The practice of using water as a form of therapy to flush waste from the colon dates as far back as 1300 B.C. An ancient Greek medical text called the Eber Papyrus (named after George Eber, a German professor who had the text translated in 1873) extols the virtues of cleansing the colon via the rectum. Early fathers of medicine Hippocrates (460-377 B.C.) and Galen (129-210) were strong proponents of colon cleansing as a medicinal tool. Ambrosio Paré (1517-1590), a French physician, was the first to describe colon hydrotherapy (also known as colon irrigation or colonics) in detail and to differentiate it from an enema. The 1906 edition of the Larousse Illustrated Medical Dictionary includes information on the uses of enemas and colon hydrotherapy.
Into the 20th century, pioneering physicians including Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (of Kellogg's cereal fame), Dr. Norman Walker and Dr. Bernard Jensen stressed the importance of receiving regular colonics as part of a healthy lifestyle. In fact, until the 1930's, colon hydrotherapy was commonly practiced in many hospitals and doctors' offices, attesting to its legitimacy. Regrettably, the advent of pharmacology and the ensuing ubiquity of pharmaceuticals relegated colonics to virtual obsolescence for several decades.
Since the 1970's, however, there has been a grassroots resurgence of interest in the health benefits and healing potential of colon hydrotherapy. Hectic schedules, high levels of stress, a growing dependence on nutrient-deficient processed and fast foods, artificial food additives and preservatives, sedentary lifestyles, alcohol consumption, smoking, recreational and prescription drug use, thousands of toxic chemicals in every day household and industrial products, environmental pollution, soil depletion - these are some of the common contributing factors to a general decline in people's health, producing conditions ranging from a vague feeling of malaise to more serious chronic and degenerative disease states. Ultimately, the body is burdened by toxic overload as it is not designed to cope with these hazards in the excessive quantity and frequency to which it has become exposed.
The consequences of these excesses have left many people searching for ways to regain their lost vitality. Drugs and surgery have become the interventions of choice in the field of medicine. However, although typically prescribed, drugs and surgery are limited in their effectiveness as a means of prevention. In fact, they are of little value until after the onset of illness. The use of drugs and surgery as a cure is also restricted. Because they tend to target a specific symptom rather than addressing the relationship between a symptom and the rest of the body, drugs and surgery generally do not address the underlying disturbances which caused illness to occur, leaving the door open for symptoms to recur or for new symptoms to develop. While modern medicine can be of invaluable service in certain critical circumstances, more and more people are seeking holistic health care alternatives to help alleviate illness before it reaches a critical stage.
As a holistic preventative and healing therapy, colon hydrotherapy is beyond comparison. It is widely practiced in the United Kingdom and in many European countries, including France, Germany, Spain, Belgium and Switzerland. In North America, a growing number of people are experiencing the far-reaching benefits of colonics as word spreads about this unique therapy and as more holistic practitioners offer colonics as an integral part of health care. The following introduction to colon hydrotherapy provides you with important information about how colonics can play a major role in helping you achieve and maintain optimal health and vitality. Once you have read it, you are invited to call the D'AVIGNON Digestive Health Centre to discuss your own health issues, whether you are looking for help with a particular condition, or are simply interested in maintaining good health, and in learning more about how a clean colon means a clean bill of health.
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