| dc.description.abstract | Medical water therapy (also called medical hydrology) is practiced worldwide both for
relaxation and treatment of diseases. While this practice is still thriving in Bhutan, there is a lack
of proper documentation and critical study. Therefore, the current study reports on the water
therapies practiced in Bhutan and their health benefits. We used four-stage process: (1) a review
of literature on balneotherapy (both traditional textbooks and scientific papers); (2) listing and
surveying the hot springs, mineral, and holy spring waters; (3) reviewing the health records of the
patients maintained at the traditional hospitals and interviewing traditional physicians and patients
about health benefits; and (4) reviewing available literature to identify existing clinical trials data to
provide evidence for hydrotherapies. We found three main forms of hydrotherapies are practiced
in Bhutan, which comprises herbal bath therapy, balneotherapy, and spiritually empowered waters.
The most popular hydrotherapies are herbal bath and hot spring therapies. Herbal bath therapy
needs traditional physicians’ prescriptions, while hot springs do not require it. Through field surveys,
ten different hot springs (tsha-chu) and 17 medicinal water or mineral springs (sman-chu), and 17
holy spring-waters (sgrub-chu) were identified. In general, medical water therapies are used by
the Bhutanese people to treat various ailments, including gastritis, neurological disorders, arthritis,
dermatological diseases, and rheumatological and musculoskeletal disorders. Even though a lack
of scientific evidence makes it difficult to draw concrete conclusions on their traditionally claimed
efficacy and safety, there are clinical evidences documented from other countries. | en_US |
