What is hydrotherapy?

   Hydrotherapy is the use of water in various ways and at various temperatures for therapeutic or remedial purposes; also called hydrotherapeutics. From the most ancient times water has been highly regarded as a remedial agent, and has been used in the treatment of many forms of disease. Hydrotherapy employs water for both internal and external use, including the wet compress, the douche bath, partial baths of all kinds, the sweating process, and the wet sheet, together with the copious drinking of pure water. The water cure, so called, was introduced as a distinct form of treatment for disease by a Silesian named Priessnitz, about 1820, and the principles of modern hydrotherapy were laid down in 1883 by Dr. Winternitz of Germany.