Trends in the development of spa in Russia
Russia has a steadfast philosophy that medicine and spa therapies are intrinsically linked and a lot of this can be traced back to the late 1940s when the Soviet Union looked to kick-start technical innovation. They needed workers to be fit and healthy so lots of government money went into wellness research and workers were sent to sanatoriums for a mix of relaxation and medical procedures to maintain their health and ensure they were fit for purpose. This sowed the seed for what has now become the trend of medi-spas.
Our hospital (in Moscow’s exclusive Rublevka district) offers treatment programmes to pregnant women and more recently the over 50s, combining spa and medical procedures. Pregnant women are by far our biggest customers because they want to stay fit, beautiful and minimise the impact of pregnancy on their bodies, while ensuring a safe birth. We’ve started to attract a lot of clients from the UK, Germany and the US – particularly those with prior infertility problems – and this seems to be a growing market.
On the medical side, we provide birthing, cosmetic surgery, cardiac analysis and dietary programmes. In terms of wellness, spa therapies are used to supplement the benefits of medicine. For example, we’ve found that the ability of postnatal electrotherapy to relieve muscle and joint pain can be doubled by following the procedure with thalassotherapy. Many spa therapies have a medical benefit and many medical procedures are best performed in a natural spa setting, so it seems like an ideal fit.
One of the reasons we expanded to cater for over 50s was because health levels in Russia are low. There’s little access to preventative medicine and many are not well enough to undergo conventional treatments, so there is a need to combine spa with medicine.
Silantyeva has carved a niche in the medi-spa sector by combining her medical background with spa therapies to specialise in wellness offerings around birthing and anti-ageing.