| Sitz bath | |
|---|---|
 From Scammell's Cyclopedia of Useful Receipts (1897) | |
| Specialty | rehabilitative medicine |
A sitz bath or hip bath is a bathtub in which a person sits in water up to the hips.[1] It is used to relieve discomfort and pain in the lower part of the body, for example, due to hemorrhoids (piles), anal fissures, perianal fistulas, rectal surgery, an episiotomy, uterine cramps, inflammatory bowel disease, pilonidal cysts and infections of the bladder, prostate or vagina. It works by keeping the affected area clean and increasing the flow of blood to it.
Such hip baths were originally a European custom,[2] although modern sitz baths are used mainly for therapeutic purposes. The term sitz bath is derived from the German word Sitzbad, meaning a bath (Bad) in which one sits (sitzen).[1]
- ^ a b "sitz bath". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- ^ Karen Boyden; Donna Olendorf; Christine Jeryan (2008), "sitz bath", The Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine (reproduced on TheFreeDictionary.com), Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research Co., retrieved 17 February 2011.