Would you like to pump up your muscles with vintage exercise equipment? There is such a place in Russia.
Anastasia Safronova
At first glance, all these mechanisms look quite scary and more like instruments from a torture chamber. But that was exactly what the first exercise machines looked like more than a century ago. But the first impression disappeared when the patients tried the device and experienced the positive effect they caused.
Zander’s method
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In the middle of Yessentukis (a holiday resort in the North Caucasus, 1,500 km from the Moscow Park), between mineral baths and water galleries, there is a hundred-year-old “Mechanotherapy” pavilion – something you would call a fitness club or gym nowadays. The facility was opened in 1902. By then, the city was already a very popular place for those who wanted to improve their health with the help of its rich natural resources. In addition, fresh Caucasian air and stunning scenery attracted people who longed for a relaxing atmosphere and inspiration (famous musicians, actors and artists liked to spend their holidays in the region as well). So local authorities decided to create a unique attraction for their tourists: a place to practice something called “mechanotherapy”.
Anastasia Safronova
The term was introduced by the Swedish doctor Gustav Zander to define a method for treating certain diseases with massage and exercise with the help of special exercise equipment. In 1865, he opened the world’s first mechanotherapy institute in Stockholm. The machines he used allowed patients to train on their own, without the help of an assistant.
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Zander’s method became very popular throughout Europe and abroad. In Russia, the first medical facility that applied mechanotherapy was created in St. Petersburg. Petersburg in the late 19th century.
Anastasia Safronova
When it opened in Yessentuki, the pavilion hosting Zander’s apparatus became a sensation. The room had changing rooms, showers, medical and massage cabinets, as well as rooms for leisure. Its huge gym contained up to 60 units: some of them were intended for active muscle exercises, while others operated on special engines and served for massage. There were, among other things, prototypes of modern exercise bikes and machines that simulated riding a horse or a camel (both equipped with saddles for men and women). People who suffer from bone and joint problems, insomnia, indigestion, obesity – all rushed to have a workout there. There were special training hours for men, as well as for women and children.
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Travel in a time machine
Anastasia Safronova
The Mechanotherapy Pavilion and its units survived the Revolution and both world wars. For centuries, there have always been people who used them for training and rehabilitation.
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Now over 50 devices still work and they are not just museum objects. The mechanotherapy pavilion is open six days a week and everyone can train with the Zander devices. There is only one small but loud thing: since all units are made of heavy metal and wooden parts, when used together, they produce a real sound.
Anastasia Safronova
People who come to Yessentuki for treatment use mechanotherapy on a doctor’s prescription, along with mineral or clay baths and consumption of mineral water. And for ordinary tourists, the Mechanotherapy Therapy Pavilion looks like an interactive museum, so they come to try out the machines just for fun.
Anastasia Safronova
Many people admit that when they step on a hundred-year-old “horse”, for example, it feels like a journey in a time machine – and they even say that the pavilion is the most interesting place in Yessentuki.
Anastasia Safronova