La historia de la Hidroterapia y Balneoterapia en Europa / The history of Hydrotherapy and Balneotherapy in Europe

El agua ha sido para el hombre elemento fundamental de vida, tanto en su composición como en sus utilidades; desde el principio de los tiempos la inmersión del cuerpo en el agua y su permanencia en ella fue utilizada por el hombre, al igual que hacían los animales, como uso higiénico y como medida beneficiosa ante determinados males. Las aplicaciones del agua con fines terapéuticos constituyen uno de los más viejos procedimientos curativos de los que ha dispuesto la humanidad desde sus orígenes [Fragmento de texto]. (AU)

El «estanco terapéutico» de la hidroterapia y los límites de la autoridad en el Cuerpo de médicosdirectores de baños, 1866-1869 / The «therapeutic watertight» of hydrotherapy and the limits of authority in the Corps of medical directors of baths, 1866-1869

Desde la creación del cuerpo de médicos-directores de baños a comienzos del siglo XIX, dicho colectivo profesional vivió numerosos conflictos internos y externos en los que se puso en cuestión su autoridad científica y moral como expertos en la gestión de la hidrote-rapia. Aunque los médicos-directores estaban dotados de un papel importante en la gestión de baños y aguas públicas a raíz de las regulaciones existentes, otros actores también pugnaron por ese poder. Este artículo analiza los conflictos que existieron entre médicos-directores de baños y los médicos libres, que defendían tener el mismo acceso al monopolio clínico que los primeros. Tomando como punto de partida un debate que tuvo lugar entre 1866 y 1868, el artículo analiza los diferentes mecanismos legales y discursivos que existían para generar y criticar la autoridad de cada grupo. En una época en la que se estaban determinando los límites de las profesiones científicas y las políticas liberales y de intervención del Estado, el caso de los médicos-directores de baños nos permite analizar los procesos de negociación y legitimación de estatus dentro de una ocupación aún no estabilizada como profesión (AU)

Showers: from a violent treatment to an agent of cleansing.

In the early nineteenth century, physicians designed the first manufactured showers for the purpose of curing the insane. Sustained falls of cold water were prescribed to cool hot, inflamed brains, and to instil fear to tame impetuous wills. By the middle of the century showers had appeared in both asylums and prisons, but shower-related deaths led to their decline. Rather than being abandoned, however, the shower was transformed by the use of warm water to economically wash the skins of prison and asylum populations. In stark contrast to an involuntary, deliberately unpleasant treatment, by the end of the century the shower was a desirable product for the improvement of personal hygiene and population health.

Hydrotherapy and medical entrepreneurship: the "water spell" of Ricardo Jorge.

Between 1886 and 1893, the doctor and hygienist Ricardo Jorge was linked to a commercial and medical project on the waters of Gerês. Known for many centuries and used for therapeutic purposes, they were administered on an empirical basis. When new chemical analyses were first published, the empirical properties of these waters took on a new role in hydrotherapy based on their now proven mineral and medicinal qualities. The article discusses in detail Ricardo Jorge's business venture, framing it in the context of the economic collection and treatment potential of mineral waters and the revival of the phenomenon of hydrotherapy, legitimized by new developments in the chemical analysis of waters. The commercial failure to exploit the water resources highlights the difficulties of this project and the complexity of the professional practice of hydrological medicine, although it resulted in a strengthening of Ricardo's authority and prestige in the field of hydrotherapy.

Cold water immersion: kill or cure?

NEW FINDINGS: What is the topic of this review? This is the first review to look across the broad field of 'cold water immersion' and to determine the threats and benefits associated with it as both a hazard and a treatment. What advances does it highlight? The level of evidence supporting each of the areas reviewed is assessed. Like other environmental constituents, such as pressure, heat and oxygen, cold water can be either good or bad, threat or treatment, depending on circumstance. Given the current increase in the popularly of open cold water swimming, it is timely to review the various human responses to cold water immersion (CWI) and consider the strength of the claims made for the effects of CWI. As a consequence, in this review we look at the history of CWI and examine CWI as a precursor to drowning, cardiac arrest and hypothermia. We also assess its role in prolonged survival underwater, extending exercise time in the heat and treating hyperthermic casualties. More recent uses, such as in the prevention of inflammation and treatment of inflammation-related conditions, are also considered. It is concluded that the evidence base for the different claims made for CWI are varied, and although in most instances there seems to be a credible rationale for the benefits or otherwise of CWI, in some instances the supporting data remain at the level of anecdotal speculation. Clear directions and requirements for future research are indicated by this review.

Hidroterapia e empreendedorismo médico: o «feitiço hídrico» de Ricardo Jorge / Hydrotherapy and medical entrepreneurship: the "water spell" of Ricardo Jorge

Entre 1886 e 1893, o médico e higienista Ricardo Jorge esteve ligado a um projeto de valorização comercial e terapêutica das águas do Gerês. Conhecidas desde há longos séculos e alvo de habituais peregrinações terapêuticas assentes numa tradição de base empírica, as propriedades curativas dessas águas passam a assumir um papel de maior destaque a partir da década de 80 do século XIX quando as análises químicas começam a servir propósitos de avaliação das suas qualidades mineromedicinais. Este artigo aborda detalhadamente o projeto médico-empresarial ricardiano em torno da hidroterapia, enquadrando-o no contexto da valorização económica e terapêutica das águas mineromedicinais, no reavivar do fenómeno do termalismo e na legitimação da hidrologia pelos progressos na avaliação química das águas. Apesar do insucesso comercial na exploração dos recursos hídricos, esta incursão ricardiana mostra as dificuldades do projecto e a complexidade do exercício profissional da medicina hidrológica, mas também o reforço da autoridade e prestígio de Ricardo Jorge no campo da hidroterapia (AU)

Between 1886 and 1893, the doctor and hygienist Ricardo Jorge was linked to a commercial and medical project on the waters of Gerês. Known for many centuries and used for therapeutic purposes, they were administered on an empirical basis. When new chemical analyses were first published, the empirical properties of these waters took on a new role in hydrotherapy based on their now proven mineral and medicinal qualities. The article discusses in detail Ricardo Jorge's business venture, framing it in the context of the economic collection and treatment potential of mineral waters and the revival of the phenomenon of hydrotherapy, legitimized by new developments in the chemical analysis of waters. The commercial failure to exploit the water resources highlights the difficulties of this project and the complexity of the professional practice of hydrological medicine, although it resulted in a strengthening of Ricardo's authority and prestige in the field of hydrotherapy

Sebastian Kneipp and the Natural Cure Movement of Germany: Between Naturalism and Modern Medicine.

This study discusses the historical significance of the Natural Cure Movement of Germany, centering on the Kneipp Cure, a form of hydrotherapy practiced by Father Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897). The Kneipp Cure rested on five main tenets: hydrotherapy, exercise, nutrition, herbalism, and the balance of mind and body. This study illuminates the reception of the Kneipp Cure in the context of the trilateral relationship among the Kneipp Cure, the Natural Cure Movement in general, and modern medicine. The Natural Cure Movement was ideologically based on naturalism, criticizing industrialization and urbanization. There existed various theories and methods in it, yet they shared holism and vitalism as common factors. The Natural Cure Movement of Germany began in the early 19th century. During the late 19th century and the early 20th century, it became merged in the Lebensreformbewegung (life reform movement) which campaigned for temperance, anti-tobacco, and anti-vaccination. The core of the Natural Cure Movement was to advocate the world view that nature should be respected and to recognize the natural healing powers of sunlight, air, water, etc. Among varied natural therapies, hydrotherapy spread out through the activities of some medical doctors and amateur healers such as Johann Siegmund Hahn and Vincenz Prie ßnitz. Later, the supporters of hydrotherapy gathered together under the German Society of Naturopathy. Sebastian Kneipp, one of the forefathers of hydrotherapy, is distinguished from other proponents of natural therapies in two aspects. First, he did not refuse to employ vaccination and medication. Second, he sought to be recognized by the medical world through cooperating with medical doctors who supported his treatment. As a result, the Kneipp cure was able to be gradually accepted into the medical world despite the "quackery" controversy between modern medicine and the Natural Cure Movement. Nowadays, the name of Sebastian Kneipp remains deeply engraved on the memories of German people through various Kneipp spa products, as well as his books such as My water Cure and Thus Shalt Thou Live! Wörishofen, where Kneipp had served as catholic priest as well as hydrotherapist for 42 years from 1855, changed its name to "Bad Wörishofen" ("Wörishofen Spa" in German). The Kneipp Cure and the Natural Cure Movement became a source of ecologica l thought which is currently gaining more and more sympathy from German people. It is regarded as a lieu de mémoire (site of memory) reflecting the collective identity of German people.

The Essay on waters and other medical writings of Charles Lucas.

In recent years, more attention has been given to Charles Lucas's medical career, in its own way just as interesting and important as his better-known political campaigns. Lucas's first concentrated period of medical activity was in the 1730s, when he had qualified as an apothecary, the second in the 1750s, following his flight from Ireland and achievement of qualifications in medicine. Having been prominently involved in the campaign which led to the 1735 drugs regulation act, in 1741 Lucas published a pamphlet, Pharmacomastix, which detailed abuses common in the apothecary's trade and pressed for more radical controls. His most substantial medical work, An Essay on Waters, was published in London in 1756, being devoted to analysis of European spas and the promotion of hydrotherapy. Lucas was able to return to Ireland in 1761 and was elected MP for Dublin city. While politics occupied most of his time until his death in 1771, Lucas maintained his interest in matters medical, securing the passage of another drugs regulation act in 1761, which remarkably is still on the Irish statute book.

[The changing position of balneo- and hydrotherapy in medicine]. / A balneo-, hidroterápia helyének változása a medicinában.

Therapy with water has been known for thousands of years. Hot water bath was always pleasant for people. During the 19th century it was applied for the treatment of several diseases and modern medicine should not miss it. Today balneotherapy may help gymnastic procedures and it is commonly used in combination with other types of physiotherapy, too.

Water and health: a forgotten connection?

There are frequent and doom-laden messages concerning impending water shortages but the consequential negative effects on the availability of waters for healing and the factors underlying the decline in the use of water therapies in some parts of the world are ignored. This article reviews the evidence for the medicinal uses of water, past and present, showing how ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic and Hebrew societies all used water for medicinal purposes, sometimes in conjunction with herbal medicine. Water treatments consisted of hydrotherapy (techniques of therapeutic bathing and use of water), balneotherapy (therapeutic bathing in medicinal and thermal springs) and thalassotherapy (the therapeutic use of ocean bathing and marine products) and these treatments continue to be used to the present day although their use in the Anglo-Saxon world is diminised. Factors in this decline are the lack of research funding and the availability of allopathic medicine. In ancient society, the factors underlying the efficacious healing properties of water may have been ignored and its benefits instead attributed to divine sources. Latterday science, however, from the 19th century to the present, has isolated those factors in water that have health-giving properties.

Questioning the medical fringe: the "cultural doxy" of Catholic hydropathy in Belgium, 1890-1914.

The relationship between orthodox (mainstream) medicine and heterodox (fringe) medicine during the nineteenth century continues to puzzle historians of medicine. Though many have qualified the sharp antagonism between the two as a (biased) historical construct, it remains difficult to lay bare the common problems that structured mainstream and fringe. In this contribution on the reception of hydrotherapy in the Belgian fin de siècle, I attempt to rethink the oppositional character of nineteenth-century fringe medicine at an empirical level. In many ways, I argue, Belgian hydropaths were prototypical proponents of medical heterodoxy, as they defended neohumoralist medical conceptions and shared an integrated Catholic "cosmology". Their moderate critique of bacteriological science, however, also echoed the unease felt by many established physicians. In their pretheoretical beliefs about the healer's intuition, they voiced traditional conceptions that stemmed not from the fringe but from everyday bedside medicine. The popularity of hydrotherapy, I argue, reflected one of many attempts to save a common "cultural doxy" shared by established physicians and heterodox healers alike, in the wake of bacteriology's analysis and standardization.

Hydropathy at home: the water cure and domestic healing in mid-nineteenth-century Britain.

SUMMARY: This article explores domestic practices of hydropathy in Britain, suggesting that these formed a major contribution to the popularity of the system in the mid-nineteenth century. Domestic hydropathy was encouraged by hydropathic practitioners in their manuals and in the training they provided at their establishments. We argue that hydropathy can be seen as belonging to two interacting spheres, the hydro and the home, and was associated with a mission to encourage self-healing practices as well as commercial interests. Home treatments were advocated as a follow-up to attendance at hydros and encouraged as a low-cost option for those unable to afford such visits. Domestic hydropathy emphasized the high profile of the patient and was depicted as being especially appropriate for women, though in many households it appears to have been a common concern between husbands and wives.

Hydrotherapy in state mental hospitals in the mid-twentieth century.

This research describes nurses' experiences in administering "the water cure," hot or cold wet sheet packs, and continuous tub baths in state mental hospitals during the early twentieth century. Student and graduate nurses were required to demonstrate competence in hydrotherapy treatments used to calm agitated or manic patients in the era before neuroleptics. The nurses interviewed for this study indicated that, although labor intensive, hydrotherapy worked, at least temporarily. Although no longer used in state hospitals, hydrotherapy is regaining popularity with the general public and may serve as an adjunct to pharmacological treatments to calm hospitalized patients in the future.