Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2008 Dec 4:8:61.
doi: 10.1186/1472-6882-8-61.

The oil-dispersion bath in anthroposophic medicine--an integrative review

Arndt Büssing  1 , Dirk Cysarz, Friedrich Edelhäuser, Gudrun Bornhöft, Peter F Matthiessen, Thomas Ostermann
Affiliations
Review

The oil-dispersion bath in anthroposophic medicine--an integrative review

Arndt Büssing et al. BMC Complement Altern Med. .

Abstract

Background: Anthroposophic medicine offers a variety of treatments, among others the oil-dispersion bath, developed in the 1930s by Werner Junge. Based on the phenomenon that oil and water do not mix and on recommendations of Rudolf Steiner, Junge developed a vortex mechanism which churns water and essential oils into a fine mist. The oil-covered droplets empty into a tub, where the patient immerses for 15-30 minutes. We review the current literature on oil-dispersion baths.

Methods: The following databases were searched: Medline, Pubmed, Embase, AMED and CAMbase. The search terms were 'oil-dispersion bath' and 'oil bath', and their translations in German and French. An Internet search was also performed using Google Scholar, adding the search terms 'study' and 'case report' to the search terms above. Finally, we asked several experts for gray literature not listed in the above-mentioned databases. We included only articles which met the criterion of a clinical study or case report, and excluded theoretical contributions.

Results: Among several articles found in books, journals and other publications, we identified 1 prospective clinical study, 3 experimental studies (enrolling healthy individuals), 5 case reports, and 3 field-reports. In almost all cases, the studies described beneficial effects - although the methodological quality of most studies was weak. Main indications were internal/metabolic diseases and psychiatric/neurological disorders.

Conclusion: Beyond the obvious beneficial effects of warm bathes on the subjective well-being, it remains to be clarified what the unique contribution of the distinct essential oils dispersed in the water can be. There is a lack of clinical studies exploring the efficacy of oil-dispersion baths. Such studies are recommended for the future.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Vortex mechanism of the oil-dispersion bath. With kind permission of Florian Junge, Bad BOll
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ernst E. Complementary and alternative medicine. Lancet. 2001;357:802–803. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(05)71227-7. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Steiner R, Wegman I. Grundlegendes für eine Ereiterung der Heilkunst nach geisteswissenschaftlichen Erkenntnissen. Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag; 1991.
    1. Steiner R. Theosophie. Dornach: Rudolf Steiner Verlag; 1987.
    1. Richie J, Wilkinson J, Gantley M, Feder G, Carter Y, Formby J. A model of integrated primary care: anthroposophic medicine. London: London, National Centre for Social Research. Department of General Practice and Primary Care, St Bartholomew's and the Royal London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London; 2001.
    1. Büssing A. Mistletoe The Genus Viscum. Amsterdam: Harwood Academic Publishers; 2000.

Publication types