If you have recently suffered an injury, experienced a fever, or wanted to remove toxins from your body, you should learn more about hydrotherapy and its healing benefits. Hydrotherapy can benefit your body in many ways.
At Balanced Care, we help your body heal through holistic and natural means. We believe in the power of naturopathic medicine and would love to show you its benefits. Call us today to see what we can do for your health. Hydrotherapy is just one of the many services we can recommend. With a variety of types and purposes, hydrotherapy is an excellent solution for improving your wellness.
What is Hydrotherapy
You might be wondering what is hydrotherapy, and how does it benefit your health? Hydrotherapy is using water at different temperatures, either inside or outside your body, to enhance health. Sometimes these treatments are called water therapy, and there are a variety of methods.
Chances are, you have experienced hydrotherapy in the past without realizing what it was called. If you have used a sauna, soaked your feet in hot water, or taken a hot shower to relax at the end of the day, then you have used a form of water therapy.
Throughout history, cultures have understood the healing benefits of water . The ancient Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and Japanese all used public baths. There are also countless places around the planet to enjoy hot springs or mineral baths.
However, the hydrotherapy we understand today was pioneered by Father Sebastian Kneipp, who lived in Bavaria in the 1800s. This monk realized the health benefits of cold water baths in particular, as well as alternating hot and cold water.
Whatever form of hydrotherapy you choose to use, its benefits can be traced to basic science: cold is constricting, and heat is dilating. Cold water causes your blood vessels to constrict, which pulls blood away from the skin and drives it towards your organs. Hot water causes the blood vessels to dilate, which encourages sweating. Sweating removes toxins and wastes from your body.
With hydrotherapy, the goal of alternating cold and hot water in various treatment methods is to decrease the amount of inflammation in your body while increasing circulation and lymphatic drainage.
Types of Hydrotherapy
There are many, many types of hydrotherapy. Some are easy to do in your own home, and some require special equipment.
Watsu is a type of massage that takes place in water. A therapist will massage your body while you float in a warm pool. A Sitz bathrequires you to alternate between a warm and cool bath. You will sit in one of the tubs with your feet in the other temperature, then rotate.
Soaking in a warm water bath for 30 minutes provides immense relief, especially if using oils, herbs, or salts. In a steam bath, also called a Turkish bath, you will sit in a room that is full of warm, moist air. The humidity encourages your body to release toxins.
A Sauna, on the other hand, is a room that is warm and dry. These rooms encourage sweating to release impurities. Using a compress, or a towel that is wet with warm or cold water, on specific body parts can reduce inflammation (cold) or increase blood flow (warm).
In the wet sock treatment, place cold, wet, cotton socks on your feet, then cover them with dry wool socks. Leave them on for hours until the cotton socks are dry.
This method is excellent at decreasing congestion and helping your body fight colds. Wraps are a similar concept using wet flannel sheets around your whole body.
Use contrast hydrotherapy at home by alternating between hot and cold water at the end of your shower. Leave the water at each temperature for 30 seconds and end with cold water. Finally, hydrotherapy pool exercises allow you to perform low-resistance exercise in a warm-water pool, provide relief from pain.
Also Read: How can water heal?
7 Benefits of Hydrotherapy
- Relaxation and Stress Relief. Hydrotherapy, if nothing else, is relaxing. Your body is given some respite from injuries or illnesses. These treatments often feel good, as well. Using hydrotherapy on a regular basis breaks the cycle of stress.
- Arthritis. These techniques have proven time and again to be effective in relieving pain for those with osteoarthritis. In particular, hydrotherapy pool exercises ease pain and build strength. Hydrotherapy has been used to treat sufferers of Rheumatoid Arthritis by increasing antioxidants in the body and reducing inflammation.
- Relieve Muscle Aches and Pains. In particular, cold water baths and contrast hydrotherapy are used to treat muscle pains and relieve fatigue after athletic activity. Increased blood flow helps ease lingering aches, as well.
- Treat Illness. Hydrotherapy has been used effectively to treat colds and lessen the symptoms of the flu and other illnesses. Because hydrotherapy promotes proper circulation and release of toxins, your body can fight off the disease better.
- Detoxification. Hydrotherapy encourages your body to discard built-up toxins. Removing these excess toxins allows your body to function at a more optimal level. Furthermore, the detoxification enhances your immune system.
- Enhance Complexion. Hydrotherapy helps regulate the temperature of your body, which increases the effectiveness of the perspiration glands. Releasing toxins from your body enhances your complexion. It can even reduce the buildup of fluid and decrease cellulite.
- Better Sleep. Often, excess blood in the brain causes insomnia. Pulling blood back to the extremities, like with hot baths or contrast hydrotherapy, can encourage sleep.
Call Balanced Care
At Balanced Care, our goal is to encourage a healthy lifestyle and enhance your quality of life naturally. We want to be your partner in your quest towards better health.
Whether you are suffering from digestive issues, heart problems, chronic diseases, anxiety or depression, or food allergies, we have the experience to help you achieve better health. If you are a woman struggling with reproductive issues or perimenopause, we can help with these issues as well.
At Balanced Care, we do more than treat symptoms. Our doctors seek the root cause of your issues and find naturalistic ways to address them. Give us a call today and see how we can help you in your quest for wellness.