Therapies... - Hydrotherapy - Properties of Water

What is it about water that allows it to be a medium of healing? A number of key points are outlined below.

• The unique quality about water is that it can exist in three different states (solid, liquid, and gas). Water can store energy and release energy as it converts to various states and be useful in all three forms.
• Water has the ability to retain extreme temperatures before a change in state occurs. At temperatures of almost 0°C to almost 100°C, water can still be in liquid form.
• Water can rapidly absorb, hold, and release large amounts of heat without dramatically changing its own temperature.
• Water is a great solvent in which many substances can be dissolved in it. This makes water an excellent medium to transport elements, e.g., minerals, botanicals (herbs), and essential oils through the body surface via pores.
• Water is extremely malleable and can mould itself to any container or vessel. It can touch any part of the body surface that is immersed in it.

Having mentioned these features of water, it is important to note that water itself does not have any innate healing qualities. However, its properties allow it to bring about healing in the body. In hydrotherapy, the healing does not come from the water itself but from your body's response to the water temperatures applied to it. The effects of hydrotherapy are achieved through the use of hot and cold applications of water to influence the circulation of the whole body or part(s) of the body. The fact that water can carry extreme hot and cold temperatures that influence the body's physiological responses is what really brings about the therapeutic benefits. A better term to describe what happens in hydrotherapy is really thermotherapy.