By Heidi Burrowes, RMT I have been missing the snow this year, and I find myself wishing for cold air and snowflakes melting on my skin. Before I began my education for Massage Therapy I didn't really think about the healing powers of a snowflake. As a child I was aware of the influence of water, as during swimming I felt at home in my body. I felt connected to everything around me, I felt whole. This concept of water as a healing modality is not a new idea. It is a therapy that has been in use since ancient times. The use of water in all it's forms as treatment for injury is the practice of hydrotherapy. The person most responsible for the modern way of thinking about hydrotherapy was Father Sebastian Kneipp who developed "water cures" in the 1800's. His "water cures" also included treatment with herbs, food, prayer, and exercise. The dietary plan included food that was either raw or cooked very little. The exercise plan was daily labour, for example, chopping wood to stay warm. In my Massage Therapy practice, one of the first things I will recommend is for clients to ensure that they are getting an appropriate intake of water each day. The life processes, for example, metabolism and cellular growth, that occur in your body do so because they have access to water. Using water externally is something that you have likely already done. A relaxing bath after a stressful day, or putting ice on a bee sting are examples of hydrotherapy at work in your life already. Here are some general guidelines for using hydrotherapy: Cold helps to decrease inflammation and congestion making it appropriate for use on sites at the time of injury, or when you notice heat, swelling and redness. When using cold, there will be four stages that your tissue's will go through during this technique. You will feel cold, burning, aching, and numbness. These are normal things to feel while working with cold hydrotherapy. When you reach the point of numbness, take off the cold that you are using, otherwise you run the risk of frostbite. Heat helps to bring fresh blood and nutrients to an area, making it useful for old injuries (eg. aches and pains), there should be no heat, swelling or redness. Do not take your heat pack or hot water bottle to bed, as leaving heat on for too long can cause congestion. A combination of both hot and cold (a difference of only 10 degrees is required for this technique to be beneficial) brings fresh blood and nutrients to the area, and then helps to flush out the older, non nutritious blood. Repeating this process 2 or 3 times, always ending with cold to clear the area out, can be very helpful for an injury that is not new, but hasn't reached the stage of being old. If you are feeling like perhaps you may be coming down with a cold or flu, but it has not arrived full force yet, having a full body, hot bath (warm enough for you to sweat, but not hot enough to burn) will help to induce what is known as an 'artificial fever'. When your body temperature raises, your body creates more white blood cells. White blood cells are what your body uses to help fight sickness. If you are going to add this to your immune boosting routine there are some things that it is very important to observe. Make sure that you do not already have a fever. Get out of your hot bath when you begin to sweat, and make sure you stay in no longer than 20 minutes. When you get out it is helpful to dry between your legs, and toes only, then wrap up in a robe or warm pj's and lay down for 20 minutes. Do not watch tv or read during this time but instead focus on recognizing the way that your body feels. As I finish writing this, the snow is just beginning. I think I'll go for a nice, refreshing walk, and when I hear the crunching under my feet I'll give thanks for the wonderful blessings we receive from the sky.