There was no correlation between changes in Tre and changes in hormone production. WI in different temperatures did not increase blood concentrations of cortisol. Changes in plasma renin activity were not related to changes in aldosterone concentrations. Plasma adrenaline concentrations remained unchanged. Cortisol concentrations tended to decrease. Plasma aldosterone concentrations increased by 23%. Plasma noradrenaline and dopamine concentrations were increased by 530% and by 250%, respectively, while diuresis increased by 163%, which was more than at 32вЊ. Immersion at 14вЊ lowered Tre and increased MR by 350%, HR, SBP, and DBP by 5%, 7%, and 8%, respectively. No significant differences in changes in plasma renin activity, aldosterone concentration, and diuresis compared with subjects immersed in 32вЊ. Plasma cortisol concentrations tended to decrease, while plasma aldosterone concentration was unchanged. Immersion at 20вЊ produced similar decrease in plasma renin activity, HR, SBP, and DBP, in spite of lowered Tre and increased MR by 93%. Along with HR and blood pressure (BP), the plasma renin activity, plasma cortisol, and aldosterone concentrations were also lowered by 46%, 34%, and 17%, respectively, while diuresis was increased by 107%. Immersion at 32вЊ did not change metabolic rate (MR) and rectal temperature (Tre), but it lowered the heart rate (HR) by 15%, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 11% and 12%, respectively, compared, with controls at ambient air temperature. One hour head-out water immersions (WI) in various temperatures (32вЊ, 20вЊ, and 14вЊ) produced various effects. Superficial cold application may cause physiologic reactions such as decrease in local metabolic function, local edema, nerve conduction velocity (NCV), muscle spasm, and increase in local anesthetic effects. Articles published from 1986 to 2012 were included in this review. In order to provide a general overview, we performed PubMed and PubMed central search to review relevant articles in English literature based on вЂњeffects of hydrotherapy/balneotherapyвЂќ on various systems of the body. There are many studies/reviews that reported either physiological or therapeutic or combination of both the effects of hydrotherapy on particular system but did not report in all the major systems of the body, which made us to do this review with the aim and objective to report scientific evidenced-based effects of hydrotherapy on various systems of the body. Though many countries used water to produce different physiological/therapeutic effects on different part of the system for maintaining health, preventing, and treating the diseases, the scientific evidence-based effects are not well documented. It is one of the naturopathic treatment modality used widely in ancient cultures including India, Egypt, China, etc. Hydrotherapy is the external or internal use of water in any of its forms (water, ice, steam) for health promotion or treatment of various diseases with various temperatures, pressure, duration, and site.

Deep therapy pool