Hydrotherapy is a technique that uses the use of water to relieve some medical symptoms, especially on a physical and emotional level. There are many techniques in which hydrotherapy can bring benefits to your health.
Water is for humans, like for other living beings, a fundamental element for their existence. The human body is made up of 75% water, which decreases with time and age. Every day we lose water due to breathing, sweating, or urine, so we are forced to maintain optimal levels, to make continuous contributions from outside, mainly through drinks and a small amount through food.
But in addition, water has other benefits for your health, specifically for physical and emotional well-being. Since ancient times, water has been used for curative purposes. There are two ways to obtain the therapeutic benefits of water:
- External: Using the strength and properties of water through the skin
- Internal: Through the controlled consumption of medicinal waters of special characteristics, indicated according to their components for different diseases or symptoms.
Currently, we can define hydrotherapy, a word of Greek origin that means Water Therapy, as that part of physical therapy that uses water, at any temperature or state, as a therapeutic element to contribute to the relief and cure of various symptoms. It acts mainly on the circulatory system (hot water dilates superficial blood vessels favoring circulation, while low-temperature water contracts them favoring internal blood circulation). It causes a decrease in pain, elimination of toxins and waste, increased oxygen in circulation, and greater relaxation. Issues all of them that, in one way or another, report general well-being to the individual.
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Hydrotherapy methods
Toilets
The whole body or part of it is submerged in the water. The water can be used at different temperatures (cold, hot …) depending on the problem to be treated, the personal characteristics of each individual, the duration, and other variables to be taken into account by the specialist. Likewise, depending on the technique applied, there are different modalities: whirlpool, thermic, steam baths …
Showers
The body does not submerge but receives the impact of the fragmented water through several holes. Several types of showers depend on the pressure that the water exerts on the body and the temperature to which it is applied (slug, Scottish, rain …)
Jet
The water comes out through a single hole. As in showers, several types are depending on the pressure and temperature (pressure, pressureless, underwater).
Wraps
The body is covered with a porous fabric at different temperatures or degrees of humidity to avoid the “wood” of the body. There are different types of wraps: wet or dry and hot and cold, in addition to the plasters that consist of adding to the wrap, to enhance the healing effects, some mud, mud……
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Where can I enjoy hydrotherapy?
Based on the water in their different forms and uses, all these treatments are applied in various “establishments,” which must be controlled and regulated. The most frequent and known are:
- Spas: Installation dedicated to rest (usually includes overnight) and healing through the waters. They mainly use thermal and mineral waters and are even specialized, depending on the properties of their waters, by types of conditions.
- Spa: (Salutem per agua-Salud through agua)
- These are leisure and health establishments in which, in addition to treating symptoms, aesthetic and relaxation treatments are added. In most cases, and unlike the spas, its waters lack mineral-medicinal properties, using waters of common use.
- Thalassotherapy Centers: (Sea Therapy) The therapeutic effects of seawater (collected at sea, purified, and sterilized) and its components (algae, mud, sand …) are used, supported by the marine climate to enhance the beneficial effects.
However, like everything else, and despite its multiple beneficial effects, it should be borne in mind that it is not the most suitable for certain pathologies, in some cases being counterproductive and even aggravating some of them. Thus, it is not advisable to apply hydrotherapy techniques in infectious, fungal diseases, viral diseases or those with fever, terminal patients, states of weakness…. And certain pathologies that in all cases need the pertinent medical indication so as not to aggravate the patient’s base pathology.
Benefits of Hydrotherapy
Water is a therapeutic element that contributes to the relief and healing of various symptoms.
- Stimulates the immune system, improving defenses.
- Revitalizes the body.
- Promotes relaxation.
- Improves and helps in different pathologies.
- Locomotor apparatus
- Urinary system
- Reproductive system
- Cardiovascular system
- Skin problems
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