefits.

Plantar fibromatosis, also known as Ledderhose's disease after the doctor that first described it, occurs when non-cancerous tumors form in the plantar fascia at the base of the foot. These small bumps are made up of excess collagen or fibrotic tissue and can be painful if pressed.

While using a private steam room means you have more leeway in what you wear to sweat, using a public steam room in a gym requires more extensive etiquette.

Sauna, a Finnish word and essential part of Finnish health, is considered a standard rather than a luxury. Primitive saunas dug into a slope on a hill, had a fire pit in the middle. After the industrial revolution the sauna evolved to a small wooden room with heated rocks or used infrared lights to create heat.

A damaged or torn anterior cruciate ligament is a very painful condition in which the ligament that connects the thigh bone to the shin bone of your lower leg tears and can no longer stabilize the kneecap. Medical attention is needed for an ACL injury, as well as physical therapy.

Due to sedentary lifestyles and air conditioning, most people in the modern world don't sweat much. As a result, the pores of the skin may become clogged from not sweating out enough toxins.

Steam baths bathe you in warm, moist heat. They relax muscles, can ease pain in joints caused by arthritis and other ailments and lower your pulse rate and blood pressure, according to Columbia University's Go Ask Alice health column. Temperatures in steam rooms can average 110 to 114 degrees.