Water Cure

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How Jesus made wine
Water woo
Icon water.svg
Suckers getting soaked
Not to be mistaken with the torture method of the same name, now known as waterboarding.
a lot of children who drink soft drinks actually become ‘stupid’, but once you take the soft drink away from them, their grades improve tremendously
—Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, NaturalNews[1]
Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, Archduke Franz Ferdinand (of World War I fame), Father Sebastian Kneipp (left-to-right) enjoying barefoot snow therapy

The Water Cure (also known as the Kneipp Cure or hydrotherapy) was created in 1816 by Vincenz Priessnitz,Wikipedia a peasant farmer in Austria. The water cure was later developed and popularized in the 1880s by Father Sebastian Kneipp.[2][3] Fereydoon BatmanghelidjWikipedia later published puff pieces on the water cure in a journal he runs himself.[4] It was accepted as part one of many cure-all treatments in the early days of naturopathy.[5] It has since mostly fallen into disfavor.

Hydropathic organisations did accept women before actual medical schools admitted female students.[6] Historically, they treated female patients with respect.[6]

In modern-day non-woo medicine, the term "hydrotherapy" more often refers to physical therapy done in water. Of course, NaturalNews is promoting the woo version;[7] even worse, they proclaim it a cure to AIDS.[8] Also screw credentials, you don't need a license to practice the hydropathy.[6]

How[edit]

Treatments include: covering with wet sheets, foot baths (cold or warm), half-baths (cold or warm), whole-baths (cold or warm), head baths, eye baths, vapor (steam) baths, shower-baths, ablutions, bandages, walking barefoot in the snow, and water drinking. Herbal medicine and diet (bran bread or Kneippbrød, soup and mead) are also used.[3]

You see, according to most American hydropaths, the water cure is best applied externally on the skin.[6] Even though skin isn't very good at absorbing water.[9]

Incidentally, hydrotherapy is probably, at least in part, the basis for the old cartoon cliché in which a character suffering from the cold is treated with a heated foot bath.

Aliments that are allegedly cured[edit]

List:[3]

  • abscesses
  • apoplexy (cerebral hemorrhage)
  • asthma
  • AIDS[4]
  • bed-wetting
  • bladder diseases
  • blood decomposition
  • blood poisoning
  • vomiting blood
  • intestinal complaints
  • bowel inflammation
  • brain disease
  • brain inflammation
  • burns
  • catarrh
  • chlorosis (hypochromic anemia)
  • cholera
  • colic
  • consumption (tuberculosis)
  • costiveness (constipation)
  • cramps
  • croup (respiratory viral infection)
  • weakness
  • delirium tremens
  • diarrhea
  • diptheria
  • dropsy
  • dysentery
  • ear diseases
  • epilepsy
  • erysipelas (streptococcal dermititis)
  • cataracts
  • fever
  • giddiness
  • gout
  • hemorrhoids
  • hoarseness
  • hypochondriasis
  • influenza
  • insanity
  • kidney problems
  • knee tumors
  • lumbago (low back pain)
  • emphysema
  • melancholy
  • nervous disorders
  • perspiration
  • rheumatism
  • Saint Vitus's dance (Sydenham's chorea)
  • scarlet fever
  • sciatica
  • insomnia
  • smallpox
  • stomach acidity
  • stomach tumors
  • tetters (various skin diseases)
  • typhus
  • ulcers
  • difficulty urinating
  • vaccination side-effects
  • worms

External links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Sodas cause dehydration Natural News
  2. Meine Wasser-Kur, durch mehr als 30 Jahre erprobt und geschrieben zur Heilung der Krankheiten und Erhaltung der Gesundheit by Sebastian Kneipp, Jos. Kösel, 1899.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 My Water-Cure: Tested For More Than 40 Years by Sebastian Kneipp. 3rd English edition translated from the 36th German edition. Jos. Kösel, 1894.
  4. 4.0 4.1 The Water Cure: Another Example of Self Deception and the “Lone Genius” by Harriet Hall. Science based Medicine
  5. Universal Naturopathic Encyclopedia, Directory and Buyers' Guide: Year Book of Drugless Therapy for 1918-19 by Benedict Lust (editor and publisher).
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 The Feminist Origins of “Eight Cups a Day” by Erika Janik. Slate
  7. The Water Cure: An interview with Dr. Batmanghelidj by Mike Adams. Natural News
  8. The Water Cure: AIDS and the Pharmaceutical Industry Natural News
  9. Does human body absorb water through skin? Quora