hydropathy

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hy·drop·a·thy

(hī-drop'ă-thē),

The obsolete use of water to treat and cure disease.

Farlex Partner Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012

hydropathy

(hī-drŏp′ə-thē)

n. pl. hydropa·thies

Internal and external use of water as a therapeutic treatment for all forms of disease.

hy′dro·path′ic (hī′drə-păth′ĭk), hy′dro·path′i·cal adj.

hy·drop′a·thist, hy′dro·path′ n.

hydrotherapy

(1) A modality for treating certain diseases (hydropathies) by applying water either externally (as an external "pressor”) or internally (to impart physical energy to tissues). As thus defined, hydrotherapy dates to ancient China, Greece and Rome, and consists of the use of steam, hot or cold water or ice to maintain and/or restore health by immersion in baths, saunas, or other forms of hydration—either externally, in the form of baths or compresses, or internally (e.g., colonic irrigation or enemas). Hydrotherapy is loosely based on the physiological responses to cold (vasoconstriction, pallor, gooseflesh, shivering, increased pulse, shallow and rapid respiration and cooling of skin) and to heat (vasodilation, redness, slowed followed by quickened pulse, sweating, nervous excitation and increased muscle irritability), and the subsequent responses to each.

Anecdotal reports suggest that hydrotherapy may be beneficial for patients with acne, adenoids, AIDS, anaemia, anorexia, anxiety, arthritis, asthma, bedwetting, bladder problems, bronchitis, bruises, bunions, burns, bursitis, cancer, chickenpox, chronic fatigue syndrome, circulatory defects, claustrophobia, colds, conjunctivitis, cramps, croup, cystitis, depression, fever, fissures, fluid retention, gallstones, gastrointestinal tract problems (e.g., anal changes, gastritis, nausea, vomiting, indigestion, constipation, diarrhoea and irritable bowl syndrome), gout, headaches, heat rash, haemorrhoids, hypertension, infertility, insomnia, jaundice, jet lag, laryngitis, low back pain, measles, menopause, menstrual disorders, migraines, painful conditions (including neuralgia), mood swings, muscle weakness, neurological complaints, obesity, panic attacks, parasites, periodontal disease, phobias, postpartum depression, premenstrual syndrome, prostate disease, rheumatic disease, sexually transmitted infection, slipped or prolapsed vertebral disks, psoriasis, renal disease, sciatica, sinusitis, sleep disorders, sports injuries, stasis (decubitus) ulcers, stress, tension, urinary incontinence, vertigo, wheezing, whooping cough and other conditions.

(2) Hydration (therapy).
(3) Balneotherapeutics (bath therapy).

hydropathy

A form of ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE in which water with alleged medicinal properties is used either externally or internally to try to cure disease or improve health.

Collins Dictionary of Medicine © Robert M. Youngson 2004, 2005

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References in periodicals archive ?

Figure 2 shows the models that are obtained when 10x10 submatrices and the physicochemical property "Hydropathy index" are used.

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Yu et al., "New technique: protein sequence analysis based on hydropathy profile of amino acids," Journal of Zhejiang University: Science B, vol.

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We investigated the effect of the mutation on the hydropathy of PCSK9.

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The method by Kyte and Duolittle (1982) was used to find the hydropathy plots.

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His treatment attempts (chloride of gold, phosphate of zinc, strychnine, nitrate of silver, hydropathy, belladone, arsenic, ergot of rye, bromide of potassium, galvanic and faradic stimulation) were of poor value.

Jean-Martin Charcot: 1825-1893

When two of Jacob's grandchildren moved to New York and became involved in Fourierian socialism, feminism, hydropathy, free love, and other activities, their southern relatives, Christian and Jewish alike, found them to be outrageously radical and dangerous because they went counter to their belief in middle-class respectability.

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1880 there were books displaying a depth of interest in hydropathy and health care.

A history of the Turkish Bath at Mt Wilson in the Blue Mountains NSW

He found some relief in hydropathy. He sits in an outbuilding in the garden and douses himself with cold water, even in winter.

Darwin thinks

More than 100 towns in Germany and Austria contain the word bad or "bath" in their names and Father Sebastian Kneipp, whose late-eighteenth-century water treatments are still practiced throughout the world today, hailed from the neighboring Bavaria region of Germany, Separated from Austria by just a few mountain ranges, his hydropathy technique known as Kneipp's Cure or Kneipping quickly spread across the border and became a popular phenomenon.

Go with the flow: an Austrian spin on hot tubs

Diet was at the heart of this but there was an appetite, too, for a wide mix of other pursuits that challenged convention: hydropathy (a treatment for ills based on the stimulant of cold water), mesmerism, phrenology, astrology, pacifism and celibacy.

J.E.M. Latham. Search for a New Eden. James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842): the Sacred Socialist and his Followers

His preferred treatment for these and other disorders was hydropathy, or the "water-cure."