Traditional Hydrotherapy

Important Points to be Observed With All Treatments

from Simple Remedies pages 2 and 3.

Many of the diseases listed are dangerous. Always check the diagnosis of acute conditions with your doctor.

Most doctors will not know about Hydrotherapy but unless there are some contraindications (reasons for not doing the treatment), these treatments will not cause harm.

If your doctor has a valid reason for not allowing Hydrotherapy please FOLLOW THE ADVICE.

The Room

• Warm
• Free of drafts
• No bright light in patient's eyes
• Protect furniture, rugs, bedding etc.
• Leave in same condition (or better) than when you found it.

The Treatment

• Think and plan ahead just what you intend to do
• Assemble all necessary articles before starting
• Spread drape sheet over bed before patient undresses
• Stay with patient or within easy calling distance
• Don't be too talkative
• Make your changes quickly
• Be neat; pick up and clean up as you work
• Be economical of time, linen, etc
• Return all materials to proper place

The Patient

• Must be warm to start (may use Hot Foot Bath, Covers etc)
• Must undress for most treatments
• When heating patient, use a cold compress to the head or neck
• Gain their confidence. Explain procedures, what is coming next and the effect desired.
• Don't sneak cold changes, unwarned.
• No unnecessary exposure (only the part under immediate treatment)
• Should be comfortable at all times (burns, falling, position etc.)
• Keep patient relaxed
• Dry thoroughly (feet, between toes, under arms etc.)
• Allow and demand rest period after treatment
• Avoid chilling
• Must be in state of heat conservation (no sweating) before dressing

These treatments are very safe if properly performed but...

Do not continue treatment indefinitely if there is no obvious improvement. In acute cases the response should be seen rapidly. Chronic problems may improve only slowly.

See the Doctor if:-

• the disease is Acute
• there is any threat to vital function ie.
  • difficulty breathing,
  • heart irregularities,
  • blocked circulation or continued bleeding,
  • blocked bowels or urination.
• there is no or slow improvement especially in acute cases
• the disease becomes worse
• the patient wants to see a doctor

I have given you the best of my advice and that of all those I gleaned it from, but it is only advice. If any problems develop as a result of using this advice, I would like to know, but I cannot accept responsibility for the outcome.

The remedies here have all, without exception, been used and recommended by many qualified Doctors of Medicine. In most cases they are more effective if treatment is begun early in the disease process.

If you find any mistakes or know of any improvements in treatment methods please Contact me.

These treatments DO work but must be applied correctly to correctly diagnosed problems. The procedures themselves have few adverse side effects, the major problem you may encounter is that of poor response, slow or no recovery. In these cases re-check the diagnosis and the procedure.

Prescription Writing

Dr Abbott's methods of working out how to treat problems

• Treatments that are disagreeable to the patient are rarely effective.
• Treatments on ambulatory patients should only take 45-50 minutes.
• Do not change the treatment too quickly, certainly not daily, only change treatment as the patient's condition changes or goals are reached.
• Proper combinations require personal supervision and a knowledge of physiology (normal and abnormal) and how to achieve the desired therapeutic effect.

Principles of Prescription:

• Apply as many procedures as possible, simultaneously.
• Treatments given on the table should precede treatments given in the wet rooms
• Milder procedures should be given first, those that produce the greatest reaction, last.
• Only one general tonic cold should be given during a single treatment session.
• Sweating treatments must be followed by a cooling application.
• Study the patient so that treatment is individualised and specific

Dr Abbott says...

Infants do not react well to either extreme heat or cold. Fortunately, however, they respond to milder temperatures in as decided a manner as adults do greater extremes.

Sources

The contents of Traditional Hydrotherapy were originally cards in a HyperHelper stack. On the left is the exit page of the original "Traditional Hydrotherapy". Below that is the front page of the first Traditional Hydrotherapy website.

Bruce began to put the stack together in 1992 for his own use. He wanted to know, quickly, what hydrotherapy treatment to use for his patients, or when asked for advice. It was based largely on the book, Simple Remedies for the Home by Clarence W. Dail, MD and Charles S. Thomas, PhD, MMI Press Harrisville, New Hampshire, 1985. This book is now out of print but a simpler version, by the same authors, is Hydrotherapy - Simple treatments for common ailments, Clarence Dail, MD and Charles Thomas, PhD, TEACH Services, Brushton, New York, 1989.

Other books used included:

• Home Remedies: Hydrotherapy, Massage, Charcoal, and Other Simple Treatments, Agatha Moody Thrash, MD and Calvin L. Thrash, Jr, MD, Thrash Publications, Seale Alabama.
• Natural Remedies A Manual, Phylis Austin, Agatha Thrash, MD, Calvin Thrash, MD, Family Health Publications, Sunfield Michigan, 1983
• More Natural Remedies, Phylis Austin, Agatha Thrash, MD, Calvin Thrash, MD, Thrash Publications, Seale Alabama.

Dr JH Kellogg's Prescriptions was finished in 1994. Bruce had begun it back in 1991 but Dr John Harvey Kellogg's Rational Hydrotherapy (e-book version or read online) had defeated him. It is the summary of Kellogg's "Hydriatic Prescription Making" section from the last half of that book.

Dr JH Kellogg's Hydriatic Techniques came next, finished in 1997, compiled from the "Treatment" section of Rational Hydrotherapy detailing each of the treatments and what they are used for. It compliments the prescription section and is like a second opinion.

Dr GK Abbott's Prescriptions, finished in early 2001, is more hydrotherapy, this time from the books of George Knapp Abbott:

• Principles and Practice of Hydrotherapy for Students and Practitioners of Medicine, George Knapp Abbott A.B., M.D. The College Press, Loma Linda CA 2nd Ed (circa 1920)
• Physical Therapy in Nursing Care, George Knapp Abbott, AB, MD, FACS Fred B Moor AB, MD and Kathryn L Jensen-Nelson RN, MA, Review and Herald Publishing Association, Takoma Park, Washington DC, 3rd Ed. 1945. The pictures on the left and various Techniques pages are from this book.

While compiling the two Kellogg programs Bruce assembled pertinent or over-the-top quotes from Dr Kellogg's book which appear at the top of the relevant pages. Enjoy!

For the complete and messy saga of how HyperHelper cards on the same topic were converted into webpages go to the Traditional Hydrotherapy blog and search under the "Making of" topic.