Medical Hydrology and Balneology: Environmental Aspects

Medical Hydrology and Climatology Teaching
at the University of Seville
San José C (1)
(1) Departament of Pharmacology, pediatrics and radiology, faculty of medicine.
University of Seville, Spain
medhid@us.es
Introduction and Objectives
Since the late eighties of the last century there has been an important development
of health resorts, spas and wellness centers in Spain. One important factor for
this huge step towards the use of water in its different conditions and techniques of
application and more concrete the use of medicinal mineral waters was the implantation
since 1989 of the Programm of “Social Thermalism” in this country that
benefits the third age pensioners with almost two weeks of balneotherapy in a
health resort.
The aim of this paper is to show how the great importance of Thermalism nowadays
in our country with the large expansion of health resorts, spas and wellness
centers make the teaching of the subjet “Medical Hydrology and Climatology” at
University level esential for the complete formation of Medicine students.
Materials and Methods
In this paper we show our teaching programms of Medical Hydrology and
Climatology and the complementary Therapies that are used in health resorts, spas
and wellness centres, like thermotherapy, criotherapy, hydrotherapy, crenotherapy,
peloidotherapy, thalassotherapy, climatotherapy, aquatic exercise therapy, massage
therapy, inhalation therapy, electrotherapy, ultrasound therapy, phototherapy, and
all the diseases that can be treated in health resorts depending of the chemical
composition of their waters and their physical characteristics, like rheumatic illness,
respiratory diseases, digestive and metabolic diseases, endocrine diseases, neurological
diseases, skin diseases, hearth and circulatory diseases, urological diseases,
pediatric diseases, geriatric diseases,…
Results
We have teached Balneotherapy in the University of Seville for the last two decades
with the subject Medical Hydrology and Climatology that is imparted at the
Faculty of Medicine with 4,5 credits since 1990 and will be given until 2015 in the
Licentiate Degree in Medicine (plan to extinguish) and nowadays since 2008 in the
new Medical Degree derived from the new European University Formation System
(Superior Education European Space) with 6 credits ECTS.
Balnea 295
ISBN: 978-84-669-1887-0
978-84-669-3482-4
2012, núm. 6, 295-296