Hello,

Recently I have discovered that many people taking various water tratments; health spas, mudbaths, sauna and the similars...

I got some descriptions about some of them,
and they sound fine, but is that something real help for the general health or just a gimmic?

I would like to get the opinion of someone who knows about these things...
If it is true, I may missed something until now !

Thanks !

Edited to remove possible ad.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,

I guess whether it is worth it/ would help would depend on the treatment and your health issue. Certainly something like a massage shower, with very strong sprays, and using it alternating hot and cold will help in the short term with circulation issues.

Well, Attila, how long do we wait before someone else new to the site posts that they know just the thing and names a product or website?

Not long, I'm a-thinking

PS Do you post from France, the country, or some other France(there's one in Idaho, for example)? You can post in French here, you know

Water therapy is a good exercise because it stabalizes your weight and helps blood flow. I don't like the hot tubs because they get too hot for me. I didn't know mud bathes are water therapy. I never tried one. This article is about water therapy... I think it works. http://www.spine-health.com/topics/conserv/water/water01.html

quote:

Originally posted by FredPuli:
Well, Attila, how long do we wait before someone else new to the site posts that they know just the thing and names a product or website?

Not long, I'm a-thinking

PS Do you post from France, the country, or some other France(there's one in Idaho, for example)? You can post in French here, you know

Well... what can I say... You got me.
I am about getting involved in a project and I try to figure out what is it about...
I am not a snakeoil salesman or at least try not to be... so I try to find answers...
Where ?
On forums too...
Then I got an overenthusiastic moderator.

And two positive answers too.

So not too bad all together.

BTW... I agree with the policy to limit the spamming of forums.

I do post from France (La France)
...oui...je sais... But my english is better than mon francais... none of them my native... (hint: what is PULI in your name?)

quote:

Then I got an overenthusiastic moderator

You did not get an "overenthusiastic moderator", you got a "conscientious administrator".
We see enough attempts at promotion to be able to smell them- and ya know something, if you'd just been straight and said "I'm thinking about getting involved with this project but I need to know more before I commit. Do you have any input?" you might have been left alone.
Trying to be slick around here seldom works.

quote:

You can post in French here, you know

Please don't post in Hungarian, however. I can't read it, and can only understand a few words, most of which deal with food [including my grandmother saying something about neck soup (nyak leves), but I'm not sure whose neck was to be used]. - Német Mihály

quote:

Trying to be slick around here seldom works.

One may wonder...

It is true... I did not made a great deal of soulsearching about a real question I was posting... that how a "conscientious administrator" may could view it.

I consider myself a courious sceptic about alternavie health issues, what means I would like to belive, in but need some facts...

This is how I got involved with that french thingy what I was told off about and trying to save some copy/paste operation...

I guess posting a link on a forum is a great crime for some...

I will take that in account.

The reliable QuackWatch.com has little to say about water therapy:

quote:

WATER THERAPY: A variety of methods whose categories are: (a) external hydrotherapies (e.g., whirlpool baths) and (b) internal hydrotherapy (e.g., colonic irrigation). Some alternativists depict water as a universal remedy provided by "Nature." Others say simply that it has powerful "healing properties."

We discussed colonic irrigation here. I discovered the term Balneotherapy, defined in Wikipedia:

quote:

Balneotherapy the treatment of disease by bathing. It may involve hot or cold water, massage via moving water, relaxation or stimulation. Many mineral waters at spas are rich in particular minerals (silica, sulfur, selenium, radium) which can be absorbed via the skin.

Radium?

Overall the Wiki article is restrained, concedes that spas may be useless for some patients, and cautions contra-indications for others. But it also makes certain claims (e.g., "...very great value in gouty and rheumatic conditions and in some of the special troubles of women." without any supporting evidence or external links. The discussion tab says some text is taken from Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Ed. as part of the WikiProject on Alternative medicine.

There is no doubt that heat relieves symptoms of many inflammatory conditions, and who doesn't feel good sitting in a hot tub? Beyond that, I'm not sure that "water therapy" (a term lacking any substantive definition) is more than a gimmick.

quote:

Beyond that, I'm not sure that "water therapy" (a term lacking any substantive definition) is more than a gimmick.

Gimmick?
Maybe...
But... If we just take in account that many of the health problem can be blamed on stress, and for couple of days, weeks, someone experiencing just the opposite of stress, gimmick may be too strong word.
My original question was about the scientific explanations, and I guess Professor give a fair answer...
Also... maybe the sucsess of the "spa-culture" could be to do something about the mistery aroud it, that noone really know why is it good, but this does not diturb the thousands, who use theese spas...

quote:

My original question was about the scientific explanations...

How refreshing! Yes, human nature is subject to superstition, magical thinking, and self-delusion. It's who we are. Bogus treatments for disease have been promoted since prehistoric time.

BTW, welcome to AnswerPool.

quote:

Bogus treatments for disease have been promoted since prehistoric time.

From this angle, I think we can not see the full picture...
As you said a sentence before, WE ARE also ehem ... partly spiritual beings, which part could not be fully explain from the modern scientific point of view... that' why it gets swiped away as superstition.

The water, just coming up from the depth of the earth, maybe can represent the "nature" itself, surrounding a human being in a pool, can be quite symbolic and maybe more than that.

It is true, always were charlatans who were trying to benefit sick people's hopes, but that is only "disturbing" the picture...

Sure... Pharmaceutical companies also having more interest in treating the symptoms than the actual diseases... Here the modern and ancient medical science easily run parallel.

And... also the humans often "want" to get sick... to escape from the life's pressure, responsibility or just simply having rest... Of course this is more often than not sub-concisely driven, and hard to point it out. That's why a day or two in a hot spa could miraculously heal some people, I think.

Of course... looking diseases as parts of the nature, and insisting of treating of them is a big move against the natural selection... looking from this angle the modern and traditional healing methods also could show interesting results.