Using water for pain management typically involves hot and cold compresses or tub soaks to relieve pain and decrease swelling. Aquatic therapy also refers to the use of a heated therapeutic pool for exercising without stress on the joints. It does this by relieving the pull of gravity. Water therapy is based on the reasonable belief that water is the natural sustainer of life and therefore possesses varied and powerful curative properties.

Water is a natural and thorough cleansing agent, internally as well as externally and hydrotherapy is much valued by natural therapists but rarely recommended by conventional doctors. The treatment of disease is done by the internal and external application of water. At the root of hydrotherapy is the belief that water is the essence of life. In its various forms - liquid, ice, steam or gas - it can be used to induce relaxation, to stimulate blood flow, to remove impurities, drugs or alcohol, to ease pain and stiffness and to treat disease.

The patient may benefit from water in several ways - in a compress, as a spray or from a bath, for example - but the most significant point is its temperature. Hot water or steam dilates blood vessels, encourages sweating, relaxes muscles and joints, and draws heat to the surface. Cold applications constrict blood vessels, reduce inflammation and congestion on the surface and stimulate the flow of blood to internal organs.

Origin:

Hydropathy is the name given from the Greek, to the water cure, or the treatment of disease by water, heat and cold, used outwardly and inwardly. This system dates from about 1829, when Vincenz Presents (1801-1851), a farmer of Grafenberg in Silesia, Austria, who claimed to have cured himself of broken ribs as a boy by applying cold cloths to the affected area what doctors had deemed an "incurable" accident.

Two English works, however, on the medical uses of water had been translated into German in the century preceding the rise of the movement under Priessnitz. The hydropathic system had three treatments: the general application of water by bath, the application to a particular part of the body, and internal cleansing by drinking or injecting.

In 1826 Priessnitz opened a water cure establishment at Grafenberg in the mountains of Silesia. It was an immediate success and, known as the "Water University," became a model for many similar establishments in Europe and America

The Priessnitz treatment, which centered on water, air, exercise, and diet, was quickly acclaimed for its effectiveness in removing the patients from stress that had often induced their illnesses, providing a pleasant communal setting, implementing diet and exercise regimens that strengthened the body, ceasing heroic therapeutics, letting nature help right what was reversible, involving patients in their own cure through habit reformation.

Types of Hydro therapy There are two types of Hydrotherapy Internal External Internal Hydrotherapy: Drinking water to cleanse the system and restore the body's electrolyte balance. Steam baths or inhalation of steam to relieve respiratory congestion, are forms of internal hydrotherapy. Internal hydrotherapy also includes colon irrigations and enemas. External hydrotherapy : External hydrotherapy involves the immersion of the body in water or the application of water or ice to the body. Temperature-based: These treatments are based on the different effects of hot or cold water on the skin and underlying tissues. T he application of heat is soothing, easing muscle tension and relieving pain that help improve circulation by causing blood vessels to dilate. While cold can either be stimulating or soothing.

Water healing at home is simple. Baths and showers are good for whole body treatments. In the whole body treatment, the water has to come to shoulder level and should be about 90 to 95F . Any bath should last at least 10-20 minutes.

Temperature-based treatments include the application of hot or cold moist heat to specific parts of the body. The application of moist heat is called fomentation, and is used for chest colds, influenza or arthritis.

A warm bath is soothing to the nerves and helpful for bladder and urinary problems, mild colds, and low fevers. Adding herbs helps to soften and moisturize, and can stimulate or relax.

Hot water (around 100°F/37.8°C) relaxes muscles and causes sweating. It is used to treat arthritis, rheumatism, poor circulation, and sore muscles. Hot water hydrotherapy can be used in combination with aromatherapy by adding scented oils to the water.

Cold water (60°F/15.6°C) treatments are used to stimulate blood flow in the skin and underlying muscles.

Cold compresses or ice packs are used in the treatment of sprains, headaches or dental surgery. Body packs, which consist of wet cloth wrapped around the patient, are sometimes used to calm psychiatric patients and for detoxification.

Sitz bath: A sitz bath is a form of treatment in which the patient sits in a specially constructed tub that allows the lower abdomen to be submerged in water of a different temperature from the water around the feet. The sitz baths are for treating only the bottom, hips, and lower abdomen

The cold sitz bath or the hot followed by cold is especially beneficial for ailments affecting the abdomen and the reproductive system, inflammations, pelvic congestion, cramps, hemorrhoids, menstrual problems, and kidney and intestinal pains , prostate swelling and other genitourinary disorders.

Foot Bath: For a footbath, it needs you simply put the feet and calves into a deep pot filled with water. For cold feet, a hot footbath of about 15 minutes is helpful. This is also helpful for bladder, kidney, throat and ear inflammations.

For tired feet, a cold footbath is recommended. While an alternating hot and cold footbath is said to promote circulation in the legs, help varicose veins, insomnia, headache and high blood pressure.

Alternating hot and cold baths are also good for treating hands and feet, with water as hot as you can stand it, in one bowl, ice water in the other. Put hands or feet in the hot water for one minute, and then plunge into the cold for 20 seconds. Then back into hot and cold again until a total of 10 minutes have been spent doing this, ending with the plunge into the ice water. Beneficial for arthritic joints and tired, aching feet, and the alternating hot and cold stimulates circulation.

Motion-based: Motion-based hydrotherapy uses water under pressure in the form of jets, whirlpools, or aerated bubbles to massage the body. It is used to treat joint and muscle injuries as well as stress and anxiety disorders.

Purifying baths    

Treatment: The cures themselves involved a regulated, wholesome lifestyle and the liberal use of water both internally and externally. The treatment urged patients to drink 20 to 30 glasses of water per day to induce internal cleaning, and no other beverage was permitted. A variety of bathing techniques were used to promote general cleansing and to address specific problems. The most commonly used treatment was the wet-sheet pack where the patient was wrapped in a sheet dipped in cold water and four blankets. Additional covers were added until the patient perspired freely. The patient was then removed from the wrapping and plunged into a cold bath. It was believed that an interchange took place. When the pure water of the wet sheet came into contact with the skin the impure water of the blood on the inside of the skin passed through the skin into the water of the wet sheet while pure water of the wet sheet passed through the skin to supply the place of the impure water.

Hydropathy presented a totally fresh approach to childbirth, that excessive pain in childbirth was the result of poor health. They stressed extensive exercise and proper diet during pregnancy and the relaxing effects of free movement and warm-water baths during labor. Perhaps the most startling result of hydropathic parturition was that women found they could be up and about a few days after delivery.

Hydropathy spread quickly in America and other countries with cure centers opening up for both men and women. Mostly women took the lead as water-cure physicians.

The water-cure centers have a profound effect on health and thinking. They serve as rallying points for many divergent ideas--from women's rights and dress reform to dietary and hygienic instruction.

Benefits:

There is no drug that can be beneficial giving physiological effects, one 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, anesthetic, and derivative.

• Sedative : A warm water bath will invariably soothe and relax an extremely nervous person and help soothe restful sleep
• Antipyretic (reducing body temperature): Cold water can reduce pulse from forty to twenty beats per minute and decrease high body temperature within a matter of minutes.
• Anodyne (analgesic) & Anesthetic- Hot water fomentation's are often used to alleviate joint pain and prolonged use of cold water causes a pain relieving numbness which is used for muscle pain and burn pains
• Anticonvulsant: Warm water is one of the most effective relaxants alleviating convulsions and muscle spasms. It transfers heat into the body to relax tense muscles and increase blood flow to the tissues.
• Astringent : there is no better first aid treatment to arrest internal hemorrhage from sprained ankles, than cold water.
• Derivative: this is a method for removing blood from one part of the body by increasing blood flow elsewhere.

Caution:

There are some dangers to avoid in hydrotherapy.

•  Anyone allergic to iodine should avoid any treatment with seaweed or its extracts.
•  Patients with heart disease or high blood pressure should see a doctor before having any form of hydrotherapy.
•  Hot and cold water treatments always need to be administered with caution to avoid dramatic changes in blood pressure, or    fainting.
•  There are also similar hazards in taking too cold a shower or dip after a steam bath.