[Vincenzo Cuomo, pioneer in thalassotherapy].
Thermal Medicine is now well integrated with other therapies such as pharmacotherapy, surgery, physiotherapy, radiotherapy and so on, in the prevention, cure and rehabilitation of many diseases. The methodology of thermal treatments, now recognized as bona fide therapies with their specific indications, adverse side effects, dosages, applications and administration times, are classified into mineral baths, mudcures and grotto treatments. Thalassotherapy is a therapy that is linked to the sea and is one of the most important of the climatotherapeutic methods. It constitutes a complex of therapeutic effects derived from the meteorological and telluric factors characterising a given climate. Thalassotherapy deals with the therapeutic effects conferred by periods of time spent by the sea, including the modes of action of marine agents, and strives to determine their limitations and in what circumstances a sojourn by the sea can provide effective health benefits. Thalassotherapy is affected by three kinds of main factors: climatotherapeutic factors, eliotherapeutic factors and balneotherapeutic factors. Refraining from normal daily activities and a rigorous observance of general hygiene, and diet in particular must also always be observed.
Lampa
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Associazione Medica Italiana di Idroclimatologia, Talassologia e Terapia Fisica. enrico.lampa@unina2.it
Rossi
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F
D001452:Balneology / Q000266:history; D013790:Climatotherapy / Q000266:history*; D006370:Heliotherapy / Q000266:history; D049672:History, 19th Century; D049673:History, 20th Century; D007558:Italy