AN EVIDENCE-BASED NEW INSIGHT INTO TREATMENT OF DISEASES BY HYDROTHERAPY

Hydrotherapy or hydropathy is nothing but external or internal use of any form of water (i.e., water, ice, steam) for health promotion or treatment of various diseases with varying temperatures, pressure, duration, and site of application. It is one of the well known naturopathic treatments used widely in ancient cultures including India, Egypt, China, and other Asian countries. Many studies were conducted to understand the physiological and therapeutic effects of hydrotherapy on different organs, but the effect of hydrotherapy was not explored in many organs till. The main objective of this review is to report the scientific evidence-based effects of hydrotherapy on various physiological systems which are not reported yet. The review was conducted and found that hydropathy has therapeutic value and capacity to improve various physiological functions in some diseases and disorders. Diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis required a long period of treatment to cure by using allopathic medicine, whereas using hydrotherapy can reduce the duration of treatment. Moreover, if the combination of both medication and hydropathy is given to the patient, it will be more beneficial. The main advantages of hydrotherapy over allopathic treatment are nontoxic as well as economic. Based on the available literature this review suggested that the hydrotherapy has a scientific evidence-based effect on various systems of the body. It also revealed the fact that hydropathy was not explored clinically much and there is a huge scope for the researchers to establish the cellular level mechanism of hydropathy.