Hydrotherapy
Using water, you can heal yourself, from the inside out.
Hydrotherapy is a simple, gentle way to heal on many levels.
It refers to the use of water to heal. Hydrotherapy applications include baths, wraps, rinses, and simply drinking water! Long-term use can improve circulation, reduce hypertension, eliminate varicose veins, strengthen the nervous system, prevent injury and illness, and more.
Think of your blood as your body’s temperature regulation system. It is also your cells’ Instacart and garbage truck – delivering nutrients and removing waste. When you are too warm, your body sends your blood to the surface of your skin. There, it can evaporate and cool you down. This also protects your internal organs from getting too hot. You can live without a limb but definitely not without a heart (though some have tried)! Additionally, white blood cells and nutrients flow to the area. They can help cure infections and gather waste.
Warm Water
Warm water causes vasodilation. This sends blood to the area of application. Sometimes, this is exactly what we want. Warm applications are indicated for poor circulation, decreased metabolism, relaxation, and to help you achieve a fever to kill an infection. Most baths are warm.
Cool Water
The opposite is true for cool water. When you are too cold, the blood vessels in the skin of your arms and legs contract. This shunts blood to your internal organs. Even though your limbs are cold, your vital organs are warm, fed, and all cleaned up. Again, you can live without a limb but definitely not without a heart!
Cool water causes vasoconstriction. This removes blood from the area of application, to remove waste and reduce swelling. Cool applications are indicated for pain relief, inflammation, hypertension, metabolic syndrome, varicose veins, and more. Most wraps and rinses are cool.
Prices
- Fall/Winter Special
- 5-session Package
- Prevent Winter Illness (colds/flus)
- Help with Winter Blues (SADs)
- 5-Sessions
- Severe Conditions – 5 weeks recommended
- Chronic Conditions – every 2-3 weeks recommended
- Acute Conditions – 5 weeks recommended
- Try a session
- Use as maintenance after finishing a series
- Acute immune and cardiovascular stimulation
RESERVE YOUR HYDROTHERAPY VISIT TODAY
Contrast Hydrotherapy
“Contrast” refers to the difference between temperatures: you apply warm water first, followed by cool water. This is like taking your blood vessels to the gym. You train them how to properly behave in response to hot and cold stimuli. This is why we consider hydrotherapy a “tonifier” of the cardiovascular system.
Contrast hydrotherapy can help with circulation, peripheral arterial disease, diabetic neuropathy*, hypertension, chronic illness, colds and flu, and more.
The initial blood flow to the area by warm application delivers “good” white blood cells to the area. White blood cells repair damage from injury or infection. The vasoconstriction from subsequent cold application removes fluid from the area. This reduces swelling, pain, and varicosities.
Additionally, the contrast between temperatures causes a massive outflow of parasympathetic tone – which is the “rest, digest, and heal” part of the nervous system. It is thus very calming to the nervous system. That’s one reason it’s so healing: you can only heal in parasympathetic mode. Most people fall asleep on the table when receiving these treatments!
Constitutional Hydrotherapy, which we are excited about offering at Rebel Med Northwest for the first time, combines contrast hydrotherapy with gentle electrical stimulation to increase cellular metabolism.
Constitutional hydrotherapy is excellent for treating:
- Colds and flus
- Long COVID
- Stress
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Panic
- OCD
- Constipation
- Bloating
- Diarrhea
- Menstrual cramps
- Injury
- And more!
With time, your body learns how to regulate itself! Using water, you can heal yourself, from the inside out.
*Technically, hydrotherapy is contraindicated for diabetic neuropathy, because, by definition, people with this condition cannot tell how hot or cold a stimulus is. However, there are established temperatures at which we apply these applications. With a simple water thermometer and the careful monitoring of an experienced practitioner, we eliminate the variable of sensation.
Dr. Kathryn Hightower, ND has studied Kneipp hydrotherapy at the Kneipp Schule in Bad Worishofen, Germany. There, she accrued over 60 hours of training directly from the source. She also studied naturopathic hydrotherapy through her ND degree at Bastyr University, where she facilitated treatments for her classmates under the auspices of Nature Cure Club for 2 years.