足浴は、伝統的に、プライマリケアや看護・介護、外科手術後のケアに利用されてきたが、足浴の仕組みを研究すれば、溺没などの危険性がない安全な理学療法として活用できると思われる。特に外科手術後の腸管マヒの予防などに活用できる可能性を検討するため、種々の温度の足浴による健常人での胃運動への影響を、胃電図と自覚的な空腹感の問診により調査した。被験者は、健常成人14名 (全員女性: 平均年齢32±6.0歳) として、文書による同意を取得した後、4種の足浴実験 (膝下10cmまでの淡水浴: 38℃、40℃、42℃と対照座位) に参加させた。各実験は、各人において4日間以上あけ無作為の順序で、一日の同じ時間帯 (10:00-14:00で昼食摂取前) に行った。生理期間中は実験を行わなかった。研究は、富山県国際伝統医学センター倫理委員会の承認を得た後に行い、足浴前10分、中30分、後10分におけるECG R-R変動と胃電図 (EGG) をモニターし、足浴開始前と最中、終了後に空腹感に関する問診を行った。R-R変動のFFT解析によりLF (0.04-0.15Hz)、HF (0.15-0.4Hz) のパワースペクトルデンシティを計算し、自律神経バランスを推定した。EGG波形についても、フーリエ解析により周波数と振幅を求めた。その結果、EGGの周波数も振幅も温度依存性に増大を認めた。ただ、副交感神経指標とされているHFパワーとEGG振幅との間には負の相関性を認めた。また、足浴中の空腹感では、38℃と40℃において空腹感を訴える例が対照より有意に多かったが、42℃では、胃電図の振幅や周波数の有意な増大を認めながらも、空腹感を訴える例は多くなかった。これは、42℃で脳波のδ波が増大していることを考慮すると、皮膚の発汗による電位のドリフトにより見かけ上胃電図が増大したためと推定された。以上、健常人において38～40℃、30分間の足浴により、空腹感が増大し、胃電図の変化も起こることから、足浴が胃運動を促進する可能性が示唆された。

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5年間観察し得た肺気腫患者10例を対象に温泉療法の有効性について検討を加えた。そのうちの5例は温泉療法を行った症例 (グループA) で、他の5例は温泉療法を行わなかった症例 (グループB) であった。観察開始前の%FVC、%FEV1.0、FEV1.0%、高分解能CTの上の%LAA、%DLcoおよび%RV値には、両グループ間に有意の差は見られなかった。
1. 温泉療法を行った5症例では、肺の%LAAは軽度の増加傾向は見られたが治療前と温泉療法5年後の値には有意の差は見られなかった。一方、温泉療法を受けなかった5症例では、観察前の値 (52.2%) と比べ4年後 (61.1%)、5年後 (65.5%) いずれも有意の高値を示した。2. 温泉療法を受けた症例では、この5年間で%DLco値および%RV値の軽度の低下が見られたが、いずれも有意の変化ではなかった。3. 温泉療法を受けなかった症例では5年間で%DLcoの有意の低下 (67.2%から49.0%)、%RV値の有意の増加 (175.4%から230.6%) が見られた。
以上の結果より、肺気腫の診断がつき次第できるだけ早期に温泉療法を始めること、そしてできるだけ長期的に行うことが望ましいと考えられた。

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In order to investigate the effects of deep sea water bathing on relaxation and daylight sleep in night shift workers, electroencephalography, circulatory and cardiac autonomic functionings, visual evoked potential, biochemical markers in urine and saliva, core body temperature, sleep questionnaires, and mood state questionnaires were evaluated in nine subjects to compare with other three kinds of bathing including sham (no water), tap water and surface sea water. Deep sea water bathing showed better subjective sleep latency for sleep questionnaire (p<0.1) and significantly better vigor status for mood questionnaire (p<0.01) between four kinds of bathing. With regard to the objective data, despite the biggest increase in temperature of eardrum in deep sea water bathing, the highest sleep efficiency and the shortest wake period during sleep in electroencephalography did not reach to the significant level.

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The composition of human body can be divided into five levels (atomic, molecular, cellular, tissue, and body). The objective of this study is to examine the changes with age in total body water (TBW) and fat mass (FM), which are conductive factors in the body, on the tissue level. The subjects of this study consisted of 476 healthy energetic adults living in Aomori Prefecture, Japan (146 males and 330 females). The total and partial body water and fat mass were measured by segmental bioelectrical impedance analysis. The following results were obtained after adding examination of changes in body composition with age.
1. Both males and females in their 30s showed the highest values of fat-free mass (FFM) and TBW; those in their 60s showed the highest values of %FAT and FM.
2. TBW, a thermal-conduction-promoting factor, was higher in males, and FM, thermal-conduction-inhibiting factor, was higher in females.
3. TBW in the extremities, especially in the lower extremities, tended to decrease with age both in males and females.
4. TBW in the extremities associated with the conductivity of a warm bath was higher in the lower extremities, so understanding TBW in the lower extremities can be considered very important when determining the applicability of warm bathing.

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We investigated the influences of hot-spring bathing on the incidences of abortion and premature birth using questionnaires returned from 768 puerperal in-patients.
These patients were classified into four groups: 24 taking a hot-spring bath daily (group 1), 134 taking a bath with additives (group 2), 178 taking a plain water bath daily (group 3), and 35 taking a shower daily (group 4).
The incidence of threatened abortion among the ambulatory patients in each group was 4.2% for group 1, 11.9% for group 2, 9% for group 3, and 2.9% for group 4.
The incidence of threatened abortion among the hospitalized patients in each group was 4.2% for group 1, 6.7% for group 2, 4.5% for group 3, and 8.6% for group 4.
The incidence of threatened premature birth among the ambulatory patients in each group was 12.5% for group 1, 17.2% for group 2, 15.7% for group 3, and 14.3% for group 4.
The incidence of threatened premature birth among the hospitalized patients in each group was 0% for group 1, 7.5% for group 2, 3.4% for group 3, and 2.9% for group 4.
The incidence of vaginitis among the patients in each group was 50% for group 1, 43.4% for group 2, 46.6% for group 3, and 44.1% for group 4.
The incidence of premature rupture of membrane (PROM) among the patients in each group was 4.2% for group 1, 21.1% for group 2, 12.9% for group 3, and 22.9% for group 4.
The incidence of premature birth among the patients in each group was 0% for group 1, 3% for group 2, 2.8% for group 3, and 2.9% for group 4.
Among the 42 multiparas experiencing single delivery and being treated for threatened abortion, those who for more than 10 minutes daily showed a significant difference from ambulatory patients being treated for threatened abortion that required hospitalization.
Many of the 63 primiparas who did not use a labor accelerating medicine but bathed for more than 10 minutes daily delivered their babies within 1000 minutes.
Conclusion
The above suggests that pregnant women may bathe in hot-springs without problem but bathing for less than 10 minutes is recommended during early stage of pregnancy.

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The largest percentage of patients receiving acupuncture treatment in Japan are those with chronic aches. Aches are major factors of QOL, and the pain-killing effect of acupuncture treatment has a large clinical significance. In the study, therefore, we expressed the QOL of the patients who received acupuncture treatment as scores using SF-36 and then examined the effect of acupuncture treatment on improving the QOL. Each score of SF-36 was rated from 0 to 100, where higher points represent better states of health.
The study was conducted on 60 patients who received acupuncture treatment in our facility from Oct. 2002 to Jan. 2003.
All scores before the start of treatment were low, and all score fell below the national standard value. Physical functions (PF), bodily pain (BP), and generally view of healthiness (GH) of the physical component summary (PCS) and vitality (VT) of mental component summary (MCS) showed particularly low scores relative to other scores. Comparison of scores before the start of treatment with those 1 month after the treatment revealed that BP among the eight sub-scales was improved significantly (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results suggest that receiving acupuncture treatment can contribute to improving a patient's QOL.

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