Non-Fiction by Janice Macdonald

Lure of the Bubbles - Hot springs long sought for feel-good properties, but can the mineral water also be therapeutic?

By JANICE MACDONALD, Special Advertising Sections Writer

Guests take a soak at the Great Pagosa Hot Springs.

I could smell the sulfurous fumes of the Great Pagosa Hot Springs a few miles before I actually arrived in the town of Pagosa Springs, Colo.

The smell, I was to learn the next day, came from iron and alumina oxides, magnesium, chloride and, not surprisingly, sulfate — nothing I felt like thinking about later that night as I sunk neck deep into soothing, warm waters. Oddly, once I was submerged, I couldn’t smell any of these elements.

Mostly, after soaking for 30 minutes or so, I just felt relaxed and serene, which was probably the way the Ute Indians felt long ago when they took to the waters themselves. Mineral springs contain high amounts of negative ions, which can help promote feelings of physical and psychological well-being, according to Dr. Drew Werner, a family medicine practitioner and vice president of Valley View Hospital Medical Staff in Eagle, Colo.

But the Utes of Pagosa Springs, like other Native American tribes, valued the naturally occurring hot waters for more than their feel-good properties. The waters were considered therapeutic for a variety of conditions, including rheumatism, stomach ailments and skin diseases.

Native Americans aren’t alone in recognizing the therapeutic value of a hot soak. Europeans, too, have long flocked to mineral spas, said Gilbert Ashoff, owner of Vichy Springs in Ukiah, where the mineral content of the water was analyzed and found to be identical to that of the fabled waters in Vichy, France.

The concept of balneo therapy— therapeutic use of spring water, gases, mud and heat —has been slow to gain favor in this country, Ashoff said, because the medical establishment leans more toward pharmaceutical solutions. While he swears by the waters as an effective treatment for poison ivy and credits it for the speedy healing of his surgical lesions, he said he’s been unable to convince dermatologist friends to consider the option.

Springs are produced when water, seeping into the earth as rain or through volcanic activity, becomes heated as it passes through fissures and reemerges, loaded with minerals and scalding hot. (The hotter the water, the greater the mineral content.)

Trace amounts of minerals such as carbon dioxide, sulfur, calcium, magnesium and lithium are absorbed by the body and may provide healing effects to various body organs and systems, according to Werner. Moreover, the heated water increases circulation to muscles and joints and can help decrease swelling and pain in arthritic joints, he said.

Thermal waters, especially those containing sulfur, may also have a therapeutic effect on such skin diseases as psoriasis, dermatitis and fungal infections, according to Werner.

“But the therapeutic benefit of a thermal spa is more than the mineral content of the water,” Werner said. “The warm soothing waters [and] the social aspect all go toward creating a sense of well being and improved health,” he said.

Dr. Robert Bonakdar, director of pain management at Scripps Center for Integrative Medicine in La Jolla, offers a similar perspective. Noting that the’d be more inclined to send arthritis patients to the whirlpool at a YMCA for water therapy than to a mineral spa, mostly because of the Y’s more structured environment, he concedes that the more pampered environment of a spa could be psychologically beneficial.

Both doctors cautioned against soaking in a hot spring (or hot tub) alone and using alcohol and drugs, especially heart medications. Since the heated water can also cause dehydration, they recommend drinking plenty of water.

Werner also warns against letting any kind of health problem linger for too long before seeking medical attention.

“If something does not seem right or your current healthy activity is not helping what ails you,” he said, “don’t wait —see your doctor.”

*Los Angeles Times - 2006, April 22 by Janice MacDonald