Hydrotherapy can soothe sore or inflamed muscles and joints, rehabilitate injured limbs, lower fevers, soothe headaches, promote relaxation, treat burns and frostbite, ease labor pains, and clear up skin problems. The temperature of water used affects the therapeutic properties of the treatment. Hot water is chosen for its relaxing properties. It is also thought to stimulate the immune system. Tepid water can also be used for stress reduction, and may be particularly relaxing in hot weather. Cold water is selected to reduce inflammation. Alternating hot and cold water can stimulate the circulatory system and improve the immune system. Adding herbs and essential oils to water can enhance its therapeutic value. Steam is frequently used as a carrier for essential oils that are inhaled to treat respiratory problems.
VINZENZ P RIESSNITZ(1799–1851
Hydrotherapy inventor Vinzenz Priessnitz was the son of a Silesian farmer from a remote Austrian territory in the Jeseniky Mountains. From the age of 12, Priessnitz dutifully provided for his blind father, his elderly mother, and his sister. His formal education was sporadic at best. However, Priessnitz possessed a level head and a high degree of intelligence along with a keen and active mind. As he matured he became extremely aware of his surroundings in nature.
At age 16, Priessnitz fell from a horse and was seriously hoofed by the animal. He received the morbid prognosis that he might be crippled at best, or might die at worst. He set to treating his own chest wound with cold packs, in emulation of a doe that he had once observed bathing a wound in a cool mountain stream. The hydrotherapy regimen proved highly effective and drew considerable attention to his small hometown of Gräfenberg. In 1822 he rebuilt the family home, renovating its wooden frame into a solid brick spa structure. The spa, known as the castle, housed as many as 1,500 guests each year by 1939. Among the guests were medical professionals who were intent upon exposing the therapy as a sham.
Detractors notwithstanding, word of the simple and effective treatment spread to Vienna, where Priessnitz traveled on occasion to provide counsel at the emperor's court. Priessnitz, for his remarkable discovery, received the Austrian Gold Civil Merit Medal First Class, the highest civilian honor of the Austrian government.
Priessnitz died on November 28, 1851. He was survived by a wife, Zofie Priessnitz, and a young son, Vinzenz Pavel. Joseph Schindler took over the operation of the spa at Gräfenberg following the death of its founder.
Since the late 1990s, hydrotherapy has been used in critical care units to treat a variety of serious conditions, including such disorders of the nervous system as Guillain-Barré syndrome.
Source: Hydrotherapy. Paula Ford-Martin and Rebecca Frey, PhD. Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine, 3rd ed.. Vol. 3. 3rd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2006. p1868-1872. 5 vols.
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