Hydro

• Hydrotherapy


  The use of water for healing and health purposes
• Ancient Greek bathing practices


  • Used small bathtubs, washbasins, and foot baths for personal cleanliness
  • Established public baths and showers within their gymnasium complexes for relaxation and personal hygiene
  • Believed certain natural springs were blessed by the Gods and had healing properties
• Ancient Greek bathing sites

  • Ruins of a bath in the ancient city of Kourion, Greece
  • Ruins of the baths at Epidavros, Greece
• Roman baths


  • Larger and more elaborate than Greek baths
  • Became the centre of social and recreational activity in Roman cities
  • Evidence of Roman baths found at various archaeological sites and ruins
• Roman baths


  • Thermal bath in Pompeii, Italy
  • Floor plan of a bath in Pompeii
• Vincent Priessnitz


  • Observed that cold water had the ability to heal injuries
• Father Sebastian Kneipp


  • Developed water cures
• Kneipp philosophy: The Five Pillars
• Wilhelm Winternitz


  • Austrian professor who founded a hydrotherapy school and research centre in Vienna
  • The "father of scientific hydrotherapy"
• Dr. John Harvey Kellogg

  • Established the Battle Creek Sanitarium
• Contraindications


  Situations where hydrotherapy treatments should not be performed
• Gathering patient information


  1. Think

  2. What can I do?

  3. Do they have a condition I don't know much about?

  4. What might make their condition worse or cause them to have unwanted symptoms or reactions?

  5. What shouldn't I do?
• Absolute contraindications


  • The patient has a fever
  • The patient has an infection
  • The patient has an unknown or undiagnosed condition
• Absolute contraindications to cold treatments

  • Decreased skin sensation
  • Cold urticaria
  • Cryoglubulinemia
  • Raynaud's phenomenon
• Absolute contraindications to heat treatments

  • Decreased skin sensation
  • Stage 2 hypertension
  • Acute inflammation
  • Where liniments or heat rubs have been applied
• Cautions


  • Some less severe health conditions require careful thought and planning to ensure the treatment does not cause the condition to worsen
  • Sometimes modifying the hydrotherapy treatment can provide effective outcomes without worsening the condition or the signs and symptoms of the condition
• How to modify hydrotherapy treatments

  1. Change the temperature

  2. Reduce the treatment time

  3. Monitor the patient more closely

  4. Only treat the body area(s) that is safe to treat

  5. Change the treatment procedure – for example the water level
• Acute inflammation


  • The body's response to injury or infection
  • Prevents further spread of injury
  • Destroys or dilutes the cause of inflammation
  • Promotes repair of damaged tissue
• Causes of acute inflammation

  • Pain
  • Heat
  • Redness
  • Swelling
  • Impaired function
• The acute inflammatory response

  1. Vascular response: Transient vasoconstriction, Histamine release

  2. Hemostatic response: To control blood loss

  3. Chemical response: Chemical mediators that produce vasodilation, increase vascular permeability, and produce pain

  4. Cellular response: Movement of leukocytes (WBC) out of the blood vessels and into interstitial spaces
• Overview of the cellular response to injury
• Tissue Healing and Repair

  • Regeneration: Destroyed cells are replaced by cells the same as the original, tissue returns to normal state and function, no scar tissue formed
  • Scar Tissue Formation: Destroyed cells unable to regenerate, tissue "gap" filled with fibrous scar tissue made of collagen, results in structural abnormalities and/or impaired organ function
• Cells that can regenerate (labile cells)

  • Epithelial
  • Bone
  • Blood, blood vessels
  • GI and bronchial lining
• Cells that cannot regenerate (permanent/fixed cells)

  • Skeletal muscle
  • Cardiac muscle
  • Brain* and spinal cord, peripheral nerves**
• Stable cells


  Some body cells can regenerate depending on the degree of injury, e.g. liver cells
• Wound healing


  1. Proliferative phase: Macrophages and lymphocytes, Fibroblasts secrete collagen, Vascular endothelial cells begin to form new blood vessels (angiogenesis)

  2. Remodeling phase: Reorganization of collagen fibres, Realignment of the fibres over time to create organized scar tissue
• Phases of wound healing

  • Inflammation
  • Proliferation
  • Remodeling
• Hydrotherapy is the use of water in the form of liquid, solid, or gas, either externally or internally for the prevention and treatment of disease or trauma
• Hydrotherapy treatments that fall within our scope of practice include external applications of water as well as related modalities such as wax baths and thermophores
• Hydrotherapy is used in conjunction with a massage therapy treatment or as a method of client self care
• The effects produced with hydrotherapy are physiological, emotional and reflexive
• Thermal Therapy


  A term that is often used in place of "Hydrotherapy"
• Advantages of water


  • Simple to use
  • Readily available
  • Inexpensive
  • Effective for treating a variety of conditions
• General uses/indications of hydrotherapy

  • Treatment of acute trauma
  • Treatment of a chronic illness or condition
  • Daily health care and prevention of disease
• Very Cold


  • 5-0 degrees Celsius (e.g. ice cubes, ice bags)
• Cold


  0-18 degrees Celsius
• Cool


  19-22 degrees Celsius
• Tepid


  23-31 degrees Celsius (not generally used in therapy, skin surface temp is 28-32)
• Indifferent


  32-35 degrees Celsius
• Warm


  36-38 degrees Celsius (most often used, core body temperature is about 37)