Cold Water Therapy

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Cold Water Therapy for Strength, Energy and Healing

On these long, hot summer days, I find myself looking for excuses to be in cold water -- and in fact, based on past conversations with Daily Health News contributing medical editor Rubman, ND, I know that there are many good ones that relate to health and well-being.

Dr. Rubman has studied the 19th-century European Kneipp and Priessnitz methods of cold water healing to improve circulation, promote lymphatic drainage and speed healing. In fact, all naturopathic physicians are formally trained in the use of hydrotherapy, which starts with two very simple premises: Heat relaxes and cold stimulates. Dr. Rubman told me that cold water is an excellent, fast and easy treatment for inflammation because it constricts veins while also making blood vessels less permeable. Heat, on the other hand, supports circulation and immunity and helps the body move cellular waste through the system.

COLD WATER WALKS

An easy and appealing (at this time of year at least) health ritual is to walk barefoot in cold water to stimulate your resistance to infection. If you live near the beach, you can wade at the water’s edge... or you can just walk in dewy morning grass. Though less spiritually invigorating, you could also do this by dangling your feet in a swimming pool... or filling your bathtub with cold water and "walking" in place for a few minutes. Use cool tap water (about 50° F or so).

Immediately afterward, put cotton socks over your damp feet, don shoes and walk some more to warm up your feet again. The process of cooling off then rewarming activates circulation, which helps your body mobilize to fight infection.

COLD SHOWERS & BATHS

Another good place to do hydrotherapy is right in your bathroom. Try a quick-shot cold shower to get circulation revved up -- when you’re done with washing, turn off the hot water briefly and run cool water first over your front and then your back, for about five seconds each.

After the cool showers get easier and more comfortable, you may want to consider trying a cold bath, which may help your body fight off a cold, if you feel one coming on. (Note: Do not do this if you have cardiovascular disease, peripheral vascular disease or are pregnant.) Again aiming for about 50° F, draw a cold bath in a warm bathroom with cotton pajamas, socks, a bathrobe and two towels ready. Climb into the cold water and stay for just five seconds, then get out and immediately put the pajamas and socks on your wet body. This creates a compress that starts cool, then turns warm. Over the pajamas, wrap your upper half in one towel, put on the robe, wrap your lower half with the other towel and climb in bed.

COMPRESS TECHNIQUE You can increase circulation to any part of your body that feels tired or is sore or bruised by covering it with a cold compress and then covering that with dry layers. The blood vessels in the affected area first constrict and then rebound and dilate, sending blood to the site you’ve cooled and then warmed via the compress. Once you feel warm again, you can take it off.

Here are some other ways you can use a cold compress:

Soothe a sore throat. Wring out a clean dish or hand towel in cold water, folding it in thirds lengthwise, and placing it over your throat. Cover the compress with another folded -- but dry -- dish or hand towel.

Help sprained ligaments or strained tendons and muscles to heal. Make a compress from a hand towel soaked in cold water. Wring it out, fold it in thirds lengthwise, wrap it around the sore area, wrap a dry bath towel over that and tie a wool scarf or ACE bandage around both towels to keep them in place. Be sure it is held firmly in place but is not so tight as to restrict circulation. Leave on overnight.

Cool down high fevers. Soak a sheet or tablecloth in cold water, wring it out and fold it lengthwise so it will cover your torso. Now wrap it from your underarms to your hips, then wrap that area with a large, dry bath towel. Climb in bed and cover up with warm blankets. Sitting upright in bed, sip some hot herbal tea flavored with a bit of fresh powdered ginger. This combination of hot tea inside your body and the slow warming compress on the outside should warm you further. You may even find that you begin to sweat, which can help break the fever.

COLD WATER FOR MINOR BURNS You can use hydrotherapy to treat minor burns, too. Either apply a cold compress or take a cool-water shower or bath, dry off and then put aloe vera onto the burn. If you have an aloe plant it’s best to break off a branch and use that -- if you don’t, use pure aloe vera gel. A cool bath is also a good way to soothe a painful sunburn -- try pouring in a half-cup of witch hazel for added relief.

For more information on hydrotherapy, Dr. Rubman recommends two of his favorite books -- Hydrotherapy Theory & Technique (Pine Island) by Barron, ND, and Rational Hydrotherapy (Kessinger) by Harvey Kellogg, MD.

Source(s): Rubman, ND, medical director, Southbury Clinic for Traditional Medicines, Southbury, Connecticut. www.naturopath.org

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