Traditional Herbal Sitz Baths (also written Sitzbaths) are used around the world for a broad variety of health issues, both in the preventive and curative sphere. Sitzbaths can be taken by men and women.
Usually, it’s an immersion of the lower body parts — for a certain duration — in a bath tub filled with warm water and a mixture of herbal decoctions and medicated oils. Typically, the head and upper part of the chest or body stay above the water.
The idea is that the medicinal herbs used get absorbed into the body — through the skin — and subsequently have beneficial healing effects. It’s common to gently massage the body parts that need to be treated in order to aid with herbal absorption. Depending on the therapeutic effects wanted, different herbs are used.
A variety of health conditions can be treated with Sitzbaths, such as hemorrhoids, warts, herpes, sores, ulcers, eczema, itching, inflammations, infections, irritations, and rashes. On the genital level it can relieve discomforts and problems involving the testes, penis, scrotum, vagina, vulva, anal area and perineum.
Furthermore, Sitzbaths can be beneficial in relieving colics, indigestion, abdominal pains, cramps, low back pains, sciatica, arthritis, and skin problems of all kind. In general, due to the heat of the bath, Sitzbaths also improve blood circulation.
