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hydrotherapyColumbia Encyclopedia entry: hydrotherapy
Hydrotherapy, use of water in the treatment of illness or injury. Although the medicinal and hygienic value of water was recognized by the early Greeks, hydrotherapy attained its widest use in the 18th and 19th cent. through the practice of the British physician Sir John Floyer and an Austrian peasant, Vincenz Priessnitz. Priessnitz is credited with a number of inventions still in use including the sponge bath, the douche, and the wet sheet pack, and he is acknowledged as an important contributor to the rise of the health spa movement in Europe. Scientific hydrotherapy is based on the conduction of heat to or from the body by means of a water medium. Heated water is used for its sedative effect, and hot water vapor is used in controlled situations to relieve pain. Patients who have suffered extensive burns are often immersed in water for long periods. Maintained at skin temperature, i.e., approximately 93°F (34°C), the water prevents loss of body heat. Fevers are reduced by cold sponge baths taken on rubber sheets. Whirlpool baths are used to relieve painful muscle and joint conditions, and underwater exercise has proved a useful physical therapy in cases of paralysis and stiffness of the extremities.
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Wikipedia search results for: Hydrotherapy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy involves the use of water for pain-relief and treating illness. The term hydrotherapy itself is synonymous with the term Water cure as it was originally marketed by practitioners and promoters in the 1800s.
Water cure has since come to have two opposing definitions, which can cause confusion.
a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy
a form of torture in which a person is forced to drink large quantities of water. The sense used in this article is the first one, namely 'Water cure (therapy), synonymous with the term hydrotherapy, and which precedes recorded use of the second...more »
a course of medical treatment by hydrotherapy
a form of torture in which a person is forced to drink large quantities of water. The sense used in this article is the first one, namely 'Water cure (therapy), synonymous with the term hydrotherapy, and which precedes recorded use of the second...more »
Columbia Encyclopedia search results: hydrotherapy
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Lappeenranta, Swed. Villmanstrand, city (1998 pop. 57,374), Southern Finland prov., SE Finland, on Lake Saimaa. It is an important trade and industrial center, with sulfuric acid works, lumber...
