Tip 17. A hot hipbath helps to relieve painful menstruation, pain in
the pelvic organs, painful urination, inflamed rectum or bladder and painful piles.
It also bene
f
its enlarged
prostate gl
a
nd, painful contractions
or spasm of the bladder,
sciatica, neuralgia of
the ovaries and bladder.
This bath is
generally taken for eight
to 10 minutes at a water temperature of 40º C to 45ºC. The
bath should
start at 40º
C. The tem
p
erature sh
o
uld be grad
u
ally increas
e
d to 45 º C. NO
Friction should be
a
pplied to the abdomen. Before entering the tub,
t
he patient should drink
one glass of cold water.
A cold compress should
be placed
o
n the head.
A cold sho
w
er bath sho
u
ld be taken immediately after the h
o
t hipbath.
Care should be taken to
prevent the patient from catching a
chill after the
bath. The
b
ath should be terminated if the pati
e
nt feels gid
d
y or complains of excessive pain.
Tip 18. The
hot immersion bath is a valuable treatment in chronic rheumatism and obesit
y
.
It gives immediate relief
when there is pain due
t
o stones in
t
he gall bla
d
der and the
kidneys. This bath a
l
so relieves capillary bronchitis a
n
d b
r
onchial pn
e
umonia in children. It re
l
ieves congestion
of the lungs
and activates the blood
vessels of t
h
e skin muscles.
This bath c
a
n be taken f
r
om two to
1
5 minutes at a temperature from 36.6º C to 40º C. Generally this bath is started at 37
º
C and the temperature is then gradually raised
t
o the requi
r
ed level by adding hot
water.
Before entering the bath,
the patient
should drink cold water
and also w
e
t the head,
n
eck and shoulders with cold wat
e
r. A cold c
o
mpress should be applied throughout the trea
t
ment. This bath can be
advantageously employed in dropsy when there is excessive loss of tone of the heart and blood. The b
a
th should be terminated as soon as
t
he skin b
e
comes red.
In pneumonia and supp
r
essed menstruation, the
bath should
be adminis
t
ered at 37.
7
º C to 40º
C for about 30 to 45 minutes. This ba
t
h should be
given when the menstruation is due
and may be
repeated for two to three days in succession.
In
dysmenorr
h
oea, this ba
t
h should be
given at
38º C to 44.4º C for 15 minutes.
In chronic b
r
onchitis
a very hot bath taken for 5 to 7 minutes should be accompanied with rubbing and
friction. T
h
is relieves c
o
ngestion of
t
he mucous membrane
and provides immediate relief. After
t
he bath, oil
should be
a
pplied to the skin if
nec
e
ssary. The hot bath sho
u
ld not be taken in c
a
ses of organic diseases
o
f the brain
o
r spinal cor
d
, nor in cas
e
s of cardi
a
c weakness or cardiac
hy
pertrophy.
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