Historical

Whether internally or externally, hot or cold, as steam, ice or in liquid form - the treatment with water, hydrotherapy, has been around since ancient times: even the Greeks believed that the water is a special healing power. The Romans built public baths, which developed into recreational and social centers of the cities - almost as a precursor of today's spas. The Roman freeman Antonius Musa is the real father of hydrotherapy: He is known to have cured the Emperor Augustus as early as 23 BC, with cold baths.

In the 15th Century came the hydrotherapy into disrepute. They made the water for the transmission of infectious illnesses. Only in the 17th Century it was discovered again the positive aspects of the water. Spa resorts by the sea or on hot springs were becoming more popular.

In the 19th Century in this field goes Prießnitz Vincent and Sebastian Kneipp course in the development of hydrotherapy: Vincent Prießnitz (1799-1851) his own complaints treated with cold compresses and succeeded. He founded a treatment center where he tried his methods to cure patients with shock. For example, he strapped it firmly to iron beds and left icy water pouring down from six meters on them. Father Sebastian Kneipp (1821-1897) turned to less violent methods. He also had cold water treatment for the first time successfully tested on himself. To treat his tuberculosis, he went every day in the icy Danube. His form of hydrotherapy, he added through the use of medicinal herbs.