10/12/2015

What Does Glenwood Hot Springs Have in Common with Hippocrates and the Roman Empire?

Glenwood Hot Springs is the world’s largest mineral hot springs pool. Hippocrates is the famous Greek physician known as the “Father of Western Medicine.” Glenwood Hot Springs was founded in 1888; Hippocrates lived roughly around 400 B.C. What common ground could they possible share?

Hippocrates hypothesized that all diseases stemmed from an imbalance of bodily fluids. To restore balance, Hippocrates proposed a regimen of bathing in warm spring water, walking and regular massages. While there might be some flaws in his theory, he was certainly on to something. He promoted soaking in mineral hot springs for healing skin diseases and relieving muscular and joint pain; remedies that are still recommended today.

Some 2,500 years after Hippocrates, visitors come to Glenwood Hot Springs to soak and swim in the healing waters and for the wellness benefits of therapeutic massage at the Spa of the Rockies. It’s almost as if they are filling a prescription prescribed by Hippocrates himself!

For the Romans, spa bathing was a right established by the government; and to that end they built public baths throughout their empire. In fact, the Romans built one of the first large scale spas that could be used by hundreds of bathers simultaneously, and, where they could easily socialize with one another.

The Roman tradition continues at Glenwood Hot Springs where the pool is so large it rivals the size of a football field! On the busiest days hundreds of people of all ages and many nationalities come together to enjoy the benefits of the healing springs and to mingle with old friends and make new ones.