Water Cure

The Water Cure (also known as the Kneipp Cure or hydrotherapy) was created in 1816 by a Vincenz Priessnitz,File:Wikipedia's W.svg a peasant farmer in Austria. The water cure was later developed and popularized in the 1880s by Father Sebastian Kneipp.[2][3] Fereydoon BatmanghelidjFile:Wikipedia's W.svg later published puff pieces on the water cure in a journal he runs himself.[4] It was accepted as part one of many cure-all treatments in the early days of naturopathy.[5] It has since mostly fallen into disfavor.

How Jesus made wine
Water woo
Suckers getting soaked
v - t - e
Not to be mistaken with the torture method of the same name, now known as waterboarding.
“”a lot of children who drink soft drinks actually become ‘stupid’, but once you take the soft drink away from them, their grades improve tremendously
—Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, NaturalNews[1]
Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of World War I fame), Father Sebastian Kneipp (left-to-right) enjoying barefoot snow therapy

Hydropathic organisations did accept women before actual medical schools admitted female students.[6] Historically they treated female patients with respect.[6]

In modern-day non-woo medicine, the term "hydrotherapy" more often refers to physical therapy done in water. Of course NaturalNews is promoting the woo version,[7] even worse they proclaim it a cure to AIDS.[8] Also screw credentials, you don't need a license to practice the hydropathy.[6]

How

Treatments include: covering with wet sheets, foot baths (cold or warm), half-baths (cold or warm), whole-baths (cold or warm), head baths, eye baths, vapor (steam) baths, shower-baths, ablutions, bandages, walking barefoot in the snow, and water drinking. Herbal medicine and diet (bran bread or Kneippbrød, soup and mead) are also used.[3]

You see according to most American hydropaths, the water cure is best applied externally on the skin.[6] Even though skin isn't very good at absorbing water.[9]

Incidentally, hydrotherapy is probably, at least in part, the basis for the old cartoon cliché in which a character suffering from the cold is treated with a heated foot bath.

Aliments that are allegedly cured:

List:[3]

  • abscesses
  • apoplexy (cerebral hemorrhage)
  • asthma
  • AIDS[4]
  • bed-wetting
  • bladder diseases
  • blood decomposition
  • blood poisoning
  • vomiting blood
  • intestinal complaints
  • bowel inflammation
  • brain disease
  • brain inflammation
  • burns
  • catarrh
  • chlorosis (hypochromic anemia)
  • cholera
  • colic
  • consumption (tuberculosis)
  • costiveness (constipation)
  • cramps
  • croup (respiratory viral infection)
  • weakness
  • delirium tremens
  • diarrhea
  • diptheria
  • dropsy
  • dysentery
  • ear diseases
  • epilepsy
  • erysipelas (streptococcal dermititis)
  • cataracts
  • fever
  • giddiness
  • gout
  • hemorrhoids
  • hoarseness
  • hypochondriasis
  • influenza
  • insanity
  • kidney problems
  • knee tumors
  • lumbago (low back pain)
  • emphysema
  • melancholy
  • nervous disorders
  • perspiration
  • rheumatism
  • Saint Vitus's dance (Sydenham's chorea)
  • scarlet fever
  • sciatica
  • insomnia
  • smallpox
  • stomach acidity
  • stomach tumors
  • tetters (various skin diseases)
  • typhus
  • ulcers
  • difficulty urinating
  • vaccination side-effects
  • worms
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References
  1. Sodas cause dehydration Natural News
  2. Meine Wasser-Kur, durch mehr als 30 Jahre erprobt und geschrieben zur Heilung der Krankheiten und Erhaltung der Gesundheit by Sebastian Kneipp, Jos. Kösel, 1899.
  3. My Water-Cure: Tested For More Than 40 Years by Sebastian Kneipp. 3rd English edition translated from the 36th German edition. Jos. Kösel, 1894.
  4. The Water Cure: Another Example of Self Deception and the “Lone Genius” by Harriet Hall. Science based Medicine
  5. Universal Naturopathic Encyclopedia, Directory and Buyers' Guide: Year Book of Drugless Therapy for 1918-19 by Benedict Lust (editor and publisher).
  6. The Feminist Origins of “Eight Cups a Day” by Erika Janik. Slate
  7. The Water Cure: An interview with Dr. Batmanghelidj by Mike Adams. Natural News
  8. The Water Cure: AIDS and the Pharmaceutical Industry Natural News
  9. Does human body absorb water through skin? Quora
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