124 people with a range of respiratory conditions did one-hour halotherapy sessions daily for ten to twenty days. Most of them improved on breathing tests, while the placebo group showed no change.
Halotherapy for treatment of respiratory diseases — Chernenkov RA, Chernenkova EA, Zhukov GV. ↗
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Halotherapy is a mode of treatment in a controlled air medium which simulates a natural salt cave microclimate. The main curative factor is dry sodium chloride aerosol with particles of 2 to 5 micrometres in size. The effect was evaluated in 124 patients with various types of respiratory diseases; the control group of 15 patients received placebo. The course consisted of 10-20 daily procedures of 1 hour. It resulted in improvements of clinical state in most of the patients, with positive dynamics of flow-volume loop parameters and decrease of bronchial resistance. The changes in control group parameters were not statistically significant.
A hospital built inside a cave in Hungary treated more than 4,000 people for long-term airway disease over ten years. Hospital records show most of them had lasting improvement.
Speleotherapy: a special kind of climatotherapy, its role in respiratory rehabilitation — Horvath T. ↗
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Speleotherapy, the use of the climate of caves, is an accepted but not widely known therapeutic measure in the treatment of chronic obstructive airway diseases. This study summarizes the therapeutic experiences of more than 4000 patients who were treated in a 10-year period in a hospital-cave complex in Tapolca, Hungary. A sharp and long-lasting clinical improvement and a significant recovery from airway obstruction could be observed in the overwhelming majority of patients.
A doctor reviewed the existing research and explained how dry salt therapy is thought to work. Breathing in salt particles draws water into the airways, which thins mucus and makes it easier to clear. He also found reported benefits for skin conditions like psoriasis and eczema.
Theoretical basis and clinical benefits of dry salt inhalation therapy — Endre L. ↗
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Dry salt inhalation (halotherapy) reproduces the microclimate of salt caves, with beneficial effect on health. Sodium chloride crystals are disrupted into very small particles, and this powder is dispersed into the air of a comfortable room. Due to the greater osmotic pressure the inhaled salt diminishes the oedema of the bronchial mucosa, decreases its inflammation, dissolves the mucus, and makes expectoration easier and faster. It produces better lung function parameters and diminishes bronchial hyperreactivity. According to the international literature it has beneficial effect for some chronic dermatological disease, too, such as psoriasis and atopic dermatitis.
25 people were recovering from bronchitis that had lingered or kept coming back. After salt therapy they had fewer bacteria present, less ongoing inflammation, and better immune readings.
The use of halotherapy for the rehabilitation of patients with acute bronchitis and a protracted and recurrent course — Borisenko LV, Chervinskaia AV, Stepanova NG et al. ↗
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Halotherapy was used for rehabilitation in 25 patients with acute bronchitis of long-standing and recurrent types. Therapy efficacy was controlled through assessment of clinical, functional, immunological and microbiological findings. Positive dynamics of the function indices resulted from elimination of pathogenic agents, control of slowly running inflammatory lesions and stimulation of some immune system factors.
29 people with chronic bronchitis or asthma improved on lung-function measurements after receiving halotherapy, and their blood pressure came down.
The use of an artificial microclimate chamber in the treatment of patients with chronic obstructive lung diseases — Chernenkov RA, Chernenkova EA, Zhukov GV. ↗
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Halotherapy was used for sanatorium rehabilitation in 29 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (chronic bronchitis and asthma). Significant positive effects of this method resulted in the improvement of the flow-volume parameters curve of lung function and in hypotensive effects on blood pressure.
At a rehabilitation institute in Romania, 15 people with asthma and other long-term respiratory conditions used a purpose-built salt chamber. Their markers of inflammation went down.
Halotherapy chamber with artificial salt-mine environment — Lazarescu H, Simionca I, Hoteteu M et al., National Institute of Rehabilitation, Physical Medicine and Balneoclimatology, Bucharest ↗
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Halotherapy, derived from speleotherapy in salt mines, is a drug-free therapeutic method. 15 patients suffering from bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, chronic bronchitis and chronic obstructive bronchopneumopathy were selected, as well as 4 patients with similar pathologies for the control group, who underwent in-home drug treatment. Triggering of anti-inflammatory mechanisms and healing effects on inflammatory process were noted, along with a reduction of sensitiveness of body in patients with bronchial asthma.
We share these studies because people often ask us what the research says. If you are managing a respiratory condition, please talk with your doctor.
