ABSTRACT
The use of thermal therapy for preventive and therapeutic purposes has its origin in antiquity, dating back thousands of years. The denition of thermotherapy has been used to refer to all treatments based on the transfer of thermal energy. In general, the transfer of heat from the environment to the body happens through different physical processes: conduction, convection, or radiation. Conductive heating is dened as heat transfer without noticeable movement in the conducting medium, thus direct contact takes place between the heat source and the target tissues (i.e., hot packs). Convective heating is the transfer of heat by the movement of the transferring heating medium, usually air or a uid (i.e., hydrotherapy and traditional sauna). Radiant heat is a type of conversion heating; high-energy photons penetrate the tissues, and this energy is converted into heat (i.e., infrared lamps and far-infrared sauna). Wavelengths producing temperature rises in tissues range from the spectrum of far infrared to visible
8.1 Thermal Therapies: From Hyperthermia to Balneotherapy ......................... 153 8.2 Therapeutic Applications of Hydrothermal Hormesis.................................. 155 8.3 Hydrogen Sulde as a Hormetic Cytoprotectant in Thermal Waters:
Therapeutic and Molecular Targets .............................................................. 159 8.4 Health Effects of Radon-Thermal Water: An Example of Hormesis ........... 161 8.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................... 161 Acknowledgment ................................................................................................... 161 References .............................................................................................................. 162
yellow; longer wavelengths of light, from green to ultraviolet, produce photochemical reactions that do not signicantly raise tissue temperature (Ritter 1996).
