1. What are
the plants in your area that are found in the peat?
2. Are there any contaminants in the
area - is it tested for contaminants? Are there any industrial facilities
nearby?
3. How is it harvested?
4. How deep in the ground is your product?
5. Why is your product better than the
dry peat products?
6. What is the best way to store it?
7. What is the best way to store your
product once it is opened - half is usually used for one treatment?
8. Is it best to get the water as hot
as possible in the bath or just a nice temperature?
9. Is it good to add sea salts to the
bath or does it react with the peat in a negative way?
10. What are the most successful conditions
treated with peat bath - the most common?
11. What are the most unsuccessful conditions
treated?
12. What are other common ways to use
the raw peat besides the bath?
13. Any success or uses with using contrast
hydrotherapy (warm then cold) with the Single-Foment packs or just
use with one temperature?
14. Is anything added to the product
in packaging?
15. Where does the Saprox come from?
What is different about it and the Peat?
16. How long to keep the Saprox on the
feet? Can it stay on all day?
17. How long to expect the fungus to
die and feet to improve given normal one toe infection of athlete's
foot.
18. The face masks - what are the most
successful conditions treated?
19. Is it contraindicated in any conditions?
20. Face pack and acne - does it make
acne better or worse?
What are the plants in your area that are found
in the peat?
While the area's flora is typical of central Europe (Czech Republic,
Austria etc…), the current flora may not be represented in
the peat as thru the times of forming, our peat beds were covered
with fresh water and many of the botanical species may not be in
existence today. Although small in area, the Czech Republic is rich
in varieties of flora. Just in bryophytes (moss) alone, around 848
species exist in the Czech Republic. However, this is only a part
of the story as Torf peat is harvested in areas saturated with many
mineral springs. These minerals penetrate the peat adding to the
therapeutic effect. This explains the high concentrations of spa
resorts developed and used since mid 18th century.
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Are there any contaminants in the area - is it tested
for contaminants? Are there any industrial facilities nearby?
Torf Balneo peat is harvested from areas on the border of the national
reserve. By default, this area is free of any industrial activity
that could contaminate its surroundings. Also, as any product used
in Balneo therapy, Balneo peat has to be tested and approved by
appropriate authorities (Czech Ministry of Health - similar to FDA
- tests fall under the Czech norm CSN 465730 - tests for levels
of moisture, bacteria, fungi, yeasts, toxicity, and irritants).
The approval consists of absence or acceptable levels of contaminants,
approval of harvesting, handling, manufacturing and storing methods
and peat's suitability for therapy - chemical & microbiology
tests.
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How is it harvested?
Torf peat is harvested by traditional methods
- Layer of suitable peat is identified and tested by standard methods
for therapeutic peat (see above)
- Top layer is removed
- Peat is harvested and sorted
- Mechanically stirred into consisted paste and filled into plastic
tubes.
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How deep in the ground is your product?
It depends on the harvested layer. Again, we emphasize that we do
not pretend to have "a magic location" of unheard of quality
as is proclaimed by some companies. When we locate a source of peat
which seems promising for therapeutic use, it is then tested for
stage of decomposition, therapeutic qualities, and contaminants
by appropriate lab if it satisfies the standards required. Typical
layers may start about 1 meter and continue for a few more. We harvest
down to the layers of clay or rock underneath.
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Why is your product better than the dry peat
products?
Drying Balneo peat breaks down cellular structure, which causes
reduced ability to dissolve in water. It sterilizes the peat which
reduces its overall effectiveness for therapy. In order to make
dry peat absorb any water, it has to be ground to very fine dust
particles. While drying (or freeze drying) would reduce the cost
of transport and warehousing, Torf Krasno opposes such "cost
reduction" as it lowers the quality of products and goes against
the tradition of Czech Balneo therapy. Action of Balneo peat is
very complex and more then "sum of its parts". Besides
the content of chemical elements, there are microbiological elements
present in the raw peat which would be eliminated with thermal or
drying process.
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What is the best way to store it?
Unopened plastic tube or bag (depending on the product), in dry
and cool place.
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What is the best way to store your product once
it is opened - half is usually used for one treatment?
Leave rest of peat in the tube. Seal opened end as much as possible
to avoid drying. Store in cool and dry place for no more then 1
month.
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Is it best to get the water as hot as possible
in the bath or just a nice temperature?
Recommended water temperature by Balneo therapists is about 38º C (nicely warm - watch out for cooling of the bath) as hot water
could cause fatigue. Some patients may prefer hotter bath - generally
OK but watch for high blood pressure, heart problems and fatigue
factor.
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Is it good to add sea salts to the bath or does
it react with the peat in a negative way?
If desired, salts are OK. Peat is an excellent absorbent, so some
of the additives may be absorbed and not released, but typically
the patient will experience a higher intensity of the additive,
as peat improves efficiency of delivery. Same is true if peat is
used in body pack.
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What are the most successful conditions treated
with peat bath - the most common?
The most common are conditions related to pain treatment - mobility
improvement, sports injuries, after surgery, etc. Also general heath
maintenance - detoxification, immunity boost etc.
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What are the most unsuccessful conditions treated?
Difficult to answer since unsuccessful treatments are usually not
repeated, but I guess that treatment of pain as by-product of certain
condition is "less" successful as it does not remove the
cause of pain and therefore the treatment has to be repeated every
time pain returns - gout, some injuries, arthritis etc.
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What are other common ways to use the raw peat
besides the bath?
Our Balneo peat bath is the finest grain of our peat. It is 100%
natural, unaltered Balneo peat and therefore suitable for body masks
or packs or poultice or as a base for mixing of different mud wraps
or masks. Our peat for thick layer body pack is coarser as it helps
to maintain thick layer in warm body pack, but it is not suitable
for bath.
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Any success or uses with using contrast hydrotherapy
(warm then cold) with the Single-Foment packs or just use with one
temperature?
Currently not being used as far as we know
Is anything added to the product in packaging?
In Balneo peat bath, no. The single-foment pads have small percentage
of bentonite added to improve density and to manage the release
of peat water from the pack.
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Where does the Saprox come from? What is different
about it and the Peat?
Main difference is geologic terminology. While both start under
similar circumstances (imperfect decomposition of botanical matter
without or with greatly reduced oxygen presence. Saprox is found
under deep layers of rocks or fresh water (bottom of lake under
sediments). Peats are generally shallower and usually found under
soil and layers of itself. Location will determine content and therefore
effectiveness of the particular peloid. Saprox comes from the lake
bed near city of Sokolov, just south of Karlovy Vary - the biggest
spa resort town in Czech Republic. The higher sulphuric mineral
content makes it suitable to treatment of fungi infection.
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How long to keep the Saprox on the feet? Can
it stay on all day?
No need to. Use in 10 minute applications. Prolonged application
may cause drying of skin - not recommended.
How long to expect the fungus to die and feet
to improve given normal one toe infection of athlete's foot.
Our tests in medical practice showed that on average 7 days of daily
application is sufficient to eliminate fungus in foot treatment.
However, some extreme cases required 10 and one even 14 days to
heal completely (case was an old and neglected case of athlete's
foot of ex-military personnel).
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The face masks - what are the most successful
conditions treated?
Mask is deep cleansing - absorption of peat helps detoxification,
has peeling action, improved blood circulation and rejuvenates skin.
Shown to clear ACNE and some skin imperfections. Also successful
in treatment of few cases of psoriasis.
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Is it contraindicated in any conditions?
High intensity of the mask may not be suitable for very sensitive
skin, although there seems to no allergies associated with Balneo
peat.
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Face pack and acne - does it make acne better
or worse?
Typically improves ACNE condition very quickly.
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