HAY BATHS

These are a natural therapy for the treatment of rheumatic conditions. It is an age-old practice started in Trentino-South Tyrol, and its origins go very far back in time. An exclusive treatment, in harmony with nature and which keeps alive the traditions of these lands: therapeutic hay baths.
The grasses of the Viote Alpine basin, on Monte Bondone, are used in the treatment and physical wellbeing of the guests through hay baths. Hay baths are an ancient form of alternative and totally natural medicine for the treatment of aches and pains caused by pathologies of the locomotive apparatus.

The grass is mowed at dawn on the slopes of Monte Bondone and contains different medicinal herbs (arnica, marella, antennaria, betonica, wild chicory, Carline thistle, mountain avens, colchicum, various gentians, lisoppa (?), bilberry, peony, clover, bird’s foot trefoil, heather, plantain, millefeuille, calliofillata (caryophyllata?), various polygonums, wild geranium and anemone) only found in some of the region’s mountain areas. It is then placed in large tubs and left to macerate for a few days. When this spontaneous and natural fermentation is complete bathers immerse themselves in it almost fully for 15 minutes, then gradually increasing in subsequent sessions for up to half an hour. The hay beds reach temperatures of 55-65 degrees causing profuse perspiration which continues for hours afterwards.

THERAPEUTIC INDICATIONS
Hay baths have been prescribed and used since the beginning of the 1800’s for the following pathologies:
primary and secondary arthrosis (general or localised), post-traumatic articular inflammatory forms (after fractures or similar).

- Muscular spasms (contractures)
- Articular rigidity
- Rheumatism (not in the acute phase)
- Osteoarthritic degeneration
- Spondylosis
- Periarthritis
- Myalgia

This treatment leaves those who undergo it with a feeling of physical wellbeing due to an electrolyte turnover induced by perspiration: the skin becomes smooth, soft and toned under the stimulation of the immune defences and the hormonal activities of the deep organs. Clinical studies carried out on a large number of patients have not brought to light any counter-indications.
The minimum course is five sessions over a period of one week’s stay at the Hotel; a period of 2 weeks with 10 hay bath sessions is recommended as optimal. For chronic conditions the treatment should be repeated each year to maintain its efficacy.