Halotherapy

How Inhaled Salt Can Help Treat Respiratory Conditions

Oct 9, 2008 Julie Ackendorf

The use of halotherapy and salt cave therapy have been shown to be a natural way to help relieve symptoms of respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis.

For centuries Eastern Europeans have taken advantage of salt caves in order to naturally treat respiratory problems like asthma and bronchitis. This drug-free approach to treating respiratory conditions is not accepted everywhere but those who have used this method of treatment and international researchers have stated that the use of salt cave therapy (speleotherapy) and similar halotherapy have great respiratory benefits.

Speleotherapy

Patients who opt for speleotherapy spend time in salt caves doing various activities and breathing exercises. The natural salt ions and microns combined with pure unpolluted air seem to have major benefits and improve the lung functions in individuals with respiratory diseases. The Ukrainian Allergologic Hospital is a widely known hospital and reports that in a thirty year study over 60,000 individuals were cured of their respiratory conditions due to speleotherapy.

Halotherapy

Due to the fact that salt mines are not easily found and available in all parts of the world, physicians and researchers developed a way to create an artificial environment in which conditions are similar to to a salt cave. When such an environment is used to treat respiratory conditions it is called halotherapy. Patients enter peaceful chambers that look very much like true salt mines. As the pure and therapeutic air enters their lungs through inhalation they experience all of the same benefits as if they were in an actual salt cave.

Additional benefits to halotherapy are patients can be monitored by their physicians during treatment and certain atmospheric conditions such as humidity and temperature can be altered to best treat each individual patient's unique problem.

Where to Find a Halotherapy Clinic

There are some halotherapy clinics around the world, though they are not in great abundance. Patients who live close to such clinics are at a great advantage, while individuals who live in countries not offering halotherapy as a standard medical option may need to spend some time and money to attend a clinic.

Halotherapy at Home

Since the locations of halotherapy clinics around the world are limited and the cost of attending such clinics is more than most people can afford, devices have been created to help create a therapeutic environment within an individual's own home. A popular device is a Salin Device that purifies the air of a room while adding salt microns to the air at the same time. Though it cannot completely replicate the environment of a salt cave or even a room in a halotherapy clinic, using a halotherapy device can make the air in the room it is used in healthier, easier to breathe and can have major therapeutic benefits to respiratory patients.

Halotherapy is completely drug-free and can be used by people of all ages and with all types of illness. Halotherapy devices are safe for all populations, including children and pregnant women.

The copyright of the article Halotherapy in Natural Medicine is owned by Julie Ackendorf. Permission to republish Halotherapy in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Halotherapy