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") 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 appr ...
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: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known as Armorica during the period ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
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.][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 Portugal, Portuguese city in Norte Region, Portugal, 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 River, Minho ...
, 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 or of algae paste, or the inhalation of sea fog. Spas make hot seawater and provide mud and seaweed wrapping services.
See also
* Balneotherapy
Balneotherapy ( la, balneum "bath") is a method of treating diseases by bathing, a traditional medicine technique usually practiced at spas. Since ancient times, humans have used hot springs, public baths and thermal medicine for therapeutic e ...
, the medical use of bathing
* Halotherapy
Halotherapy (also known as speleotherapy when practiced inside caves) is a form of alternative medicine which makes use of salt. Halotherapy is an unproven treatment that lacks scientific credibility. Spa owners attribute a wide range of hea ...
, the medical use of salts
In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. A common example is table salt, with positively c ...
* Water cure (therapy)
Hydrotherapy, formerly called hydropathy and also called water cure, is a branch of alternative medicine (particularly naturopathy), occupational therapy, and physiotherapy, that involves the use of water for pain relief and treatment. The term ...
* Dead Sea
* Gurney's Seawater Spa and Thalasso Center, the only one of its kind in the continental US.
* Climatotherapy
* Lydia Sarfati, who introduced seaweed skin treatments to United States
References
{{reflist, 2
Physical therapy
Bathing
Natural environment based therapies
Hydrotherapy