The history of sea therapies

[Red Cat Jenny]

The history of sea therapies

Sea plants, seawater, sea salt and oceanic clay have long been popular physical-therapy ingredients in Europe. Recommended as medical therapeutic agents as early as 1578, seawater and sea derivatives were administered for rheumatism and general rehabilitation. In 1753, The Uses of Sea Water, by English author and physician Charles Russel, explained the various therapeutic properties of seawater. In search of those therapeutic benefits, the European elite sought out ocean-side resorts with bathing facilities.

With marine hospitals, which started in England in 1780, the seawater craze quickly became French domain.

The first French marine hospital, Petit Berck, opened in 1861. In 1865 Joseph La Bonardière coined the term thalassotherapy (from the Greek thalassa for "sea" and therapeia for "care") and began a tradition of serious study regarding the health benefits of seawater. In 1899 Louis Bagot started balneotherapie (bath therapy) treatments at the clinic at Roscoff called the Institut Marin de Rockroum. This was the first true thalassotherapy clinic in Europe.

French scientist René Quinton devoted much of his life's work to the study of seawater and in 1906 published L'eau de Mer, Milieu Organic ("Sea Water, Organic Medium"), which demonstrated the chemical similarity between blood plasma and seawater. Quinton's colleague Claude Bernard discovered that the body is comprised of 70 percent water. Working from Bernard's findings regarding the makeup of blood, intracellular fluid and lymphatic fluid in the body, Quinton stated in 1897 that the human system is analogous to the systems found among marine life: "In the internal environment of our system, and only there we find the same mineral make-up, the same physiognomy, as that of sea water [sic]."

From this notion that seawater is a complete mineral source came multiple ideas of the healing powers of seawater. Quinton's study indicated that seawater and human plasma are almost identical in their composition of mineral salts, proteins and various other elements. Quinton also established that human cells could continue to live in seawater, while they break down and disintegrate almost instantly in any other medium.

This original connection between seawater and the healing benefits brought through its trace elements and molecular structure expanded over the years. Various forms of seaweed were scrutinized for healing properties, and many different types of therapies sprouted from the balneotherapy and thalassotherapy treatments that were popularized in the 1800s.

Today, the same healing principles apply.

Sea therapies today

While there are no recent studies proving the benefits of algae for the many therapeutic and beauty purposes for which it has become known, folklore and tradition continue to perpetuate its popularity in European and American spas alike. From sea-salt scrubs to thermal seaweed wraps, ocean-mud packs to sea-algae baths, kelp facials to algae buffs, ocean products are experiencing renewed popularity in spas all over the world, resulting in exotic therapies that effect powerful healing.

"Sea-derived products

As the spa movement has grown, manufacturers have had to expand the selection of products offered that can enhance some of the more classic therapies.

IBS, for example, sells raw materials like bulk-powdered algae. "Algae has wonderful drawing qualities. We suggest that spa technicians mix one part dry algae to five parts water or solution," says Bartok. "That sort of mixture will produce a thick paste. The algae is very concentrated, has a strong odor and can be used in baths, masques, body pastes and as a part of other therapies."

Rebecca Holborn, founder of Organic Therapy Inc. in Lake Mary, Florida, creates natural products mostly from sea-based ingredients.

"It takes a living ingredient to heal a living system," she says. "Algae and forms of seaweed are ideal because the seawater and sea plants so precisely parallel our body's interstitial fluid and blood plasma."

Beyond this fundamental comparison, the ocean's bounty is rich in trace minerals, such as iodine, magnesium, sodium, potassium, fluoride, sulfur and carbonates. "All of those minerals are absorbed by the skin to allow the body to regain systemic balance. Most of all, when heat accompanies a treatment with seaweed extracts or alginates, both detoxification and replenishment occur," says Holborn.

Sharon Weizman, vice president of Acticell natural beauty products, based in Swampscott, Massachusetts, explains, "Our epidermis can absorb the seawater and seaweeds, but the dermis [a deeper layer of skin] actually has a positive charge, which attracts the negative ions in the seaweed. As the blood flow increases at the surface of the skin and the pores open to allow the alginates into the dermal layer, toxins are drawn out through the skin's surface as nutrients are drawn in."

To Learn More ...

Seaweed Ecology and Physiology, by Christopher S. Lobban and Paul J. Harrison, 1994, Cambridge University Press.Interesting..