[Hydrotherapy in swellings with special reference to lymphedema]

Is is to be stated in summary that the majority of positive arguments in the literature publications so far for the application of hydrotherapy in swellings there are weighty counter-arguments especially in lymphatic edema in the narrow sense. The present study (which is only preliminary because of the small number of cases) appears to indicate that these arguments are evidently not so weighty as was assumed hitherto. Even though unfortunately few clinically relevant alterations occurred with hydrotherapy alone, on the other hand, study indicates that we would have to prohibit patients with lymphatic edema from taking cold immersion baths. Hydrotherapy tends to have if anything a favorable influence on the basic psychological condition and according to the data available can be recommended as an additional measure.