Wellness services, methods for relaxation, alternative physiotherapies

Andrea Hézső-Böröcz

In the beginning it is necessary to overview some of the basic notions related to wellness.

 Rehabilitation: All those social measures which aim to  treat patients’ diseases and restore them to good health.

Physiotherapy: it is a branch of rehabilitation and it is the use of natural sources as means for therapy. The practice of physiotherapy for example might include balneology (using medicinal waters), hydrology  (watertherapy) and therapeutical massage (mechanotherapy).

Recreation: The notion of recreation includes a variety of activities, for example holiday making, or activities aimed to revitalize one’s body and mind, or spending one leisure time in a useful way.

Cure: It is a therapeutic method performed at a resort. Examples include cleansing treatments, detoxication, or different kinds of drinking cures.

Medicinal baths and the services offered by them are also part of the previously defined notions of rehabilitation, physiotherapy, recreation and cure. The main features of medicinal baths and the services offered by them will be detailed later in this current chapter.  

People have always been longing for circumstances similar to those they had experienced as fetuses in the protection of the maternal womb, i.e. being surrounded by a pleasant liquid of body temperature.  The same wish might have motivated prehistoric men, too,  who, whenever the opportunity arose, spent time sitting in hot water springs, the water of which offered them refreshment and regeneration. Modern people also seek for this experience in present-day saunas and hot-water baths. Today there is an increasing number of wellness hotels at people’s disposal; in addition, these establishments offer a variety of services, which make it possible for people to refresh themselves in an active way.