When and where did Colonic Hydrotherapy begin?
Since Egyptian times
Hydrotherapy has been around since ancient Egyptian times. Even then people suffered digestive discomforts.
Cleansing was done with various herbal purges as well as a primitive way of colon hydrotherapy using hollowed out bamboo rods, with boiled and cooled spring-water.
Fast forward to the 1800s
“Through the centuries one form or another was used to help clean the bowels. Probably before Harvey Kellogg in 1870’s America set up his ‘Purging for infectious Diseases’ sanatorium, people did not know too much about colon hydrotherapy. Harvey became famous for his naturopathic treatments, special vegetarian diets and unusual ‘colonics’ which were a rather brutal type of enema which included yoghourt at the end. He was well up on beneficial flora obtained partly from Natural yoghourt cultures. There were no little pots with the pro-biotic capsules we use today. His words, ’Clean intestines are the source of Health’.”
Harvey Kellogg lived a long life, was devoted to improving health, and a truly compassionate man, practising what he preached and died in 1943 aged 91.
The big rise in the UK
There were a handful of people practising here and there and certainly enemas were widely used. But it is since the early 80’s, colon hydrotherapy made a bigger comeback in the UK.
Popularised by the late Princess Diana, small clinics started sprouting up all over the country.
Soon it became more talked about and accepted. Today it is very popular. It is often used by people as part of a detox programme in many clinics and spas here and abroad.
People use it as a health-maintenance, as it is particularly effective to clear the type of gas that stays ‘stuck’ in the bowels causing bloating and congestion.