100 kilometers east of Dushanbe, along the left bank of the small mountain river Obi Elok, a tributary of the Vakhsh, there are dozens of outlets of hot mineral water containing free hydrogen sulfide and nitrogen and possessing significant radioactivity. These hot springs gave the name to the village, the regional center of the Obigarm district - Obigarm, on the territory of which the resort arose.
Obigarm hot springs, like the Khodja-Obigarm springs, have been known for centuries. Even now, near Obigarm, you can see the stone walls of the pool - these are the remains of a structure where large officials came to be treated with healing waters during the time of the Bukhara Emirate.
The physical and chemical properties of the water of the Obigarm springs have been studied since 1931. Their first description was made in 1931 by V.V. Kurnygin, and in 1933 by E.E. Carstens and M.S. Lavrov. These authors already put the Obigarm healing waters in terms of their importance in the second place in the republic, after the Khoja-Obigarm ones. In 1949 they were studied by A.M.Govorkov and P.A.Turdakov, in 1952 they were studied by geologist P.A.Pankratov. In recent years, their detailed study was carried out by the Tajik hydrogeological expedition.
The places where hot water comes out to the surface are concentrated here in the so-called Obigarm basin - a depression that is elongated in the latitudinal direction by 3.6 kilometers and has a width of 2-2.5 kilometers. The bottom of the basin and the mountains bordering it on all sides - the spurs of the Karategin Range, are composed of granites erupted from the earth's interior hundreds of millions of years ago, in the Paleozoic era. The hollow is filled with clay and other rocks having a granular structure, deposited here by the river and washed away by downpours from the nearby mountains. The thickness of this layer of sediments, formed in the Quaternary period, i.e. over the last million years, reaches 200 meters.
Here, as in Khodja-Obigarm, as a result of the oscillatory movements of the earth's crust occurring from time to time, cracks formed in the ancient Paleozoic granites, which were gradually filled with water. As a result of the arrival of more and more portions of water from above the mountains, pressure and increased pressure are created in the granites that form the bottom of the basin. Due to the pressure, ascending currents of water arise, rushing upward, they through a loose layer of Quaternary deposits, seep in the form of keys to the earth's surface.
However, this is no longer the same water that once spilled over the mountains in the form of rain. In the cracks of granites, at a depth of several hundred meters, the water heated up due to the high temperatures existing here. In addition, as a result of prolonged contact with granites, it dissolved various mineral substances contained in them and acquired radioactive properties.
In the layer of Quaternary sediments that fills the basin, there is always a large amount of cold water seeping here from the soil surface. Entering this layer, hot mineral water formed in granites mixes with cold water and cools as it approaches the soil surface. If in places of natural outlets the water of the Obigarm springs has a temperature of 37-400 C, then from wells drilled to a depth of several tens of meters, more heated water is obtained, with a temperature of up to 46-480 C. From a well drilled to a depth of 190 meters, received water with a temperature of 550 C.
Thus, the hot mineral water of the Obigarm springs is formed under approximately the same conditions as the Khodja-Obigarm healing water, but its temperature is much lower. However, the relatively low temperature of the Obigarm springs should not be considered their disadvantage. This makes it possible to use water without cooling and without diluting it in baths, which would not only require any additional devices, but would also affect the healing properties of water.
The physicochemical properties of the Obigarm water also differ somewhat from the Khoja-Obigar water. This water can be characterized as slightly mineral, alkaline, siliceous. There is twice as much hydrogen sulfide in it, and its radioactivity is on average almost four times higher, compared to the water of the Khoja-Obigarm springs. According to its chemical composition, the water of Obigarm is almost identical with the water of the hot springs of the Tskaltubo resort in Georgia. Nitrogen gas comes out together with water in the Obigarm springs. In the pools arranged at the outlets of the water, one can constantly see the release of nitrogen in the form of a mass of bubbles rising upwards, creating the impression that the water in the pool is boiling all the time.
Hot mineral water is the most important healing factor of Obigarm. However, the climatic conditions here are favorable and promote health. The average daily temperature does not exceed 240 C during the hottest time of the year and remains on average 20 C lower than in Dushanbe. Exhausting heat here almost never happens. Evenings and nights are refreshingly cool. The winds come only during the hours of the greatest heat, when they have a refreshing effect, and by the evening they usually subside. The air is dry during the warm season. Winter here, as in Khodja-Obigarm, is snowy, but mild.
The area in which the resort is located is picturesque, but soft. The gentle slopes of the mountains surrounding the valley of the Obi-Yailak River are covered with gardens and fields of villages scattered here. Separate sections of these slopes are alpine meadows. All this creates a pleasant landscape that calms the nervous system. The wide open space evokes a refreshing feeling of cheerfulness.
Like Khodja-Obigarm, Obigarm is also developing as a balneo-climatic resort. In terms of natural conditions, Obigarm is somewhat inferior to Khodja-Obigarm. However, it has one very valuable advantage over it. While Khoja-Obigarm is located at an altitude of about 1900 meters above sea level, the height of Obigarm above sea level does not exceed 1300 meters. This means that many patients who, in addition to the main disease, say, a disease of the musculoskeletal system, also have a pronounced cardiovascular disorder, due to which treatment in Khoja-Obigarm is contraindicated, can be successfully treated in Obigarm.
It should be noted another advantage of Obigarm. The terrain here is more even, and patients do not have to make steep ascents and descents when moving from the sanatorium buildings to the bathroom building and other institutions. Therefore, patients who find it difficult to walk feel better in Obigarm.
Until 1946, patients came to Obigarm on their own initiative, and bathed here in unimproved pools. They came up with a treatment plan for themselves, they stayed in the pool for as long as they wanted. Random bathing was not only beneficial, but even harmful to some patients. Simultaneously with the sick, healthy people also bathed in the pool, who used it simply as a bath.
In 1946, the first attempt was made to streamline the use of the pool. Certain hours were set aside for bathing the sick. Once a week, the water from the pools was drained and their walls and bottom were cleaned. However, these activities did not bring significant benefits. There was no medical observation of the sick, and cleaning the walls of the pool with numerous cracks and indentations, and the gravel-covered bottom was difficult.
In 1947, the organization of the resort was started. The pool is divided into three sections, each of which was filled with healing water independently. One - is intended only for patients, the rest - for healthy men and women who use the pool as a bath. The construction of the sanatorium building was started, the director of the new resort was appointed, and medical personnel appeared. From now on, patients began to receive vouchers, the bathing regimen and the necessary treatment were prescribed by the doctor, and the nurses monitored the exact fulfillment of the doctor's prescriptions. In subsequent years, a bathroom department, a number of sanatorium buildings, economic services of medical institutions were built, water supply was installed, a convenient staircase was built connecting the "upper" and "lower" platforms. Now the resort annually receives over 1000 patients from both Tajikistan,
As in Khoja-Obigarm, the main medical institution here is the bathroom department. It has 8 baths, each installed in a separate booth. The bathroom building is built directly above the reservoir filled with water from one of the springs. The bathtubs are installed below the floor level so that each of them is immersed in a tank and filled by gravity through a special hole in the bottom of the bathtubs. The course of treatment takes 8-10 baths for 10-15 minutes. After taking a bath, the water is discharged through another hole, through a pipe system into the river. In the building of the bathroom department there are rest rooms equipped with couches and rooms for medical personnel.
In addition to baths, a common pool filled with water from another source, located in a separate building, is also used for bathing patients. The water in the pool has the same temperature as in the baths (38-390 C) and has the same chemical composition. The only difference is that the nitrogen coming out of the source along with the water, entering through the inlet into the bath, immediately goes up and disappears without coming into contact with the patient's skin, and in the pool gas bubbles in the form of streams rise all the time from the bottom. In contact with the skin of bathers, gas bubbles produce a very pleasant gentle irritation of skin receptors, which has a beneficial calming effect on the nervous system.
The radioactivity of the water of the Obigarm springs is largely associated with the presence of gaseous radioactive substances in it, which volatilize together with nitrogen. Therefore, when swimming in the pool, the effect on the body of radioactive substances is somewhat stronger than when swimming in the baths.
Bathing in the bath is forced to be during the procedure in a lying or semi-lying position, in the pool you can change the position of the body, so many relatively healthy people when swimming in the pool get more pleasant sensations. Usually, 8-10 baths in the pool for 5-10 minutes are prescribed for a treatment course.
At the bathroom section there is a therapeutic shower chamber with rain, ascending, circular, Scottish and Charcot showers. This set of showers makes it possible to diversify the nature of the effect of water on the skin, and through it - on the whole body, according to the condition of the patient. Here you can exercise all degrees of influence - from the most gentle, sparing in the rain shower, where thin streams of water hit the body from the sides, creating a feeling of very light injections, to the powerful, hardening and strengthening effect of Charcot's shower, where a strong jet of water hits the body with distances of 5-6 meters.
There are also special bath rooms where underwater massage is carried out for 5-6 sessions for 5 minutes, as well as underwater vertical traction of the spine (12 sessions for 5-10 minutes).
In addition, the resort has massage rooms, rooms for physiotherapy procedures and paraffin-ozocerite applications, a wonderful gym for physical therapy, where there are treadmills, horizontal bars, rings and other equipment and simulators.
In 1955, the resort was equipped with a mud bath, which can provide treatments to 8 patients at the same time. Therapeutic mud is imported from the Muxinabad village located 18 kilometers from the resort, where it lies in a layer of 0.5 to 1.5 meters thick on an area of about 3 hectares. By origin, it is peat mud, it is black-brown in color, has a sharp smell of hydrogen sulfide, and seems oily to the touch. At the resort, it is stored in special boxes through which hot mineral water is continuously passed. From contact with this water, the dirt acquires radioactive properties. Applied mud in the form of applications. The mud bath is located indoors, which allows using mud therapy throughout the entire holiday season.
Obigarm resort is seasonal, it operates from May to November. It is designed for 450 seats (250 seats on the top platform and 200 seats on the bottom.
The clinic has a number of offices and laboratories. There are offices of general practitioners, a neuropathologist, a gynecologist, a dental office, an X-ray room, a physiotherapy department, clinical and biochemical laboratories.
In general, the resort has great prospects, it is developing, because the reserves of hot mineral water in Obigarm, as shown by the results of surveys carried out by the Tajik hydrogeological expedition, are very large and allow many hundreds of patients to be served at the resort at the same time. The necessary materials have been accumulated for drawing up a master plan for the development of the resort, the development of which will begin in the near future. This will make it possible in the near future to move from building the resort with temporary buildings to the planned construction of well-appointed sanatorium and medical buildings, “some of which will be adapted for operation in the winter. Obi-Garm will also become one of the leading health resorts in sunny Tajikistan.
INDICATIONS
Diseases of the nervous system
1. Lumbargia.
2. Lumboischealgia.
3. Sciatica.
4. Polyneuritis.
5. Polyradiculitis.
6. Plexites.
7. Neuritis (facial nerve, trigeminal nerve, brachial nerve) - all stages of remission.
Diseases of the peripheral autonomic nervous system
1. Vegetative polyneuritis.
2. Solaritis, gout.
3. Sympathetic gangliotruncitis (in remission).
nerve injury
1. Injuries of radicular plexuses.
2. Injuries of the nerve trunks (not requiring surgical intervention).
Diseases and consequences of injuries of the central nervous system
1. Residual effects after suffering encephalitis, arachnoiditis, encephalomyelitis (at the end of the acute period of at least 3 months).
2. Residual effects after open and closed brain injuries (5-6 months after the injury).
3. Myelitis (4 months after the acute period).
4. Long-term consequences of poliomyelitis.
Gynecological diseases
1. Chronic salpingo-oophoritis (2 months after the exacerbation).
2. Chronic parametritis and perimetritis (4-6 weeks after the exacerbation).
3. Chronic metroendometritis.
4. Pelvic adhesions, after an inflammatory process in the small pelvis.
5. Functional insufficiency of the ovaries.
6. Infertility resulting from an inflammatory disease.
Skin diseases
1. Eczema.
2. Psoriasis.
3. Neurodermatitis.
Diseases of the musculoskeletal system
1. Arthritis and arthrosis of nontuberculous etiology.
2. Spondyloarthrosis and osteochondrosis.