HYDROTHERAPY: Therapeutic showers | Charcot shower | Rain shower
HYDROTHERAPY: Therapeutic showers.
Hydrotherapy - [from buckwheat ύδρο-, hydor - water and θεραπία, therapía - care, treatment] - water treatment, - external application of fresh water (tap water, river water, lake water, rainwater) in the form of baths, showers, wipes, wraps.
Shower - one of the methods of hydrotherapy, water therapy procedures in which the body is affected by water in the form of a jet or many jets of dosed temperature and pressure. As a hydrotherapy (hydrotherapy) procedure at the spa, showers are released in the shower room of the hydrotherapy clinic, equipped with a shower department.
The forces of mechanical influence of the massage jet on the tissues are metered, firstly, by means of a different cross-section of the massage hose nozzles, secondly, by changing the size of the gap (the distance between the outlet opening of the nozzle and the patient's body surface), and thirdly, by changing the direction of the jet (at an acute angle - the effect is more superficial, at the perpendicular direction - deeper). Water during the procedures is supplied under pressure from 0.3 to 4 atm.
Therapeutic effect:
Tonic, vasodilating, immunostimulating, sedative, antispasmodic, trophic.
You can tell by the temperature:
showers with a constant water temperature
- cold (below 20 ° C),
- cool (up to 34 ° C),
- indifferent (35-37 ° C),
- warm (38-39 ° C),
- hot (40°C and above),
showers with variable water temperatures (10-25 ° C and 45 ° C).
The following showers are distinguished by their intensity: dust shower, rain shower, needle shower, fan shower, circular shower, jet shower (Charcot shower, Scottish shower).
Fan shower - a method of action on the human body with water passing through a special nozzle of the shower department. The technique is the same as for the Sharko shower.
Vichy Shower - a method of action on the human body, based on a combination of the effects of water and methods of manual massage in four hands under the jets of water. At the end of the XIX century. at many foreign resorts - Aachen, Aix-Les-Les-Bains, Vichy - there was a new procedure - massage underwater jets. The prototype of the modern Vichy shower - massage under the jets of water on a sloping couch, - introduced Dr. Forestier Henri, director of the thermal center in the French resort of Aix-les-Bains.
A few years later, the resort of Vichy was patented shower under the jets of water on a special horizontal couch. The modern Vichy shower has up to 10 adjustable pressure heads, the choice of which depends on the desired effect and comfort for the patient: rain, needle, and dust. As in the 19th century, massage underwater jets are most often performed by two masseurs.
Rising (crotch) shower - a method of influencing the human body with the water of various temperatures (warm, indifferent, cool, cold), passing through a rain nozzle directed vertically upwards.
Rainshower - a method of influence on the human body with water passing through the shower net and falling from above, which has a light soothing and toning effect.
Needle-shower - a method of influencing the human body with water passing through the shower net, in each hole of which metal tubes with a diameter of 0.5-1 mm are inserted, forming sharp parallel jets.
Cascade shower - (French cascade - natural or artificial waterfall, overhanging ledges) - a method of influence on the human body with water, as a rule, cold, falling from a height of up to 2.5 m, which has a toning effect.
Contrast shower - (French contraste - sharply expressed opposite) - a method of action on the human body with an alternation of hot (up to 45 ° C) and cold (up to 18 ° C) water.
Shower-massage underwater - a method of action on the human body, based on a combination of water and massage techniques. It is carried out in a bath of 400-600 liters or in a special pool at water temperatures up to 35-37 ° C. The body is massaged with a jet of water supplied under the necessary pressure on an elastic hose by means of a special device.
Underwater shower-massage is offered as a special method of spa treatment by Russian doctor I.A. Bendersky. According to I.A. Bendersky, the advantage of such massage is that in warm water muscle relaxation takes place and the massage becomes more effective. In addition, under a sufficient layer of water decreases intra-abdominal pressure, and the water jet massages not only the front abdominal wall but also internal organs.
The first announcement about the method was published in the newspaper "Doctor" № 16, 1915. Underwater shower-massage is performed according to the general rules of massage, directing the jet from the periphery to the center, massaging first the extremities, then the torso (excluding the heart area and sexual organs).
Apply underwater shower-massage in diseases of metabolism, diseases, and injuries of joints, muscles, tendons, peripheral nervous system, in sports medicine.
Steam shower - a method of action on the human body with a jet of steam under pressure up to 1-1.5 at a temperature of 40-50 ° C at the body surface and the subsequent wrap.
Dust shower - a method of action on the human body with water passing through a special tip and spraying water in the form of fine water dust falling on the human body.
Shower circular - (lat. circulus - circle) - a method of influencing the human body with water passing through a system of vertical tubes, which are located circularly around the patient. Each tube has a lot of holes in the whole height, from which under pressure out streams of water aimed at the patient standing in the center of the circle. The patient is exposed to thin jets of water from almost all sides over the entire height of the body. A circular shower has a strong tonic effect, activates the excitation processes in the central nervous system.
Charcot shower - a method of action on the human body with water in the form of massage of the body surface with a dense jet (fan and compact) at a pressure of up to 2-3 atmospheres, alternately directed at the patient. At the end of XIX, century hydrotherapy was theoretically grounded, methods of hydrotherapy were improved as well.
One of the popular and effective methods of hydrotherapy - Charcot shower - is named after French neurologist and psychiatrist Jean Martin Charcot. In 1868, he worked on multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, spinal trauma, and justified the psychogenic cause of hysteria.
The main indications for the Charcot shower: functional and organic diseases of the nervous system, diseases of the musculoskeletal system.
Shower Scottish - a method of exposure to water in the form of two dense jets of water of contrasting temperatures (up to 10-25 ° C and 37-45 ° C) at a pressure of up to 2-3 atmospheres, alternately directed at the patient (when the water is directed to the chest and area of the genitals of the dense jet is broken into a fan).
Flower shower Fleary - a method of action on the human body with water in the form of a scattered jet, imitating the shape of a fan. The technique of the procedure is the same as in the Charcot shower. The effect of the fan shower on the body is softened by cutting off the water jet, although the basic conditions do not change. Water temperature is reduced from 35 °C to 25 °C, the pressure is increased from 1-1.5 to 2.5-3 atmospheres, duration of the procedure does not exceed 3 minutes.
The physiological effect of the therapeutic showers depends on the force of mechanical irritation - the impact of water, "hardness" of the jet and the volume of water supplied to the human body is a unit of time, as well as the degree of deviation of the water temperature from the so-called indifferent temperature. Temperature and mechanical irritation due to skin and visceral reflexes determine the vascular response in the organs related to those metamers (segments) whose skin is exposed. For example, cooling of the skin of the chest causes narrowing of lung vessels, warming of the lumbar region - expansion of kidney vessels.
Healing showers with contrast temperature, directing the blood flow to the skin, and into the depths of the body, train microcirculatory processes, normalize blood pressure, increase the contractile function of the myocardium, stimulate all types of metabolism, cause physiological training of the mobility of major nervous processes.
Therapeutic showers, especially circular ones, at cold temperatures and high water jet pressure have a pronounced excitatory effect. People with predominant excitatory processes over the inhibitory, as well as with pronounced authorization poorly tolerate this procedure.
At many spas in the open spa area, there are many types of therapeutic showers. One passes through a labyrinth of shower cubicles, which are often beaten by the themed architecture of grottoes.
The first stage is the impact on the areas responsible for cerebral blood supply: rain showers on the parietal, occiput, cascade showers on the neck, and cervical collar areas.
The second stage is a circular shower, which massages the thoracic and lumbar spine, abdominal, thigh, and buttocks area.
The procedure is completed, most often, by an ascending shower, which affects the areas of the crotch, pelvis.
Indications and contraindications for the use of therapeutic showers.
Indications and contraindications for the use of therapeutic showers determined by the doctor treating the sanatorium.
The therapeutic showers are shown
Practically healthy:
- for hardening,
- fatigue relief, stress relief,
- for sleep disorders,
- for cosmetic reasons.
Therapeutic souls are used for many diseases:
Diseases of the circulatory system: hypertensive disease, coronary heart disease, consequences of myocarditis, neurocirculatory dystonia, peripheral arteries, veins, lymphatic vessels,
- Diseases of the musculoskeletal system;
- Effects of peripheral and central nervous system injuries;
- Diseases of the digestive organs;
- Metabolic disturbance;
- Gynecological diseases: menstrual cycle disorders, menopausal neurosis;
- Diseases of the skin;
- Chronic non-specific lung diseases;
- Chronic fatigue.
Contraindications to the use of therapeutic showers
Contraindications for jet showers:
- ischemic heart disease,
- urolithiasis,
- calculous cholecystitis,
- pregnancy,
- hysteria,
- atherosclerosis of brain vessels.