Benefits of Mud Baths

Tests have shown that extracts from clay and other earth samples have antibacterial properties and exhibit features of attaching toxins in somewhat the same fashion as charcoal. A test animal, the dog, was put in mud baths and showed great metabolic changes without injuiring the dog in any way. The function of the heart and kidneys , and the heat-regulating centers remained wholly undisturbed. There was a significant decrease in total acidity of the urine regarded to be favorable. A summary of the results of one experiment follows: (1) The protracted mud baths at 39°C had a powerful stimulating effect on metabolism, absorption of inflammatory masses, and promotion of regeneration of tissues, without injuring the system; (2) blood formation was stimulated; (3) the urine was alkalinized; (4) the excretion of chlorides by the kidneys was increased.¹

^{An experiment done on four health men between the ages of 21 and 52 revealed that after mud extract baths, the skin temperatures were higher than after pure water baths. It was interpreted that the mud extract baths improved blood circulation in the skin and consequently improved heat absorption during the mud extract bath.}

^{Sweat elicited by sweat -producing measures always contains uric acid. Subjects submitted to a daily hot mud pack for a period of two weeks or more eliminated considerable amounts of uric acid through the skin. It was reported that sometimes the percentage of uric acid in the sweat reached a value equal to or exceeding that in the blood. Apparently the skin has the faculty of extracting uric acid from the blood.2 3 4}

^{Mud bath can be used to treat the following:-}

• Infections, both superficial and deep
• Pain
• Swelling
• Arthritis, gout, sciatica, neuritis
• Kidney failure with retention of wastes
• Fluid retention in liver failure, sarcoidosis and other conditions.
• Cancer (for pain, toxin absorption, reduction of swelling)
• All the indications of charcoal
• Lupus erythematosus
• Ezcema, skin rashes, poison ivy, other dermatological diseases

Footnote

1. Archives of Medical Hydrology 7:197-200, May 1929
2. British Journal  of Haematology 16:409-11 April 1969
3. Fever Therapy, New York, Paul B Hoebner, Inc, 1937
4. Clinical Pediatrics 15:776, 1976