Naturopathic Treatment and Hydrotherapy are two different therapies.
However they compliment each other if used effectively by a skilled professional.
Hydrotherapy is the external application of water to the entire human body or a part of it for therapeutic purposes.
It generally is available as part of spa therapy and has evolved into a separate form of treatment.
People have bathed in natural hot springs (and cold bodies of water) since the beginning of recorded history.
Contemporary hydrotherapy pools are small, shallow, heated swimming pools.
Some are circular and use jet to make the water swirl around; others are rectangular.
The water is usually chlorinated, and the natural alkalinity of the tap water is sometimes reduced until the water is neutral.
The main advantage of hydrotherapy relate to buoyancy and to heating or cooling.
The human body is immersed in water is buoyed up.
Muscles need expert only a fraction of their normal effort to maintain a normal posture in the water.
A patient who is too weak to move an injured or convalescent limb without aid may be able to perform a full range of movements in a hydrotherapy pool.
Polio victims and paraplegics may derive great benefit from this form of physical therapy.
The body may be warmed or cooled by using water that is relatively hot or cold.
Hot water is initially stimulating, but then promotes muscular relaxation.
It reduces pain and improves circulation, increases muscle tone, reduce swelling after injury, and reduces muscular pain.
There are three basic ways of applying water.
The body or part may be immersed in it, as in various types of baths; water may be poured or sprayed on, as in a shower, or the water may be applied by an absorbent material such as a gauze compress or a sponge.