HYDROTHERAPY

Water has been used for thousands of years to treat various ailments. The technical term “Hydrotherapy” simply means using water in any of its forms (water, ice, steam) for health promotion or treatment of various diseases. 1

One example of a hydrotherapy treatment is the cold shower. You can imagine that this brings a shock to the system. The preferred method is the adapted cold shower (68 ºF for 2-3 minutes). When “shocked” with cool water, the high density of cold receptors in the skin send an overwhelming amount of electrical impulses from peripheral nerve endings to the brain. This may have antipsychotic effects similar to that of electroconvulsive therapy without the negative side effects. In addition cold showers have analgesic effects and are not addictive.2,3

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