spadreams guide - fango

Fango

Fango - the healing mud first used for cosmetic purposes in Italy, does wonders to your body and soul. It has a deep detoxifying as well as anti-inflammatory effect. It provides the body with oxygen and gives energy and vitality.

Fango in Italy

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Fango Guide by SpaDreams

Fango Guide by SpaDreamswww.spadreams.com

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Fango in Italy

For centuries, the minerals of fango have served as a natural remedy. A heat therapy with healing mud improves blood circulation, relaxes the muscles and can effectively eliminate pain. Its positive effect on back pain, muscle tension, respiratory symptoms, neuralgia and many other ailments has been proven scientifically.

In addition to its mild climate, sunny summers and beautiful landscapes, Italy is considered the birth-place of fango and it offers its health tourists nu-merous possibilities to indulge in a Fango therapy.

Contents

FANGO- WHAT IS IT? pg.2

What Is Fango?Organic FangoInorganic Fango

APPLICATION OF FANGO pg. 4

IndicationsContraindications

FANGO TREATMENT pg.5

The Classic Fango Treatment

What Is Fango?

The term “fango” comes from Italy and means “mud”, “dirt” or “he-aling mud”. It it is a mineral healing mud of volcanic origin, which due to its multiple uses is considered as one of the most effective cures.

The healing mud is especially used for the treatment of diseases connected to the musculoskeletal system and muscular tensi-ons. Hot fango stimulates blood circulation as well as relaxes the muscles and joints.

The origins of its first uses for therapeutic purposes date back to a few centuries B.C. There are historical sources testifying that Roman legionnaires acknowledged its healing properties.

Organic Fango

Organic fango is also referred to as Italian fango, and it consists of three components: a solid one (clay or mud), a liquid one (thermal water) and a biological one (algae or microorganisms). The therapeutic mud is aged for more than 60 days in special tubs or basins. During this time the mud-filled containers are constantly washed with fresh thermal water. The water’s temperature and chemical composition play an important role in the accumulation of microbes, which is essential for the effect of the fango.

Fango - What Is It?


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The microbes release herbal substances with anti-inflammatory effects. When the fango is enriched for its optimal medicinal bene-fits, the specially trained staff (“fanghinis”) take the mud out of the container with buckets. After being used, the fango is returned into the ageing containers in order to be enriched again. The prepa-ration of the fango is therefore very expensive as it is an extremely time and cost-intensive process.

Organic fango is used mostly in Italy, in places like the Abano Terme, Montagrotto Terme and Galzigliano Terme spas in the most famous fango region of the country, the Euganean Hills. This ridge has a volcanic origin and is supplied with special thermal water. The spring of this water is in the Alps, from where the water flows under the ground through the different rock beds into the Euganean pond, where it comes to the surface as artesian wells with temperatures between 80°C (176°F) and 85°C (185°F).

Fango - What Is It?



The thermal water contains salt, iodine and bromine. The fango mud is collected directly from the Euganean pond and it is made out of light blue natural clay, an aluminium silicate. The University of Padua controls the high quality of the fango from this region since 2004 through a thorough control procedure, within the scope of the O.T.P. (Osservatorio Termale Permanente). Because of its unique effects, the fango from the Euganean Hills has been registered at the European Patent Office.

Abano Terme is the most important health resort for fango therapies in Europe and it is located right on the Euganean Hills. Montegrotto Terme is right at the warm springs of the Euganean Hills and it is known for more than 3000 years as an ideal health resort for thermal baths and fango mud treatments. Montegrotto is one of the leading thermal centers in Italy. Galzigliano Terme is also ideal for thermal and fango therapies. Additionally it is located at a place that is ideal for starting hiking trips into the Euganean Hills and for golf holidays as golf enthusiasts can choose from a variety of golf courses that are available in the area.

It is also possible to find fango therapies on the famous island of Ischia, in the Gulf of Naples. The fango from this region is made out of local clay and thermal water.

Inorganic Fango

Inorganic fango, which is used especially in Europe and particular-ly in the German speaking regions, is distinguished notably by its manufacturing process.

Unlike organic fango, ripening of the mud in this case is dispensed with. The effectiveness of this type of fango is due to the special mineral composition and the thermo-physical properties. After use, inorganic fango is not recycled as part of fango therapy but disposed off.

The fixed component of inorganic fango comes from volcanic rock. In the German speaking regions for example this is ex-tracted in the Steirischen Vulkanland (Austria), near Bötzingen am Kaiserstuhl and near Bad Neuenahr in the Laacher See area.

The rock is then mechanically processed into a fine powder which is mixed on site for therapeutic use with tap, mineral and spa water and used warmed up as medicinal mud. In some places the substance is further enriched with radon, brine or sulphur.

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Indications

The warmth of a fango pack penetrates deeply and alleviates pain rapidly and sustainably. The anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving effect of matured fango has been officially verified by the study centre of Centro Studi Pietro d’Abano. Furthermore, a stimulating effect on the metabolism has been attributed to the medicinal mud. Muscles are relaxed and joints are eased on a long-term basis by the hot fango, and circulation is also stimulated.

Figures based on experience show that the use of fango helps in diseases of the musculoskeletal system such as osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, joint pain and immobility, as well as for primary and secondary forms of arthritis.

Fango also supports after-treatment following accidents and operations, as well as treatment of gout and the calcification of cartilage, joint rheumatism, inflammatory rheumatism (apart from acute forms), rheumatic fibrosis, rheumatic tendonitis, rheumatic hip complaints, soft-tissue rheumatism and rheumatism-related arthritis (in the resting phase).

In addition, spa guests report that gynaecological complaints (infections of the womb and cervix, after-effects of gynaecological procedures) are minimised by fango. Treatment with fango is also used in therapy for general anxiety and psychological disorders.

Contraindications

Contraindications on the other hand are: non-compensated cardiac insufficiency, ischemic heart disease, cerebral and periphe-ral vascular diseases, kidney diseases and kidney failure, tubercu-losis, epilepsy, acute inflammatory diseases, hyperthyroidism and malignant ulcers.

The fango treatment is not applied during pregnancy, breast-feeding or during the first days of menstruation either. However, because the extent and temperature of the fango as well as the duration and frequency of its application can be adjusted individu-ally, limited fango therapy can be performed for a few of the above mentioned indications.

For example, fango therapy is possible for some venous diseases if the legs are left out of the treatment. Therefore, a medical exami-nation is done before the treatment begins.

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Application of Fango

Fango Treatment


The Classic Fango Treatment

The fango therapy must be prescribed and carried out under the supervision of the thermal doctor. Fango therapy is therefore always preceded by a medical entrance examination.The doctor determines which body parts the fango will be applied to depending on the symptoms that need to be treated. Even the temperature of the therapeutic mud and the duration of each application are determined individually. The treatment is perfor-med in the morning on an empty stomach. A classic application of fango in the spas of Italy usually consists of four steps:

The fango wrap: The therapeutic mud is applied to the appropri-ate areas of the body by a Fanghini about three to ten centimetres thick with a temperature between 38°C (100°F) and 42°C (108°F). The patient is then wrapped in cloths and blankets to further in-tensify the warming property of the therapeutic mud. Depending on the extent and recommendation of the doctor, the application lasts between 15 and 30 minutes.

The thermal bath: After the body is cleaned of mud by a short shower, the patient enjoys a 10 to 15 minute bath in 37 °C (just un-der 100°F) thermal water. The water is partly enriched with ozone.The sparkling bubbles have a vasodilatory effect and stimulate circulation.

The sweat reaction: After the bath, the patient is dried off and should rest well while covered for at least 30 minutes. During this time, the biological reaction of the body, triggered by the fango wrap, is continued. The patient feels this most clearly in the strong perspiration that starts with the fango wrap and comes in again in this phase.

The massage: The fango therapy usually ends with a body massa-ge, but it can also be supplemented by other treatments.

Zara SPA im Mövenpick Dead Sea

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spadreams guide - fango

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