Definition: What is crenotherapy?
The term "crenotherapy ", also called "mineral water therapy" or “drinking water therapy”, involves all treatments with thermal water from a mineral spring and covers a period of 1 to 6 weeks. The water supplied to spa guests usually comes from a nearby spring and is delivered to the patient via a refreshment bar, a tap in the spa park or even in the spa hotel. The specialty of this healing water is the content of many health-promoting minerals, e.g. sodium, calcium, or magnesium. Because these ingredients dissolve in the healing water, the body can absorb them and use them effectively. Depending on the composition, water from mineral springs can help to sooth a variety of health problems, almost all of them. By the way, drink therapies are not a modern invention. Already in the 16th century, more precisely in 1542, mineral water therapies were introduced in the Czech spa town of Františkovy Lázně. At that time, the contemporary witness and poet Caspar Brusch described the water of the town of Egerbrunnen as "very healthy and pleasant to drink".
The positive effects of crenotherapy
Drinking water therapies are certainly beneficial if only because a daily decent water consumption is simply healthy. Those who drink a lot of water help their bodies eliminate environmental toxins and waste products from their metabolism. Only in this way can the cells purify themselves and absorb important new nutrients. A direct result and a visible effect are clean, wrinkle-free skin. In addition, water helps you lose weight and is essential for maintaining the body's memory and performance. A lack of water for a few hours can lead to concentration difficulties and impair body functions. A mineral water treatment can therefore make a significant contribution to general health and to adapting drinking habits in general. This is particularly relevant for older people who often suffer from dehydration of the body with severe fluid loss.
But it is not just bottled water that you drink during your treatment. What is special about a drinking water therapy are the additional ingredients, namely the minerals dissolved in the water. Depending on the exact composition of the source, the following symptoms can be treated:
- Indications for the musculoskeletal system: rheumatism, arthritis, osteoporosis and muscle problems
- Indications for the skin: atopic dermatitis, anti-ageing and allergies
- Indications for internal organs: cardiovascular diseases, stomach and intestinal diseases as well as gynaecological and urological diseases
- Indications for nerves/stress: stress, migraines, fatigue and concentration problems
- Indications for metabolism: obesity and diabetes
You can find out exactly which mineral helps to fight certain diseases on our page on mineral springs.
The treatment
Your crenotherapy usually begins with a detailed medical consultation, where an individual treatment plan is created for you. Depending on exactly what it looks like and the symptoms of the disease to be treated, the prescribed drinking water therapy can take between one and six weeks. You will receive suitable healing water, e.g. in public drinking halls or drinking colonnades at your spa or sometimes directly at the hotel from a spring or in a bottle. This is where the famous porcelain "sippy cups" come into play, in which you fill the healing spring water. You drink it in small sips and walk around the premises. It is important that the water is not necessarily consumed as a thirst-quencher but regularly at fixed times during the day (usually an hour before meals). The main intake usually takes place until 2 pm. Depending on the desired effect, it can also be taken in the afternoon or evening. The quantity is also flexible: up to 2.5 litres of spring water per day are standard, but there are also drinking therapies where up to 4 litres of water are prescribed. Either way, water can replace some of the regular drinks. You do not need to change your diet during treatment unless the holistic treatment plan does not provide for it.
Different types of crenotherapy
Milk or whey
There is, for example, the healing of milk or whey, which in principle can also be assigned to the field of fasting therapies. It is usually prescribed for a period of three weeks, during which only 1.5 litres of whey, healing mineral water, herbal teas, and fruit and some juice may be consumed. The daily calorie intake should not exceed 300 to 350 calories. The treatments of a whey therapy are therefore weight loss, but also cover intestinal and stomach problems.
Aloe Vera
With an aloe vera drink, about 30 ml of a special aloe vera gel is taken 2 to 3 times a day. In order for the aloe vera plant extract to develop its full healing power, a treatment period of 3 months is recommended. This particular form of drinking treatment can help to reduce energy loss, fatigue, skin problems and generally strengthen the immune system.
Salt water
During a treatment in a saltwater bath, crystalline salt is added to the healing water to create a 26% saturated brine. A teaspoon of the salt solution produced is then added to a glass of healing water. This ready-to-drink solution is ideally taken immediately after waking up. A saline drinking treatment improves general well-being, stimulates the metabolism and contributes to detoxification.
Healing clay
During your treatment with healing clay, mud extracts containing many precious herbs are mixed with water. Especially for indigestion, this special drinking treatment is a good choice. It can help against heartburn, a feeling of fullness, stomach acidification, stomach inflammation, and iron deficiency.
The best destinations for crenotherapy
Crenotherapy can of course take place wherever there is an exploited mineral source. Places far away from a corresponding source are only suitable to a limited extent, as some of the ingredients remain in the healing water only a few days after being discharged from the source.
The Czech Republic
The Czech Republic
The Czech Republic
The three places in the Bohemian spa triangle are particularly important representatives of the mineral water therapy, namely Karlovy Vary, Františkovy Lázně, and Mariánské Lázně. Diseases of the musculoskeletal and digestive systems are mainly treated here.
Hungary
But even Hungary, especially the spas of Bad Héviz and Bad Bük, can boast a long tradition of bathing. The healing water extracted here promises a particularly good effect for liver diseases, digestion issues, and urological and gynaecological diseases.
Slovenia
Travel to Slovenia, for example to Rogaska Slatina, where you will find the Donat spring with an above-average magnesium content, which is perfect for treating joint, disc and muscle problems.
Germany
For your mineral water drinking therapy in Germany, we highly recommend staying in Bavaria! Discover Bad Kissingen, Bad Orb, Bad Brückenau and Bad Bocklet, which not only have rich mineral springs, but also high-quality sanitary facilities. A subject taken seriously in Germany and especially in Bavaria, because only water from state-approved sanitary springs is distributed.
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