Covid-19 has put us before one of the greatest challenges we have ever experienced, at all levels. We have lost many loved ones, we have had to reinvent ourselves, change our way of life, and medicine has been far from being a foreign sector to this process.
Today (fortunately) there are many people who pass Covid-19 without major complications, however, there are others who continue to have symptoms or take months to recover.
According to Dr. Polich of Massachusetts General Hospital, "when a patient leaves the hospital, they are usually considered recovered or on the road to recovery, and for some people it's a very quick process."
For the rest of us, how can hydrotherapy help with physical and psychological recovery?
Subscribe to our newsletter and
GET OUR FREE GUIDE "7 TIPS TO PREPARE YOUR RELAX ESCAPE!What symptoms can hydrotherapy relieve?
To answer this question (among others), the Universidade de Santiago and the Asociación de Balnearios de Galicia organized last September a conference on the application of thermal therapies and hydrotherapies in the treatment of the so-called postcovid-19 syndrome.
The objective of the conferences was the specific training to the medical personnel on the benefits that the thermal therapy and the exercises of movement inside the water (hydrokinesitherapy) can contribute to these patients.
And the fact is that there are many patients who, after overcoming Covid-19, both severe and mild, continue to have a wide variety of symptoms for weeks or even months after the infection.
Neurological, cognitive, psychiatric symptoms, but also other respiratory, muscular...
Symptoms of the disease are not only neurological, cognitive, psychiatric, but also respiratory, muscular...
Some of these may fluctuate over time or even cause flare-ups and it is estimated that may have affected the majority of patients (between 40% and 90%, according to this article by F.J. Carod-Artal for the journal neurologia.com) , decreasing their quality of life and requiring therapeutic and rehabilitation interventions.
Beyond the loss of taste and smell, one of the consequences of covid-19 is muscle atrophy and loss of strength and mobility, especially in people who have been admitted to a hospital.
Here the respiratory physiotherapy treatments are very useful, to increase strength and endurance, help reduce breathing difficulties and prevent postural problems, as indicated by Dr. María Rodríguez, a specialist in Thoracic Surgery at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra in Madrid.
Many other people suffer from problems of memory, attention and concentration, anxiety, irritability, depression and phobias derived from lived experience, insomnia...
To combat them, physiotherapy and rehabilitation therapies are combined with neural therapy, which optimizes the results of the former and also works at a cognitive level and helps to improve mood and mental state.
This is why the use of hydrotherapy in postcovid- 19 treatments can be very useful.
The balnearios are prepared to implement personalized programs in which, after the initial consultation with the center's medical team, who will evaluate the patient's state of health and the symptoms he/she suffers, a treatment is designed that addresses not only physical, but also psychological and psychiatric aspects of rehabilitation.
Thus, patients will be able to exercise in the water and benefit from the thermal and mechanical properties of the thermal waters, helping to improve respiratory, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, psychological and cognitive symptoms.
.jpg?itok=4AV3grmM)
Are you looking for a spa in which to pamper yourself?
CONSULT OUR SEARCH ENGINE TO FIND SPAs IN SPAIN!
.jpg)
Why is the role of spas so important?
Although it appears that there are still no scientific studies to support the benefits of hydrotherapy in postcode-19 treatments, there are many physicians, such as Medical Hydrology professor, Rosa Meijide, who are in favor of developing protocols that allow them to refer patients to spas, so that these establishments can contribute their full potential for complete restoration of health.
Yes, there is a wide previous experience, not in patients who have passed the infection by covid-19, but in patients with pathologies similar to the symptoms described by those affected by this disease, to whom the thermal treatments have supposed a significant improvement in their health.
They are in favor of developing protocols that allow them to refer patients to the spas, so that these establishments can contribute all their potential for the complete restoration of their health.
For example, spas such as Archena were an important asset already in 1918 to help alleviate the effects of the ill-famed "Spanish flu". Today, this spa is once again a pioneer in the implementation of specific programs aimed at alleviating the effects of the after-effects of Covid-19.
But the usefulness of hydrotherapy in post-Covid-19 treatments is not something that has just been discovered. Already in the first months since the covid- 19 infection was declared a pandemic, the Consejo Superior de investigaciones Científicas emphasized in a publication the capacity of spas and medicinal water centers when it came to containing the virus.
The thermal waters, many above 60º of temperature, considerably diminish the survival of the virus, the reason why the president of the Sociedad Española de Hidrología Médica already raised the possibility that these centers could be an active part in the rehabilitation treatments of patients in the recovery phase.
Hydrotherapy is a form of treatment that has been used since ancient times (you can read here our article on the origins of thermal baths and spas), and has more than demonstrated its ability to improve a long list of ailments, including those related to respiratory problems.
In the words of Juan Gestal (president of the Chair of Medical Hydrology at the University of Santiago de Compostela - USC) sulfurous waters, thanks to the mineral elements they possess, cause actions capable of stimulating immunity and have anti-inflammatory effects that help to reduce pain.
In addition, hydrotherapy oxygenates the body, improves blood circulation and has a relaxing effect that helps postcovid- 19 patients to improve contractures and stiffness resulting from the time spent in hospital and to manage anxiety and depression that may result from the disease.
In conclusion, we are very close to a resource that can be of great importance when it comes to recovering our health and returning to the normality we have longed for since 2020.
How? By supporting conventional treatments for the recovery of covid- 19 with hydrotherapy treatments that Spanish spas can offer you.
