updated 3/18/10

Hydrotherapy

An introduction to healing with water

by Paul Ingraham, Vancouver, Canada MORE
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Credentials and qualifications

I am a writer and retired Registered Massage Therapist (unusually well-trained for a massage therapist, a 3000-hour program). I’m almost done with a Bachelor of Health Sciences degree. I am a peer reviewer for The Natural Standard, and a copyeditor for Science-Based Medicine. My most important qualification is more than a decade of workaholic post-graduate study, clinical experience, and constant conversations with readers from around the world, including many experts who have provided countless suggestions and criticisms.

For more information, see: Who Am I to Say? More information about my qualifications, credentials and professional experiences for my readers and customers.

Hydrotherapy is healing with water. More exactly, hydrotherapy is healing by heating and cooling. Water in its many forms just happens to be a very convenient substance for heating and cooling the human body.

I teach hydrotherapy skills to most of my clients. Hydrotherapies are safe, simple and inexpensive and likely to be at least a little bit helpful in many rehab scenarios.1 Anyone can use hydrotherapy to increase their health and vitality, and to speed healing from injuries and illnesses. It’s no miracle cure — but it is a healing tool that every patient should consider experimenting with.

Water in its many forms just happens to be a very convenient substance for heating and cooling the human body.

Actually, most people already practice simple hydrotherapy. We have many cultural habits — like hot baths — that are hydrotherapeutic. If you have ever dipped your feet in a cool stream on a hot summer’s day or put a cold pack on a sprained ankle, then you already know something about hydrotherapy. But just a little education can add a lot of value to hydrotherapy.

There are some simple reasons why hydrotherapy is so useful …

Helping out the body

The body is constantly trying to warm itself up and cool itself off. Sometimes, it needs some help.

A lot of physiological energy is devoted to the temperature balancing act. The whole system for temperature control is complex and surprisingly effective. Unfortunately, it isn’t perfect. We can’t always keep our tissues at the ideal temperature.

We particularly struggle with temperature control when we are sick or damaged, and so hydrotherapy is most helpful at those times. It is a great service to your body to help out with a little hydrotherapy. Energy that would have been spent struggling to maintain the right temperature can be used for healing instead. Hydrotherapy treatments that seem unremarkable when you are healthy can turn out to be very potent when your system is challenged by an injury or an infection.

Hot and bothered

The treatment of inflammation in particular is another reason for the broad healing powers of hydrotherapy.

The process of inflammation always occurs with injury - you know it by the pain, swelling, heat and redness. It is a healthy response to any kind of tissue damage, and you couldn’t live without it. However, the body often over-reacts to trauma, which can be painful and counterproductive. Simple cooling in these situations is arguably one of the oldest and most useful healing tools ever devised.

Unfortunately, many people still rush to put a hot pack on a fresh injury, especially muscle strains. Except in a few very special cases, this is an error. Never heat a fresh injury - you’ll make it worse, not better, because you will aggravate the inflammatory process.

Moving blood around

The stimulation and control of circulation is another reason that hydrotherapy is effective. The circulation of blood is the major method by which the body regulates temperature. Therefore, it is possible to use hydrotherapy to manipulate and improve circulation significantly.

The need for proper circulation is even more important than the need to reduce inflammation when injured. Good circulation can make the difference between healing in a week or never healing at all! “The rate of flow of the blood determines the state of nutrition and the functioning of every cell in the body” (Frederick Erdman). Overall health also depends heavily on proper circulation.

“Pain is the prayer of the nerve for better blood.” — Mortiz H. Romberg

Try this at home

Practicing a little hydrotherapy could change your life. Start experimenting with hydrotherapy by trying the three basic treatments below. They are the best and simplest water therapies that I know of - and you can use any of them easily, without spending a dime.

Just one word of caution: if a hydrotherapy treatment doesn’t feel good, don’t do it. Your body is very wise about temperature. When you make things more difficult for your body, the experience will not be pleasant. On the other hand, when you give your system a helping hand, you will almost always be rewarded with a good feeling. Start looking for that good feeling every time you manipulate your body temperature with water, steam or ice, and soon you will be a self-taught hydrotherapist!

What’s New?

Thursday, March 18, 2010 — Added reference to Hing.

Notes

Unfortunately, there is no hard scientific evidence one way or the other. For instance, one of the most popular forms of hydrotherapy — contrast bathing — has yet to be tested properly, even though it is routinely recommended, especially to injured athletes. A review of the science in 2008 (see Hing) found that there basically is no science. Contrasting remains a popular and plausible but untested form of treatment. Return to text.