Standort Tirol Special Edition Wellness

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Zooming in on the sauna
Subject: [ ENGINEERING ] HARDWARE KLAFS, market leader in the field of saunas and spas, zooms the
sauna in on the wall – and back out.The revolutionary S1 is the first sau-
na in the world that, at the touch of a button, a bit like a camera zoom,
makes itself very small. In its retracted state it is merely sixty centimeters
deep, extended it allows room for the whole family.
[ specifically SEEN ]
Cooler than Cool
I t was his fascination for freezing
cold temperatures that brought
Wolfgang Lausecker, after a stint in
the United States, toTyrol’s Ausser-
fern region. In 2009, he turned this
fascination into a business and the
name of his undertaking itself says
it all – CoolTech. In the beginning,
Lausecker focused on cryogenic
treatment (at minus 180 degrees
centigrade) of industrial products, in
order to make them, among other
things, more resistant to wear. As a
second string to his bow he added
musical instruments. Cooling them
down, under controlled conditions,
to minus 180 degrees improves
their response behavior and chang-
es their tone color. For two years
now, Lausecker has also let his cold
temperatures loose on people – in
the cryosauna.
“Cryogenic applications we are fa-
miliar with from cold chambers.These
take up a lot of space, though, and
also incur high costs in building and
running them,” the technician explains.
Which does not apply to a cryosauna,
a one-person cabin, in which – with
the help of nitrogen as cold gas – the
body is exposed to a dry cold of
minus 135 to 145 degrees centigrade.
“Maximally for three minutes,” says
Lausecker.The “felt temperature,” he
continues, is not so bad, though. One
would feel a lot colder after spending
half a minute in the waters of the
Lech River. On leaving the cryosauna,
there is a slight tingle and one feels,
says the CoolTech boss, just “damned
fine.”The perfect addition to a well-
ness area, you will say.Yet Lausecker’s
customers still mainly are found in the
medical field, where the cryosauna is
used, for example, for treating pains of
the locomotor system or rheumatism.
Yet the whole-body therapy is also
very popular with athletes, as on the
one hand it helps the body regener-
ate after fitness training or competi-
tion, and on the other also improves
performance in general.“Studies
have shown,” Lausecker points out,
“that endurance performance can be
improved by up to eighteen per cent,
and physical strength by up to four
per cent.” Info:
STANDORT: When it comes to in-
frared cabins, you rely on the Physio-
therm principle. What is behind this
principle?
JOSEF GUNSCH: Physiotherm has
been in existence for twenty years
and we have always tried to give pri-
ority to the benefit for the custom-
er, especially when it comes to the
interaction between radiation heat
and room temperature. In the begin-
ning, we worked with the customers’
experiences, then we did our own
medical research. The principles is
based on warming the body by ap-
plying the radiation heat directly to
the back muscles, at a room temper-
ature of 35 to 38 degrees centigrade.
It is this interaction that marks out
Physiotherm.
STANDORT: Why between 35 and
38 degrees?
GUNSCH: Because within this range
– the thermal neutral zone – the
body is in balance. It doesn’t require
any energy in order to warm itself
up or cool itself down as the exter-
nal temperature is equal to the body
temperature.
STANDORT: And the radiation heat
enters the body via the back muscles?
GUNSCH: Yes, that’s what makes for
the positive effect. Body circulation
is thus stimulated, the immune sys-
tem strengthened, etc. And via the
direct radiation on the spinal mus-
cles we also achieve a positive effect
on back pains.
STANDORT: Can the effect of infra-
red radiation be proven scientifically?
GUNSCH: A little over ten years
ago, we looked for a physician to
do a study. The general opinion was
that it was a heat application like a
sauna, that heat was heat. However,
we were persistent, as we knew about
positive effects and wanted to prove
them. In the study the Physiotherm
principle was compared to a control
application, blood samples were tak-
en from the test persons and various
body functions measured. The result
showed that our method, using ce-
ramic emitters filled with lava sand
and low-temperature infrared tech-
nology, really had an effect. The phy-
sician who did the study with us was
skeptical to begin with – now he is
our medical superintendent.
STANDORT: With your new applica-
tion Sensocare you have developed
a technology that makes infrared
applications also possible while lying
down. How did this come about?
GUNSCH: The starting point was a
conversation on the use of infrared
cabins for a Tyrolean paralyzed from
the neck down, who after all has no
more sensation in his back. How can
he sit in the cabin, enjoy the heat,
and how can he be safe doing so? The
challenge was to carry out a measure-
ment of the skin temperature within
the radiation field and then to apply
radiation heat optimally. So our own
research and development depart-
ment developed Sensocare. By way of
sensors it takes non-contact measure-
ments of the exact skin temperature,
so that we can get even closer to the
body with our radiation heat.
STANDORT: Today, Sensocare
serves as Physiotherm’s flagship
product.
GUNSCH: We quickly noticed that
it has a huge advantage also for the
healthy user: the heat application
works even more optimally, as we get
more heat into the body, and there is
maximum security, because it works
in a lying-down position, i.e. also
while sleeping.
STANDORT: How often do you sit in
one of your cabins yourself?
GUNSCH: A little more rarely in the
summertime, otherwise two or three
times a week. I check and answer my
e-mails while I do so.
Info: ]
Hearing with the Whole Body
The body sound treatment concept, developed by Ernst Mussmann, makes
possible a multi-dimensional experience with guaranteed deep relaxation.
Y ou may lie down on a Swave,
yet that is all that the body
sound technology developed
by Ernst Mussmann has in common
with a lounger. “An embryo takes in
all the sounds as vibrations via the
mother’s body and feels comforta-
ble and safe,” says the engineer. A
similar experience one makes while
reclining on the body sound system
created by Mussmann. With his pat-
ented method, special music is not
distributed via the air, as with con-
ventional loudspeakers, but passed
on directly to the body by way of
oscillation frequency generators via
the table’s surface, and the special
sound pads, in the form of pleasant
vibrations. Which means that music
is heard with each cell of the body
(if desired, headphones further en-
hance the sound experience with
the traditional acoustic dimension).
Thanks to a 3D wave joint built into
the system and the swinging surface
the effect is as if you were floating
weightlessly in three-dimensional
space. “It’s an experience as if you
were gently carried and rocked on
an air mattress of ocean waves,” says
Mussmann. The invention is the end
result of several years’ development
work, after the high-end audio spe-
cialist had come across a conven-
tional sound lounger and knew right
away: “I want more than that.”
The outcome is Swave, an artificial
word put together from the words
sound and wave, as the entrepre-
neur from the Tyrolean Stubaital
valley explains. The technology can
be used in a variety of ways: simply
as a relaxing body sound and mu-
sic experience; for the purposes of
stress and burnout prevention; for
improving sleep quality; for a better
regeneration after physical exertion.
Used as a massage table, Swave en-
hances the effect of every massage
treatment; indeed, massages are
even possible with clothes on.
In 2014, Mussmann with his Swave
technology won the European
Health & Spa Award in the catego-
ry Best Spa Innovation Technique.
Since then, the entrepreneur has
developed Swave into a comprehen-
sive treatment concept. “The Swave
system in the meantime can be put
together modularly and individu-
ally according to the requirements
and the positioning of the hotel in
question,” says Ernst Mussmann.
The goal, however, should always
be the same – to offer the Swaver a
complete and thus regenerating and
vitalizing experience of deep relax-
ation. For more information go to
]
Physiotherm, Tyrolean manufacturer of infrared cabins, not only counts on the mere effect of heat, but
proves the beneficial effect of its heat applications by way of specially commissioned studies.
“We were persistent”
Picture:Andreas Friedle
FACTS. NEWS.
[ Subject: Hardware ]
TheTyrolean hotel developers Geisler
&Trimmel have been specializing in tourism
projects for more than twenty years.
How to plan “alpine” architecture without
resorting to blatant symbols à la edelweiss,
etc. is borne out by one of their latest
projects. At the new waldSPA of the Hotel
Forsthofgut in Salzburg the specialists relied
on luxurious frugality in order to translate
the subject of the wood and alpine nature
subtly and abstractly into architecture and
contemporary design. For more informa-
tion go to
The companyWellwasser, based in
Innsbruck, has developed a three-stage
high-tech water processing unit to produce
water of the best quality that can be used
by hotels and restaurants in still or sparkling
form as an alternative to bottled waters.
The special filter system cleans water and
in many cases makes it drinkable again.
Moreover, foreign odors or tastes are
absorbed by the activated charcoal filter. A
bacterial filter reliably removes all bacteria
and germs from the water, while its stability
and durability are influenced positively by
way of crystals. For more information go to
Ernst Mussmann:“As if you were being rocked on an air mattress.”
Wolfgang Lausecker:“Leaving the
cryosauna you feel damned fine.”
Josef Gunsch:“We have 7,000 hotels
and 70,000 private households among
our customers.”
Picture:Andreas Friedle
Picture:Geisler&Reimmel
Picture:aberjung