It is difficult to identify the exact time in history that colon hydrotherapy emerged, but many historians trace it back to the ancient Egyptians. The historians tell us that the practice colon hydrotherapy, or in its more basic form, the enema, was passed down from the Gods to the Egyptians. There are numerous reports of the frequent use of the enema by the Egyptians, with all of them referencing a papyrus of the 14th century, which is stored in the Royal Museum of Berlin. According to William Lieberman, verification of the frequent use of the enema by the Egyptians came from Herodotus. In the 5th century, Herodotus wrote: The Egyptians clear themselves on three consecutive days, every month, seeking after health by emetics and enemas for they think that all disease comes to man from his food.

The Greeks and Romans also contributed to the history of the enema. First, Hippocrates (4th and 5th century) the well-known Greek physician, recorded using enemas for fever therapy, and disorders of the body in his on Regimen in Acute Disease. Then the Roman physician, Asclepiades of Bithynia, who is credited with establishing medicine in Rome, preferred the enema over the use of laxatives. Asclepiades used the enema for intestinal worms and fevers. From the 1940s, colon hydrotherapy equipment continued to evolve, and by the early 1950s, colon hydrotherapy was flourishing in the United States. The prestigious Beverly Boulevard in California was then known as (colonic row). However, towards the mid-1960s, the use of colon irrigations and colonic hydrotherapy slowly dwindled until the early 1970’s when most colon hydrotherapy equipment was removed from hospitals and nursing homes in favour of the colostomy, Fleet enema, and prescriptive laxatives.