La fisioterapia en los centros de agua urbanos

We are currently living an interesting stage in all the subjects related with Balneology and Hydrotherapy, terms that the nonspecialists usually confuse. It is the aim of this work to differentiate them.

This study describes how the physical therapy opens the way to new hydrotherapy centers or SPAs in the cities. This is a challenge as it implies defending one of our competencies, that is, using the hydrotherapy means for treatment in the health setting and preventing unqualified professional practice.

Specifically we are describing our experience, that of a Spa that counts on physiotherapists in its staff. We have designed a cross-sectional, descriptive work or cut off that aims to obtain data on the set of individuals who requested the services of physical therapy as well as the reason for consultation and their satisfaction after completing the proposed intervention of their physiotherapist.

During the 6-month study (January-June 2007), a total of 276 clients were recorded in the SPA, 57 (20.6 %) of whom came to the center due to a health problem. The most frequent reason for consultation was suffering some type of painful and/or inflammatory condition (76.32 %).

Regarding client satisfaction after completing the intervention, it was considered positive in most of the cases. Thus, and based on the results obtained, we can predict that physical therapy could make its way within these centers, many of which are used for esthetics and have true hotbeds of unqualified professionals.