The origins of hydrotherapy can be traced as far back as the ancient Greeks and early eastern cultures in China and Japan, where minerals were added to baths. The most common medical practice was to bathe sufferers in water, both hot and cold water, sometimes interchangeably in order to sooth pain, cure diseases or relieve symptoms. It is these practices that have led to the understanding of the benefits of water on the body that we know today.
By the Victorian era, hydrotherapy was used to treat mentally ill patients privately and in institutions. There were 3 main methods of carrying out hydrotherapy treatments. The first was through a ‘pack’ of cloths that were dipped in warm or cold water and then wrapped around the patient. These cloths were left on the patient for hours and allowed to get hotter or colder, dependent on original starting temperature, occasionally the doctors would request rubber to be wrapped on top of the wet cloth to intensify the effect. Patients that were more agitated, were wrapped in additional layers of cloth as a sort of proto-strait jacket and were strapped to a bed to control them better.
Photograph of a psychiatric patient undergoing the bath hydrotherapy treatment attended by a doctor
The second method was to submerge the patient in a bath of water and then cover them, apart from the head, with a sheet so they couldn’t get out. The temperature water was regulated with a thermometer and an outlet pipe, so that the water could be easily changed. This method was used for extended periods of time, it could go on for days rather than just hours.
The last way was a shower; the patient stood underneath a shower head and would be sprayed at intervals with very cold water by a tap or a hose a few meters away.
It was believed that the above hydrotherapy methods made patients less manic. Doctors would also use even colder water than prescribed in the above methods for any patient that wasn’t cooperating as well as they would have liked.
Hydrotherapy was a popular therapy until around the mid-1900s, when electroconvulsive therapy and other therapy treatments were invented. However, hydrotherapy was and is still used today although much less brutal and time-consuming methods are exercised. Baths, saunas and pools are still popular attractions in modern societies and the benefits of water have been researched and utilised for decades.
The science behind hydrotherapy, for anyone that is curious:
When a person enters water, the temperature change causes the body to release chemicals. Warm water will make the body release stress reducing hormones (such as dopamine) which are known to improve mood, it will also improves circulation and blood flow, as the body attempts to reduce its temperature through vasodilation (filling of the small blood vessels under the skin, causing a flushed look).
Cold water can stimulate the body in the opposite way, making you more alert from the shock and also cooling the body and causing vasoconstriction as the body attempts to maintain the core temperature. It’s also worth noting here, that the movement of the water can relax the muscles.
Knowing the proven modern scientific benefits of water as a treatment, it’s understandable that hydrotherapy was and is a good technique to support healing of the body. However, the methods used in the Victorian era were neither socially acceptable, nor scientifically based. In that respect, please do not try this at home, have a hot bath instead.
Written By Jessica Ruddick