Hay Therapy (Fenum) in Phytobalneotherapy in Sebastian Kneipp’s Method With Respect to the Diversity of Cnidion Dubii Meadows in the Vistula Valley in Poland (Central Europe)

Abstract

Aim: Estimation of usefulness and efficiency of hay therapy (fenum) in phytobalneotherapy in Sebastian Kneipp’s method with respect to the diversity of grassland communities from the Cnidion dubii alliance in the Vistula valley in Poland. Materials and Methods: In this study a grassland community was studied following the methods of the Zurich-Montpellier School of Phytosociology. Kneipp’s thermotherapy treatments, include: warm baths, half-baths, sitting baths and partial baths as well as compresses made of hay bags. Sebastian Kneipp traditionally, used only hay bags for hay treatments. Results: In the Vistula valley in Poland, grassland communities of the Cnidion dubii alliance are a habitat with more than nine dominant medicinal species which may be used in balneotherapy and other health resort treatments: Allium angulosum, Achillea millefolium, Centaurea jacea, Lychnis flos-cuculi, Lysimachia vulgaris, Menyanthes trifoliata, Potentilla erecta, Ranunculus acris, Rumex acetosa, Sanguisorba officinalis, Succisa pratensis. Conclusions: Hay from the Cnidion dubii meadows in the Vistula valley in Poland has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, protozoonicidal, antifungal, antiviral, congestive, antiseptic, anti-rheumatic, antispasmodic, and antioxidative properties, and is soothing to inflammations of the skin. Indications: Bechterew’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis in the non-acute phase, arthrosis of the joints of the upper and lower limbs, pain syndromes of the cervical and lumbar spine in the non-acute phase, neuralgia, enthesopathies of muscles and tendons, states of increased tone of the skeletal muscles and smooth internal organs, dysmenorrhea, tendency to boils and blemishes, leg ulcers, skin inflammations, atopic skin lesions, skin care, as well as a treatment accelerating the body’s regeneration processes in biological regeneration and professional sports.