La médecine thermale

• Should thermal medicine which has been used for several thousand years and makes use the therapeutic virtues of natural mineral waters and their derivatives (mud, gas, thermal vapour) be relegated to the ranks of simply comforting or even obsolete treatments?

• “Thermal medicine – Scientific facts” proves the opposite based on the fact that, over the past twenty years, scientific studies have unquestionably proven the effectiveness of spa treatments in their good indications.
These comprise the wide range of chronic joint pains that can be unrelenting, for example limb osteoarthritis, lower back pain, fibromyalgia, but also pain of vascular, neurological or visceral origin. Spa treatments are also beneficial for the management of ENT and respiratory diseases in adults and children, skin conditions, the sequelae of chronic neurological conditions, venous insufficiency, and in a whole range of other indications.
There has also been a renewal of interest in the use of thermal medicine for new indications including lifestyle-related conditions such as stress (depression, anxiety, burn-out, fibromyalgia, etc.), certain metabolic disorders, certain types of treated cancers, and the treatment of patients with multiple conditions.

• This book objectively analyzes the elements that make it possible to establish the actual benefit of spa treatments and, subsequently, their usefulness for patients and the health system. Thermal medicine uses natural resources that are respectful of the environment, treats the sick person as a whole and is also inexpensive. It is therefore truly a treatment for the general population that should be reconsidered simultaneously from a therapeutic, economic and humanist angle.

Contents

Part 1 - Spa treatment
▪ The regulations for thermal establishments and spa treatments
▪ Treatments and hydrothermal products: characteristics, use, control and safety
▪ Medical climatology
▪ Hydrogeology and origin of hydrothermal fluids
▪ Spa treatment abroad
▪ Role of the National Academy of Medicine in spa treatments

Part 2 - Training
▪ Training of doctors
▪ Training in spa treatment professions
▪ Assessment: assessment of spa treatments at the economic level
▪ Clinical evaluation of thermal medicine

Part 3 – Thermal medicine and public health
▪ Chronic diseases and public health stakes
▪ Prevention in thermal medicine
▪ Therapeutic education of the patient during spa treatments
▪ Chronic pain
▪ Rehabilitation, physical exercise
▪ Prescription and conduct of spa treatment for the patient 

Part 4 - Diseases
▪ Fibromyalgia
▪ Rheumatology
▪ Osteoporosis
▪ Cancers
▪ Digestive diseases
▪ Metabolic diseases
▪ Urinary disorders
▪ Gynaecological diseases
▪ Addictions
▪ Anxiety disorders
▪ Respiratory diseases
▪ Chronic neurological conditions
▪ Chronic vascular diseases
▪ Diseases of the oral mucosa
▪ Dermatology
▪ Paediatrics
▪ Geriatrics