Therapies... - Hydrotherapy - A History

Water has historically been used to treat a variety of illnesses by many cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, and classical societies of South America and Mesopotamia. However, the movement involving the use of water as the primary form of treatment originated in Europe and forms the basis of hydrotherapy today.

In 1697, a doctor by the name of John Floyer (1649 - 1734) wrote a book in Lichfield, England titled A History of Hot and Cold Bathing which was translated into many languages. Its translation into German in 1749 became significantly influential in Germany due to the work of Johann S. Hahn (1696 - 1773). Along with his father and brother, Hahn successfully used hydrotherapy in the treatment of acute and chronic diseases, particularly smallpox at the time, and they established principles of modern hydrotherapy in Germany.

The work of the Hahns must have indirectly influenced Vincent Priessnitz (1799 - 1852), an uneducated peasant farm boy who learned from an elderly neighbour the use of cold water to heal animals when they became sick or injured. At the age of seventeen, Priessnitz seriously hurt himself in a farm accident that broke two of his ribs. With his surgeon unable to help him, he attempted to heal his fractures by wrapping his chest in a cold towel and also drank plenty of cold water. He subsequently regained his health within a few days. As he became well known, he was so greatly sought after for his water cure that the Austrian government built new roads to allow access to his establishment.

Another significant figure in the history of hydrotherapy is Father Sebastian Kneipp (1821 - 1897). Father Kneipp's original application for priesthood was rejected because he had tuberculosis. He was accepted when he cured himself of tuberculosis by the use of water treatments and diet. Kneipp soon treated the sick in his parish with the methods of using water that benefited him. He treated thousands of people who came from all over the world using hydrotherapy, alongside with herbs, diet, exercise and the utilization of fresh air, sunlight, and rest to regain and maintain health. He rose to international fame as a healer and established hydrotherapy as a significant therapy in Germany. Kneipp established the basis of the modern health spa, which exists in Germany as Kneipp Kurhause, where patients would stay for residential care paid for by the national health care system.

Both Priessnitz and Kneipp had a dramatic influence on the development of water therapy in North America, as followers of theirs (many were German physicians) applied hydrotherapy as a key component of treatment in their American practice. One such follower was Benedict Lust (1872 - 1945), who established the beginnings of naturopathic medicine with the introduction of Kneipp's work in the United States. Hydrotherapy became a key component taught in naturopathic schools such as Bastry University in Seattle and the National College of Naturopathic Medicine in Portland. Today, hydrotherapy is one of the seven key modalities taught in naturopathic medicine.