Thalassotherapy (from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word ''thalassa'', meaning "

sea The sea, connected as the world ocean or simply the ocean, is the body of salty water that covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. The word sea is also used to denote second-order sections of the sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, ...

") is the use of

seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...

as a form of therapy. Note: Thalasso therapy is a sub-definition under the listing for Thalasso. It also includes the systematic use of sea products and shore climate. Charlier, Roger H. and Marie-Claire P. Chaineux. “The Healing Sea: A Sustainable Coastal Ocean Resource: Thalassotherapy.” ''Journal of Coastal Research'', Number 254:838-856. 2009. There is no scientific evidence that thalassotherapy is effective.

History

Some claims are made that thalassotherapy was developed in seaside towns in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during the 19th century.New ager: thalassotherapy
telegraph.co.uk A particularly prominent practitioner from this era was Dr. Richard Russell,Richard Russell,
The Oeconomy of Nature in Acute and Chronical Diseases of the Glands
' (8th edition, John and James Rivington, London, 1755; and James Fletcher, Oxford), accessed 7 December 2009. Full text at Internet Archive (archive.org) First published 1750 as ''De Tabe Glandulari''. Full text at Google Books. whose efforts have been credited with playing a role in the populist "sea side mania of the second half of the eighteenth century",Gray, Fred. (2006), p.46 although broader social movements were also at play.Gray, Fred. (2006), p.47 In

Póvoa de Varzim Póvoa de Varzim (, ) is a Portuguese city in Northern Portugal and sub-region of Greater Porto, from its city centre. It sits in a sandy coastal plain, a cuspate foreland, halfway between the Minho and Douro rivers. In 2001, there were 63,470 ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, an area believed to have high concentrations of iodine due to kelp forests, and subject to sea fog, the practice is in historical records since 1725 and was started by Benedictine monks; it expanded to farmers shortly after. In the 19th century, heated saltwater public baths opened and became especially popular with higher classes.Projecto para a Construção de Pavilhões na Praia da Póvoa (Maio a Junho de 1924) - Arquivo Municipal da Póvoa de Varzim (2008) Others claim that the practice of thalassotherapy is older: "The origins of thermal baths and related treatments can be traced back to remote antiquity. Romans were firm believers in the virtues of thermalism and thalassotherapy.

Application

The therapy is applied in various forms, as either showers of warmed seawater, application of marine

mud A MUD (; originally multi-user dungeon, with later variants multi-user dimension and multi-user domain) is a Multiplayer video game, multiplayer Time-keeping systems in games#Real-time, real-time virtual world, usually Text-based game, text-bas ...

or of

algae Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...

paste, or the inhalation of sea

fog Fog is a visible aerosol consisting of tiny water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. Reprint from Fog can be considered a type of low-lying cloud usually resembling stratus, and is heavily influ ...

Spas Spas or SPAS may refer to: * Spa, a therapeutic water treatment Geography *Spas, Russia, several rural localities in Russia * Spas, Lviv Raion, Lviv Oblast, a village in Lviv Raion in Lviv Oblast, Ukraine * Spas, Sambir Raion, Lviv Oblast, a vil ...

make hot seawater and provide mud and seaweed wrapping services.

References

{{reflist, 2 Physical therapy Bathing Natural environment based therapies Hydrotherapy

History

Application

See also

References