The hipbath is one of the most useful forms of hydrotherapy. As the name suggests, this mode of treatment involves only the hips and the abdominal region below the navel. A special type of tub is used for the purpose. The tub is filled with water in such a way that it covers the hips and reaches up to the navel when the patient sits in it. Generally, four to six gallons of water are required. If the special tub is not available, a common tub may be used. A support may be placed under one edge to elevate it by two or three inches. Hipbath is given in cold, hot, neutral or alternate temperatures.
IMPORTANT PRECAUTIONS:
Certain precautions are necessary while taking these therapeutic baths. Full baths should be avoided within three hours after a meal and one hour before it. Local baths like the hipbath and footbath may, however, be taken two hours after a meal. Clean and pure water must be used for baths and water once used should not be used again. While taking baths, temperature and duration should be strictly observed to obtain the desired effects. A thermometer should always be used to measure the temperature of the body. Women should not take any of the baths during menstruation. They can take only hipbaths during pregnancy till the completion of the third month.
Types of Hydrotherapy
- Full Immersion Bath: One of the simplest forms of hydrotherapy, available in nearly every home because of the bathtub, is the immersion bath. Depending on the temperature of the water, these baths are called neutral or cold, cool, and hot.
- Sitz Bath: A sitz bath is a method of applying water to the mid-portion of the body, especially to the perineum and the areas adjacent to it. The temperature of the water may be as low as 8C/46F. and as high as 40C/104F. At these extremes, exposure will be brief. Since one of the chief values of a sitz bath is prolonged application of water at a comfortable temperature, the bath is usually given in the range of 36 to 40C – 96F to 104F.
- Neutral Bath: Because the temperature of the major part of the body’s surface is about 33C/93F., water at a similar temperature produces comparatively little change in the body’s physiology. Likewise, a variation of a few degrees either below or above this temperature exerts but little influence on the body’s activity. The range of relative thermal indifference lies between about 90F/32C and 97F/36C.; within this range, the production and loss of heat is relatively small, and there is no definite impression of heat or of cold. For this reason, a bath at these temperatures is particularly suitable for cleansing purposes and also for underwater exercise. Their duration may be fifteen to thirty minutes.
- Hot Bath: An immersion bath with the water temperature ranging between 96F/35C and 105F/40C. feels decidedly hot. At such temperatures loss of heat from the body’s surface is stopped, except from the protruding head. At the same time, the body is heated by conduction and therefore the temperature of the entire body will rise. The immersion bath is a rapid means of producing artificial fever. Its efficiency is so great that it may prove a dangerous method for the maintenance of prolonged temperature elevation. Short periods of immersion may cause comparatively little dislocation of the temperature level. Baths lasting two to fifteen minutes are employed in the treatment of chronic rheumatic manifestations in joints, fibrous tissue, and muscles; for the relief of muscle spasm, and of colic in the gastric, intestinal, gall bladder, or urinary tracts. Excellent results are obtained by hot water baths in clients suffering from chronic arthritis. It is recommended that the client be placed in a tub with the water at about body temperature. After immersion the temperature is increased to the point at which it produces maximum muscle relaxation (about 101F/38C to 104F/40C.); it is then gradually lowered to the level found most comfortable for the client (between 96F/35C and 98F/36C.). Underwater massage should be applied while the client is in the tub; motion should also be encouraged; first passive, then active, and later resistive. Because of its severity, this type of bath should not be administered to clients with diseases, such as those involving the heart and arteries or the central nervous system.
- ColdBath: Acoldimmersionbathwhosetemperaturevariesfrom50F/10Cto 70F/21C. may be used, but for very short periods of time (four seconds to three minutes) during which the body should be briskly rubbed by the client himself or by an attendant. After the bath, the client should be briskly rubbed with a towel and dried quickly. Because of the vigorous reaction, which it produces, this bath should be given only to robust individuals. In such persons, it causes a feeling of general exhilaration; the circulation becomes more rapid and the appetite is stimulated. If chills develop, the client should be promptly removed from the bath. The cold bath is used as a metabolic stimulant, for obesity, and for atonic states. It should not be administered to very young or very old persons.
- Contrast Bath: One way to influence the peripheral circulation is by applying evocative stimuli to the skin. One of the simplest methods is by surrounding parts of the body with water at different temperatures. A contrast bath consists of two water containers, each large enough to hold two legs. Into one container is poured enough cold water to cover the immersed leg, and the other container is filled with hot water. Since the total duration of treatment is relatively short, thermostatic control of the water temperature is not required. The cold water may be held at a level of about 10C/50F to 16C/61F. and the hot water at 38C/100F to 44C/111F. The leg or legs are first placed in the hot water for four to six minutes and then at once in the cold water for one to two minutes. For the client to end treatment with a feeling of comfort, the final immersion should be in the hot water. Contrast baths are used to stimulate local circulation in limbs without obstructive vascular pathology.
About the Author
- Joseph Then in 365 Tips for Healthy Living
- Reinhard R. Bergel, Ph.D. in Hydrotherapy Theoretical Background: Physiology of the Skin
- image source: http://harborislandspas.net/
