Hydrotherapy - 024

SPEAKER A The following program presents principles designed to promote good health and is not intended to take the place of personalised, professional care. The opinions and ideas expressed are those of the speakers. Viewers are encouraged to draw their own conclusions about the information presented. SPEAKER B Welcome to healthy living. I'm your host, Margot Marshall. Hydrotherapy has been used for thousands of years to bring relief from many ailments. Today, Dr. Eddie Ramirez explains hydrotherapy, and we'll show you some simple treatments that you can do at home. SPEAKER C Healthy Living is a 13 part production of 3ABN Australia television focusing on the health of the whole person, body, mind, and spirit. You'll learn natural lifestyle principles with practical health solutions for overall good health. SPEAKER B We're privileged today to have Dr. Eddie Ramirez help us understand the amazing benefits of hydrotherapy or water treatments, if you like. Welcome to the program, Eddie. SPEAKER D Thank you very much. SPEAKER B Really looking forward to having you tell us how to treat these ailments. SPEAKER D Well, hydrotherapy is something that has been used for long periods of time. In fact, I remember recently I had a long layover in England, and as I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with my time, my top two options ended up being Stonehenge and Bath, England, which is a place that Romans used to use for hydrotherapy. Fortunately, the closest one was Stonehenge. That's why I went there. But one of these days, I'll end up going to Bath. But anywhere you go, you always find these hot springs around the world. Yes, and people have realized there are benefits of using these hot springs. And what happens with hydrotherapy is that there is nothing magic about the water per se, but it is the manipulation of the heat through water. So some researchers actually have proposed that the correct name of this modality should be hydrothermotherapy, because you are manipulating heat with water. SPEAKER B Yes, that sounds like a really good way to call it. SPEAKER D The reason why this is so effective is that the largest organ in the body is the skin, and the skin has an effect on blood vessels and even internal organs, as we will be learning today. You're going to learn quite a bit of information, so I encourage you to stay tuned as we will be learning the principles of hydrotherapy. We even have some volunteers here that will help us apply this treatment so you can see how it's done. SPEAKER B Oh, excellent. SPEAKER D And when talking about the properties of water, let's just understand a small concept. There is a measurement of energy that we use in physics that is called the calorie. And in order to raise 1 water one degree, I'm going to be requiring one calorie. Okay. So water has the capacity to store tremendous amounts of energy. That is why water is so useful in hydrotherapy. For example, if you have ever been in a place where there is snow, you will notice that even though it snow a few days ago and the temperature is above zero degrees. Still, many times there is snow in the ground. How come that happens? Well, it's because you require, in order to melt 1 snow, in order to melt it into liquid, you're going to need 79.2 calories. See, you need lots of energy. The water is able to store this heat, and then the opposite also happens. And I'm sure many women that have been cooking, they have experienced this. They open the pan where the water is boiling, the steam comes up and what happens? SPEAKER B Oh, I know what happens. When we first got married, I wanted stainless steel saucepans. I was determined to have them and couldn't afford them straight away. So I thought, if I buy cheap saucepans, I won't want to throw them out. So I used basins, enamel basins with a plate on the top. Each time I would look in to see if it was cooked, that steam came out. And I just had burns on my arms for a long time before I figured out how to yes, it really does burn. SPEAKER D The reason why is because you are releasing 537 calories. So within less than a second, you will get a nice burn there as a result of steam converting from gas into liquid. So this is something very unique about water, the ability to concentrate that energy. SPEAKER B So that's escaping all that extra heat is just escaping out of the water. SPEAKER D That's right. As it converts from steam to water, it releases that energy. If your skin happens to be there, that energy goes ahead and hits your skin. That's why you get burned. And also we have another quality in hydrotherapy, which is called the conducting capacity. We can actually see this on the screen. The conducting capacity of water is 27 times more than of air. That's why if you are in 23 degrees centigrade outside, the day feels very nice, temperature is wonderful. Yet if you jump into a bathtub with 23 degrees, you're going to feel that it's quite chilly. You will feel very uncomfortable. How come you're comfortable outside in the air but not in the water? Because of the ability to transmit that much efficiently. SPEAKER B Well, that explains it really well, because you're right. I remember once doing some hydrotherapy and the pool was 16 degrees, and you wouldn't think that would be as cold as it is. SPEAKER D I tell you, yes, that is very cold. SPEAKER B Very cold. But in air temperature it's not. So the water has this capacity to conduct temperature. SPEAKER D That's right. Also, there is a law that we can have in mind when we are doing hydrotherapy treatments, and this is called Bandhoff law, which says that the velocity of any simple chemical reaction increases two to three times for each rise in ten degrees Celsius within a limited range. Basically, what this says is when things get warmer in the body, the internal functions of the body happen quickly. Why would we need this? We are blessed with something that is called fever. Fever. What it does, it raises the body temperature in order for the internal reactions of the body to happen better. So you're fighting a cold, for example. There are viruses all over your body. So the body, in order to make this killing of this virus more efficiently, what it does, it raises the energy. In that way, your immune system happens to run faster. Cells happen to consume the energy faster, and you actually see this in the respiration. That's why you breathe a little bit more when you have fever. And it was very interesting. I was in the immunology class when I was in medical school. The topic of the day was fever. And the professor was explaining with great detail why fever increases metabolism, increases the ability of the immune system to kill germs. Some germs actually don't like to be so hot, so you end up actually damaging some of the germs when the temperature goes up. So then I raised my hand and said, Professor, I have a question. So how come we remove the fever when somebody has fever? SPEAKER B What a good question. SPEAKER D He kind of stumbled a little bit. I didn't expect it. And basically what he says, well, it's tradition that we do that. And the thing of it is that you have to use common sense, but when you have a fever, you need to learn to work with the fever. It's a good idea to be measuring the temperature, make sure it doesn't go too high. Then we can get in trouble. And if you saw even Van HOF law, it says they're within a limited range. In other words, this is not infinitum. It has a certain limit. SPEAKER B So you're saying that the fever, when we get sick that's right. Our temperature goes up. It's the body's own way of helping you to deal with what's going on. SPEAKER D That's right. It's helping you aid with the problem. If you cut down the fever, the disease is going to extend farther. Okay? So be careful with that. Also be careful children that have had seizures and so forth. You don't want those children to be experiencing fever and so forth. Those are going to be very delicate instance. Bernie, how let's continue with the topic. There is something important about hydrotherapy, and that is management of temperature. In fact, ideally, when you do hydrotherapy, you actually should have a thermometer. That will be a good investment. Thermometers are actually not that expensive. It's just a matter of just having one handy so you could have good control of the temperature. And we actually have a little chart we want to share with you. And here you can see the different temperatures in hydrotherapy. We don't use very hot temperature above 40. Then we have hot. This one is the one we usually use. 38 to 40 warm, 32 to 38 neutral, which is the temperature of your skin, 34.5 to 36, tepe, 27 to 33, cool 2021 to 27. And then cold, 13 to 21, and very cold, zero to 13. SPEAKER B That's very now they're all Celsius. SPEAKER D That's right, they're all Celsius, those ones. So we're talking to Australians, so they can understand very well what we are saying. Now, my point is that very hot temperatures we don't use in hydrotherapy, they're excellent. If you have a chicken and you want to remove the feathers, they work wonderfully for that. But for hydrotherapy, you do not use that. Also, I want you to use common sense. A child, you cannot give too much range of temperature. Somebody very yield, you cannot give too much of a temperature change. SPEAKER B So not too hot and not too that's right. You just bring that margin closer to the neutral. SPEAKER D Somebody very elderly, you don't do that. So have common sense when you are applying these principles that you may not cause trouble. Hydrotherapy is not righteousness. By works, it doesn't mean that you have to be burned in order to get the benefit. So it needs to feel good. In fact, somebody applying hydrotherapy needs to be a good communicator. As you are talking to the person that the treatment is being applied, the person needs to be giving you feedback, yes, it's too hot, no, it's not hot enough, and so forth. Then let's go quickly through the effects of heat and the effects of cold. That's the reason why we do that change. If you notice, blood flow will increase with the heat and so does inflammatory response spasm. Actually, both of them will decrease spasm hemorrhage. Heat will increase that and edema also. And the last thing that is important, heat will bring blood to the surface. Cold will send the blood from the skin down to the internal organs. That's why in hydrotherapy, as a general rule, you always finish the hydrotherapy treatment with cold, even when you're taking your hot shower in the morning. It is a great idea, if you can actually finish that treatment with cold. SPEAKER B Water to send the blood back where it belongs. SPEAKER D That's right, you send the blood back where it belongs. So let's talk a little bit about one of the prototype of the treatments, which is called the hot food bath. We can see in the screen that depends what we want to accomplish if we want to use it as stimulant. Let's say in the day, you want to start your day in a good way. You can do a hot foot bath from three to five minutes, hot, followed by cold within 30 to 1 minute, 30 seconds to 1 minute, then sedative. At the end of the day, you have a headache, you want to relax, so forth, six to ten minutes. And the heat should be mild heat, not very, very hot, but just nice and comfortable so that the person can enjoy it much better. And also what do you use this for? Well, there are many applications about it. For example, we have the fact that the organs are connected to the rest of the body. So for example, your feet are connected to your pelvic organs, your lungs, your sinuses and your brain means that things that are related to that can be benefited by that. For example, you've been working the whole day. You have a congestion headache from so much thinking, you have this headache. Hot food bat will be a fabulous therapy to apply. So let us ask our volunteers to show us how you do one of these hot food bats and we will see that on screen. So we have the therapist measuring the temperature of the water. Remember we said that we need to make sure the temperature is correct. Then the patient sits down, he needs to feel comfortable. It's a nice idea to cover him up so that we can warm the body more efficiently. And it's nice to have a little towel so that if sweat is coming down, we can actually capture it. When you have the right temperature, you can also test the water with your elbow and then you can put the feet on the water. You talk to the patient how is the temperature? Be sure that you are communicating well. You cover him up well so that the treatment can conduct that heat correctly. It's a good idea to put a cold cloth on the head so the head doesn't get too hot. But the rest of the body does get warm and you wait depending. Remember how long you want to apply the application. Five minutes, ten minutes, depending on the purpose. And then it's a good idea to do contrast. We said that coal brings the cold water there. If you need to put higher temperature on the water, you always lift the feet, as she just did, add the hot water, then you put the feed there. SPEAKER B The water does tend to cool over time. SPEAKER D That's right, it cools down. So it's a good idea to do. SPEAKER B That temperature up there. SPEAKER D Then once you have been satisfied with the time, then as we said, you always finish with some cold water and that's what she is doing. If it's for relaxation purposes, the water is not going to be that cold. Or you can actually put your feet on a basin that has actually cold, cold water, ice cold water. But that will be like more type of stimulating to start the day and so forth. And after treatment, make sure the patient has enough covering, make sure there's no drafts in the room. And it is a good idea to rest 1530 minutes as the person is receiving this therapy. As you can see, it is actually quite simple and effective. SPEAKER B Very doable, very doable. I've done those and they are very, very potent for a congestive headache. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER B Amazingly, probably 20 minutes or so. And the blood just seemed to be relieved from the head and it's wonderful. SPEAKER D Also for menstrual pain, fabulous treatment for that. Okay, we said the feet are connected to the pelvic organs. This is not reflexology, this is called reflex effect. And let's go briefly through some of these reflex effects. So, for example, in your feet, as we said, we have a connection between brain, nasal area, lungs and pelvic organs. This is something we can actually measure in a physiology laboratory. This is no hocus pocus type of thing. There's science behind this. That's the reason why when you walk barefooted, when the floor is cold, you actually are going to get a little stuffy, nose and so forth. SPEAKER B Also, I have a friend who if her feet get cold, she starts sneezing. SPEAKER D That's right, because of that reflex effect. Also, the area around your face, that one is also related to the brain area and so does the back of the neck. When you apply hot or cold, you are doing an effect towards the head also. So also if you have a congestion headache, that could have that effect. Also, when you have the areas of the upper body, such as the right lower upper abdomen, that one is related to the liver. And if you go to the other area, which is on the left, on the upper abdomen, that area is related to the spleen. Also, the lower back is related to the kidneys. So I'm hoping you're taking notes because this is going to be quite a lot of information. The central part of your abdomen, that one is related to the kidneys and ureters. So if you want to do an application of heat and cold, that's what you would apply. Then. Also the area that is called the perineal area, which is the area between your anus and your genital organs, that area is related to the prostate in the case of the males and is related to the female organs in the case of the females. So you can do what is called a sits bat, the same way that we apply that hot food bat just to the pelvic areas and in that way you can get some benefit from that. Also, if you have nervous problems, for example, a diabetic has issues with the nerves on their feet. Beware of that. In fact, it's contraindicated to do treatments on a diabetic feet as they don't feel the heat and you can actually burn them and then it end up being worse than that. SPEAKER B So Dr. Eddie, that demonstration we just saw of a hot footbath, you're saying that wouldn't be a good thing to do on someone with diabetes. SPEAKER D That's right, that will be contraindicated or. SPEAKER B Someone who had poor circulation or what else? SPEAKER D That's right, people that have very bad varys varicose veins, that would also be one of the contraindications. Also we have the skin over the breast. Those ones are related to the pelvic organs. And so does the skin above the abdomen. That one is related in general to the whole intestines. And finally the area around the heart. That one also has an effect towards the heart. So as you can see. SPEAKER B Well, that's good. That's not hard to remember. I can remember the heart relates to the heart. SPEAKER D There are many areas in the body. So how are we going to get there? Well, we can use a modality called defamentation. And deformmentation is an effective way of applying moist heat. Not only for the internal organs, as we were talking about the different areas of the body, but also whenever you get an injury, for example, you get a sprain in a hand or so. What we want first, we want to apply what is called the rice. And rice is the word for rest, ice, compression, elevation. For the first two, three days, while the body is trying to control things up, the best thing you can do is to apply ice. If you apply heat, the blood vessels that are broken, you will create a big hematoma and so forth. SPEAKER B Yeah, bruising. So don't use heat when you've just had that kind of an injury. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER B Bleeding or any bruising. SPEAKER D So you want to apply eyes there. Then after that, then you apply the moist heat. So let us see an example. We're going to ask our volunteers to show you how you can do very easily hot fermentation. So you need a microwave, you need a towel. And that towel is wet. It's ring very well. It's put on a plastic bag and then you put it in the microwave. SPEAKER B I think we can see it there in the microwave. SPEAKER D That's right, it's inside the microwave. Right now the patient gets on the bed and then it's a good idea to cover him in his case. His problem that we're simulating here is a fact of he has a little bit of congestion in the chest. So we make the person comfortable. It's a good idea to apply some heat in the feet. You can actually put the feet also in hot water at the same time. You're doing that with the same methodology. It's a good idea to pray before the application. By personal experience, I can tell you it is much more efficient. When you do that very carefully, it can be very hot. You get that fermentation. You use some hot type of fabric. Okay. SPEAKER B Now they're going to put a barrier between the hot. SPEAKER D That's right, burn the patient. You apply the moist heat. SPEAKER B See that steam coming off? SPEAKER D She's using a wool fabric, which is fabulous for that purpose. And then you apply a towel. You communicate with the patient. If it is too hot, you need to ask, you add another layer. Be careful. Males, sometimes they tend not to speak very much. Make sure you ask them if you notice it's nice and red. So then you apply between the transition. A nice application of cold, it could be all the way. SPEAKER B Was it that steam didn't last very long? Probably three. SPEAKER D That's right, two, three minutes, depending on how thick the fabric is, is how long the application is going to last. SPEAKER B So you need to keep and you. SPEAKER D Need to have another fermentation ready in the microwave while you apply that. SPEAKER B And you could do that two, three, four times. SPEAKER D That's right. You can do three, four, five times this. So how long you're going to leave? It depends on how warm the fabric is that is carrying the heat. You can even put your hand underneath so you can be testing to make sure that it's nice and warm. You always finish with cold. She has ice cold water. And you quickly rub over the area that you have done in order to send the water there. Make sure you dry it so the person feels comfortable and it is important. Cover up the patient and let him rest. And you can also close with a word of prayer. Make sure the patient is comfortable, then leave him there in the room. Make sure that he is resting enough and make sure that you keep those communication, the communication open if there's any uncomfortableness and so forth. And as a general rule, if you are uncomfortable with something, don't do it. For safety, you'd say, well, what about that problem? Should I apply it? Yes or no? If you're not comfortable, please don't do it. SPEAKER B But where else might you apply that kind? SPEAKER D You can apply this for pain in joints, for pain with nerves. Like somebody has problems with arthritis. That's right. You would apply it like in the hands if a person has some arthritic type of pain, muscle tension works wonderfully on your back insomnia. You apply this before going to bed. This will relax the back. SPEAKER B Where would you apply it for insomnia? Whereabouts on the body would you on. SPEAKER D The chest will be a good application. And also if you have problems like pneumonia bronchitis, you can actually apply a double one on your chest in the back as you're taking your normal treatment. This can complement things also to produce sweating in case you want to remove certain substance, somebody's trying to stop smoking and so forth. And also warming up before a massage. This will be a fabulous application. Then the therapist can just work on those nice warm muscles. As you can see, very useful and very simple to apply these principles. I hope you try them out. SPEAKER B Thank you for that. Excellent information, Eddie, and you're well qualified to share it with us. Thank you. SPEAKER D Well, since the 1990s, I became certified by the State of California to allow me to teach hydrotherapy principles. And I've done it in literally all over the world, from Africa to America to Asia, and now here, now here in Australia. SPEAKER B And we're very privileged. Thank you so much. Well, we hope that you'll tap into these water therapies and experience their benefits. We've certainly tried to make them very simple for you. And if you want to watch our programs on demand, just visit our website. That's at 3abnaustralia.org.au you just click on the watch button and then you can view our programs at any time. Please join us next time. God bless. SPEAKER D You’ve been listening to a production of 3ABN Australia television.