Hydro Therapy | Health Benefits of Hydro Therapy

Hydro Therapy in Naturopathy:

Two-thirds of the physical body is water which is present in each part of the body. The excretion of water from the body may be a continuous process. When the amount of water decreases within the body, thirst is experienced. Thus, when thirsty, water must be taken the pure water in an appropriate quantity

Different Types of Hydro Therapies

1. Footbath
2. Hip bath
3. Spinal bath
4. Sitz bath
5. Steam bath
6. Hot and cold fomentation
7. Wet sheet pack
8. Compress
9. Enema (Colon Therapy)
10. Ice or Cold Therapy
11. Kunjal
12. Jalneti

Hot Foot Bath:

Hot foot bath is that the most elementary, simple, and convenient method of all Hydrotherapy techniques. For a hot foot bath, a bucket should be full of hot water, as hot as the skin can bear, and then sit on a stool or a chair put your feet within the bucket of hot water. The water level should be below the knee. When the water starts to chill down, remove some of it from the bucket and replenish it with an equal quantity of hot water. Cover yourself fully with a blanket aside from the head. A hot footbath has the subsequent benefits –

Health Benefits of Hot Foot Bath in Naturopathy:

1. Promotes blood circulation throughout the body
2. Boosts the system , significantly increases lymph flow
3. It’s neurological soothing effects like promoting relaxation, relieves fatigue and insomnia
4. Other effects include; pain relief, relief of headaches, colds, asthma, and nasal congestion
5. The hot foot bath is additionally safer and more hygienic than taking a hot bath for many people, especially those that have heart conditions, heat intolerance or could also be susceptible to urinary tract infections.
6. For ladies having irregular menstruation, it’s useful to have this bath regularly over a period of your time .

Hip Bath:

Fill water within the hip bathtub so on reach up to the navel. Keep feet outside the bathtub and back on the rear side of the bathtub . After sitting within the tub rotate the wet face towel clockwise or right side towards the left side. This hip bath are often taken for 10-20 minutes. Gradually increase the duration of up to half-hour . After the hip bath wipes the wet portion with the dry cloths.

Health Benefits of Hip Bath in Naturopathy:

 It gives permanent relief altogether ailments of the abdomen that are

1. It’s very useful in constipation, piles, prolepsis of the rectum, palpitation of heart, disorders of liver, spleen, lungs, bladder, kidney, and feminine diseases.
2. It’s useful to reduce fat round the hip and abdomen.

Sitz Bath:

For a sitz bath, fill in water within the hip bathtub and sit on a stool or wood within the hip bathtub. Water should be touch on the relevant portion of the penis. The penis should be covered by stretching the skin. Use soft cloths to hide the penis after a dip in cold water and repeat this process repeatedly. For women, touch water on the vaginal lips with soft wet cloths. It helps in the case of ejaculation of semen, leucorrhoea, and nervous weakness. Anger is gradually cured. It’s especially good for neuralgia and sciatica. In the case of girls, it helps in curing hysteria and other diseases they suffer from.

Spinal Bath:

The spinal tub is filled with water and water touches only the spine and the adjoining area. In the beginning, ten to fifteen minutes are sufficient for a spine bath. The spine should be wiped with a towel to warm up for a few light physical exercises.

Health Benefits of Spinal Bath in Naturopathy:

It is useful in controlling vital sign, sleeplessness, unconsciousness, fatigue, weakness, and nervous tension. It also regulates blood circulation.

Steam Bath:

There is a special cabin for a steam bath which encloses the entire body with only the head protruding out and covers the head with the cold wet towel. Before steam bath enema is suggested. One should sit barefoot during a steam bath cabin after drinking water. in the case of high blood pressure, we should always not take a steam bath.

Health Benefits of Steam Bath:

1. It opens the pores of the skin, blood circulation increases, red blood corpuscles also increase in numbers.
2. Stream bath strengthens the lungs, heart, and kidney functions. it’s also useful in several kinds of ailments i.e. arthritis, obesity, all kinds of skin diseases, inflammation in the bronchial passages, etc.

Hot and cold Fomentation:

A cloth with 3 to 4 folds wet with hot water should be kept for two minutes on the specified spot, and then a towel wet with cold water should be kept for a minute. This process should be repeated 4 to 5 times. This process starts with a hot cloth and finishes with the cold cloth.

Health Benefits of Hot and Cold Fomentation in Naturopathy:

1. Alternate hot and cold fomentation is extremely useful to repair a part of the body or to bring relief in pain and no other treatment is as effective as this one.
2. On the abdomen, hot and cold fomentation gives relief in chronic constipation, gastric trouble and also removes weakness.

Wet Sheet Pack:

In the wet sheet pack, sheet wet in water and water should be ringed.  Bind this wet sheet like a bandage on the required portion or the whole body.  Sometimes a cold sheet pack is useful and sometimes a hot sheet pack is useful. It’s is an ancient practice that is very effective now a day also. When we are using the cold wet sheet pack, on top of that use 3 to 4 layers of blanket. Cover the whole body up to toe around 30 to 60 minutes. Before using a cold wet sheet pack, one’s body should be warm enough to produce good results. Binding cold wet sheet pack on the abdomen removes constipation.

Health Benefits of Wet Sheet Pack in Naturopathy:

1. In the case of fever, extract faeces out of the body, to strengthen nerve tissues, and for detoxification, a wet sheet pack is used.
2.  It is useful for all ailments of the abdomen.
3. It is very useful in injury, burn, sprain, fracture, gastric pains, arthritis, etc.

Compress:

Take a wet cotton cloth of 7 to 8 feet long and 6 to 7 inch broad and ring and tie it up on a required portion. Over it take a dry woolen cloth of the same dimension and tie it too. The duration of the Compress should be at least for an hour. As per the requirement, the duration can be changed. After removing this compress, wipe with a wet cloth. This is used in various diseases on various parts of the body. For instance abdomen compress, throat compress, chest compress, joint compress, leg compress, and girdle compress, etc.

Health Benefits of Compress in Naturopathy:

1. Neck compress is useful in thyroid and parathyroid problems, tonsillitis, etc.
2. Chest compress is useful in asthma, heart problem, bronchitis, etc.
3. Abdomen compress is useful in liver problems, diabetes, kidney problems, etc.
4. Leg compress and joint compress is useful in varicose veins, joint pain, etc.
5. For better results, compress should be used a minimum of an hour at least.

Kunjal:

Sit in khagasana (on heels) and fill your stomach with hot water, then stand and bend down. Then keep the left hand on the stomach and with three fingers (index, middle, and ring finger) of the right hand, touch, and move the inner tongue. When water starts coming out then take out the fingers. As long as the water is coming out keep the fingers outside, thereafter immediately move the fingers on the back of the tongue, till all the water is vomited out. Do it repeatedly until sour and bitter water comes out.  Again immediately drink two glass of hot water and take it out again by using the three fingers. We should bath either two hours before or two hours after kunjal. Do not mix saunf and salt in the hot water for kunjal. It should be done after passed stool otherwise it can cause constipation.

Health Benefits of Kunjal in Naturopathy:

This helps to get free from diseases of the cheek, dental, pimples, tongue, blood, chest, constipation, acidity, gastric, cough, night blindness, asthma, drying of the mouth and throat, etc.

Caution – Heart and high blood pressure patients should not do it.

Jalneti:

For doing jalneti take lukewarm saline water in a barreled tumbler and put it that nostrils which is breathing predominantly and bend the head another side with an open mouth. This will fill water in the first nostril and come out water from another nostril. Similarly, this process should be done by another nostril. After performing jalneti, it is essential to take out the remaining water from the nostril. Kapalbhati must be performed after jalneti.

Health Benefits of Jalneti in Naturopathy:

All ailments associated with organs above the neck (headache, sleeplessness, excessive sleep, falling of hair, boils, or protruded flesh growth within the nose, cold, running nose, eyes complications, hard of hearing, epilepsy, etc.) are cured.