It's a wrap; While most new "spas" aim to pamper rather than heal,

THEY were once some of the most respected medical centres in Europe. British spa resorts, such as Strathpeffer in the Highlands and Buxton in the North of England, drew crowds of sick and desperate people in search of a cure for diseases like rheumatism, arthritis and skin complaints. Doctors would regularly refer their patients to "take the waters", since their rich mineral qualities worked miracles of healing on those who seemed to have no hope left.

In the 19th century Britain's health spas were at the forefront of a booming European industry and boasted a variety of body wraps, such as peat, clay or mineral salts. As well as drinking the sulphurous waters from the wells at Strathpeffer, visitors could choose from a number of inflammation-reducing and detoxifying treatments, including a bath in peat, the radioactive properties of which were shown to help early onset rheumatoid arthritis, lumbago and sciatica. But in the Sixties funding was cut for such alternative medicine, and combined with the rise in overseas travel, the resorts declined.

Yet the last few years have seen something of a spa revival in Britain. This month, the pump room at Strathpeffer will reopen to the public. A new public bathing facility, complete with a range of body treatments, will open next year around the thermal water at Bath, and Buxton has ambitious plans to revive its defunct spa as a health and wellbeing centre. "Spas" have popped up in most health clubs and large hotels in Scotland, offering a range of treatments to relax and rejuvenate.

While most new health spas aim to pamper rather than heal, as alternative therapies swing back into fashion the old treatment methods are making a comeback. At Mulberry House, a day spa in Edinburgh, health practitioner Eve Joseph uses dead sea mud, sea weed and dead sea salts, combined with alternative therapies like massage and reflexology, to treat patients with skin complaints such as psoriasis, eczema, acne and dermitis, and chronic problems like irritable bowel syndrome. She also works with a doctor to heal wounds and scar tissue, using glycolic peel, a powerful concentrate of lactic and fruit acids.

Joseph became convinced of the strength of natural medicine when she visited a spa in Arizona and had what she thought was to be an ordinary facial. After the Czech-trained therapist had finished massaging the oils into her skin, Joseph looked in the mirror to find that the acne she had suffered from most of her adult life had miraculously disappeared. Using the oils the woman gave her, combined with the massage, she has since been able to control the skin condition.

As a result of the experience Joseph left her lucrative job in the media and embarked on a three-year holistics degree at Hertfordshire University, specialising in skin disease. Her work took her to the Seychelles, where she learned of the enriching properties of seaweed, and to Jordan, where she got stuck into her favourite medium - dead sea mud.

Back in Edinburgh clients are daubed with the dead sea mud or seaweed (or both, one after the other) and wrapped in a mylar sheet - the type of fabric worn by athletes to cover up after a race. They are placed in a heated room and left to sweat for 20-25 minutes. Both products are detoxifying agents, so people whose bodies are overloaded with toxins will produce a foul smell once the protective sheet is removed, as the poisons are drawn out. These body wraps are then showered off and the patient lies in a hydrotherapy bath with dead sea salts.

The seaweed and mud enrich the body with important nutrients, which help to regain balance and fight disease, she explains. "There are vitamins A, B, C and K and there is iodine in the seaweed. All those amino acids, minerals and enzymes feed the blood. They regulate the metabolism, balance the nervous system and increase more fluidity in the body. This works with people who have inflammation, whether internal, external or topically on the skin."

Roundelwood Health Spa in Crieff, Perthshire has also maintained something of the traditional spa philosophy of medical treatments. In addition to the usual relaxation packages the spa has become well- known for its arthritis programme, which includes a combination of heat treatments like warm clay or paraffin wax to loosen the joints, as well as massage, exercise and diet.

Later this year a new option of seaweed and clay wraps will also be included amongst the more traditional beauty preparations. "These are very good for people who need to detox, for people who have had debilitative problems over a number of years such as MS or arthritis," explains Magdalene Sacranie, chartered physiotherapist at Roundelwood. However she admits that mineral baths will not be on the menu. "We did try adding peat and preparations to our spa baths but we had tremendous problems with the drains clogging up."

Mulberry House: 0131 558 3303 Roundelwood Health Spa: 01764 653 806

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