When you hear the word terme – hot springs – or spa in Italy, you immediately think about relaxation.
There are many hot springs and spas in Italy and some of them offer also mud therapy – fangoterapia.
As you’ve probably already guessed, mud therapy is based on mud.
The mud used is usually a combination of clay, thermal water and micro-organisms, and it’s particularly beneficial for people suffering from arthro-rheumatic inflammatory diseases.
According to a study from the University of Padua the use of mud and thermal water relieves the pain caused by these diseases and improves mobility. These improvements last for at least six months.
Mud therapy is so beneficial that Italians can even be reimbursed for treatment by the public health system.
You can have mud applied in small amounts, such as a mud mask, or all over the body.
A typical mud therapy session includes four steps.
Firstly, the warm mud is applied on your skin and it’s kept there for 15-20 minutes.
Then there is a rinsing shower with thermal water, immediately followed by a thermal water bath at a temperature around 37°C for 10/15 minutes.
After that, you are placed on a bed well wrapped so that your body can start sweating. This step lasts from 30 minutes to an hour.
Finally, there is a massage that helps relieving tension.
These mud applications must be repeated daily for twelve days at least.
However, not everyone can benefit from mud therapy. Indeed, mud therapy is not for people suffering from heart or kidney diseases, epilepsy, malignant tumors, varicose veins, for people who are pregnant or in the acute phase of an inflammatory disease.
Let’s see now some of the places where you can have mud therapy in Italy.
Hotel Le Querce
Hotel Le Querce is located on the isle of Ischia.
You can have mud and thermal shower, and mud and thermal bath, in addition to several other spa treatments such as massages, cold vein therapy, hydrokinesitherapy, milk bath etc.
Hotel Terme Imperial
Hotel Terme Imperaila is located in Montegrotto Terme, in Veneto.
In this hotel you can have all the four-steps mud therapy and also other types of treatments such as massages, scrubbing, polar cold treatment, caffeine-based draining bandage, etc.
Hotel Abano Ritz
Hotel Abano Ritz is located in Abano Terme, in Veneto.
Here you can have the four-steps mud therapy and other treatments too such as acupuncture massage, postural gym, moxa, bioenergetic treatment, etc.
Credits
Original image by Sky-High
