Weight bath
Weight bath is an underwater treatment, which aims to lenghten the vertebrae from one another, thus stretching the spinal column. The stretching process renders the restoration of the original and healthy condition of the discs possible. Weight bath is a painless treatment as the elevating power of water brings the body in a relaxed state, and the weights stretch the spinal column in a most indulgent way. During the treatment, the guests are anchored on the neck and/or under the arms, practically hanging in the water while different weights of 2, 3 or 5 kilograms – depending on the state of the disease – are fixed on the back and/or the ankles.
Weights applied in the weight bath may be attached to the body in 3 different ways:
- one point (neck only)
- 2-points (under the arms)
- 3-points (neck and under the arms)
The weight must be fixed to the patient’s body as instructed by the medical doctor, with a maximum of 20 kilograms at a time.
Duration of treatment: 20 minutes
Water temperature: indifferent (34-35°C)
Indications:
- relieving spinal discs and nerve roots under pressure
- decreasing muscle cramps
- reducing taenia and muscle atrophy
Contraindications:
- Cardiovascular diseases
- high temperature, infectious diseases
- acute musculoskeletal diseases
- vertebral slippage
- malignancy
- after disc surgery for 6 weeks
Where did the weight-bath start from?
It is likely that the diseases of the spine had been attempted to cure by pulling even before the times of Hippocrates. It was dr. Moll Károly who pioneered the use of the underwater pulling weight-bath. He published his essay on it in 1953. The head physician’s idea to use pulling during bathing in the lake came from the various ‘reconditioning’ methods.
The weight-bath does not only mean the stretching of the spine, but it is a hydrotherapy as well. In the hot medicinal water the efficiency of the treatment is significantly increased. This treatment is one of the Hungarian rheumatology’s greatest discoveries of practical importance.