Kneipp

Sebastian Kneipp (17 May 1821, Stephansried, Germany – 17 June 1897, in Bad Wörishofen) was a Bavarian priest and one of the forefathers of the Hydrotherapy water cure movement. He is most commonly associated with the "Kneipp Cure" form of hydrotherapy, the application of water through various methods, temperatures and pressures which he demonstrated to have therapeutic or healing effects, thus building several hospitals in Bad Wörishofen.

Although most commonly associated with one area of Nature Cure, Kneipp was the proponent of an entire system of healing which rested on 5 main tenets:

Kneipp was born in 1821 in Bavaria. His father was a weaver, and Kneipp trained as a weaver until he was 23 when he began training for the priesthood. He fell ill with tuberculosis, and claimed that he was healed by a "water cure" that he read in a book that he found. He was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1852.

In the 19th century, there was a popular revival in the application of hydrotherapy, instigated around 1829 by Vincent Priessnitz, a peasant farmer in Gräfenberg, then part of the Austrian Empire. This revival was continued by Kneipp, "an able and enthusiastic follower" of Priessnitz, "whose work he took up where Priessnitz left it", after he came across a treatise on the cold water cure. At Worishofen, while serving as the confessor to the monastery, he began offering treatments of hydrotherapy, botanical treatments, exercise and diet to the people who lived in the village. Some of his suggested treatments included "ice cold baths and walking barefoot in the snow" and other "harsh" methodologies. In 1893, M. E. Bottey described Kneipp's water cures as "dangerous in most cases".". Worishofen became known as a place with a reputation for spiritual healing. In addition to "peasants", Kneipp's clients also included Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his father, Archduke Karl Ludwig as well as Pope Leo XIII. Others took Kneipp's processes back to their home countries to found alternative therapy spas and colleges. In America, Kneipp Societies were founded, which, under the influence of Benedict Lust, changed their name to Naturopatic Society of America.

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