Hydrotherapy is the use of water, either internally or externally, to maintain health and prevent disease. Although it was the Romans who introduced spas throughout the Roman empire, modern hydrotherapy is commonly attributed to Father Sebastian Kneipp (1821-97), who believed that water would ‘dissolve, remove and strengthen’. Dissolve matter-containing disease, remove diseased matter from the body and strengthen the body by restoring cleansed blood to the tissues and maximizing circulation.

According to its mineral content, water taken internally can have a laxative, diuretic, phlegmatic (phlegm producing) or diaphoretic (perspiration-inducing) effects. Used externally, water has the power to improve blood and lymph circulation, relax tension in the tissues, alleviate pain and calm the nervous system.

In the past, little controlled research had been carried out into hydrotherapy; and what little there had been done, was more often than not, conducted in Germany. Our Atlantispa SG-2000 technology was originally developed in Germany by the Sebastian Kneipp Schule in Bad Wörishofen. In recent years some interesting studies have been carried out into the varied forms and applications of hydrotherapy in medicine.

How does it work?

There is no drug on the market that can rival the number of beneficial physiological effects that water is capable of producing, and it is widely available (unless you happen to be in a desert) and cheap. In fact, there are no substances known to man that possess as many remedial and health-promoting qualities as water. Its therapeutic qualities include sedative, antipyretic (reducing body temperature, anodyne (analgesic,), anticonvulsant, astringent, tonic, anaesthetic, and derivative.

For more information, download a pdf file of the Life and Times of Sebastian Kneipp, the Father of Hydrotherapy.

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