Holistic treatment for respiratory ailments: Salt therapy is an effective drug-free option

01/31/2018 / By Zoey Sky

Halotherapy (“salt therapy” or HT) is a form of alternative medicine that utilizes a “controlled air medium” that simulates the microclimate within a natural salt cave. Based on the findings of a group of researchers from Russia, salt therapy is an effective method that can be used to address respiratory diseases.

For this study, the researchers looked into the development of a new drug-free method that could help treat respiratory diseases. Halotherapy is performed in a special room called a halochamber that has salt-coated walls. A special nebulizer produces dry sodium chloride aerosol (DSCA) within the halochamber.

Because of a substantial increase in allergic diseases, reactions, and serious complications because of drug therapy, the researchers involved in this study decided to pursue the development of “drug-free methods of treatment” such as HT. (Related: Is Salt Cave Therapy Worth its Salt?)

HT’s “main curative factor” is the DSCA with particles that measure two to five mkm in size. Particle density will vary depending on the type of the disease. Other factors include a “comfortable temperature, humidity regime, and the hypobacterial and allergen-free air environment saturated with the aerosol.”

The researchers observed 124 patients with different respiratory ailments who underwent HT. The control group was made up of 15 participants who received a placebo. The HT course included 1o to 20 one-hour procedures in a single day.

Prior to the HT treatments, 95 percent of the main group was coughing, nearly half (or 47 percent) had “severe attacks of coughing with scanty viscous sputum.” About 81 percent of the participants suffered from asthma attacks and one third used combined medication to control it. Auscultation (using a stethoscope to listen to sounds from the organs) revealed “harsh and weakened breathing,” and dry rales (abnormal lung sound) in 58 percent of the participants.

At least 60 percent of the participants were given base therapy (e.g. beta-agonists, theophyllines, chromoglycate natrii, corticosteroids, etc.), but the results of these were not enough for a complete remission. The participants were not prescribed any antibacterial medicine.

For the control group, the 15 participants included seven females and eight males aged 18 to 56 years old. The placebo course was made up of only 10 procedures of a musical psycho-suggestive program featuring slides demonstrated in an ordinary room.

The condition of the participants was assessed via daily medical supervision. Functional and laboratory tests were made before and after HT. The tests were also administered every seventh day of the treatments. A series of examinations in the control group were similar to the tests given to those in the main group of participants.

By the end of the course of HT, all the patients felt better and slept well. The participants reported “no fatigue or weakness” along with a stabilized nervous system. Following clinical symptoms analysis, the number of asthma attacks and respiratory discomfort cases significantly decreased compared to the initial reported cases. The number of asthma attacks controlled using combined medication also went down.

Based on the clinical functional results, halotherapy is an effective method that can help ease the symptoms of various respiratory ailments. However, treatment must include a series of procedures to maximize effectivity.

In the study, low doses of DSCA had a beneficial effect on the phagocytic activity of alveolar macrophages and the “bronchial clearance and elimination of foreign agents” among patients. But since sodium chloride aerosol is a known osmolar stimulus, and it can cause hyperactivity in the airways, HT must carefully monitor the concentration and gradual administration of DSCA.

The researchers note that further research can help identify the mechanisms of halotherapy and its influence on patients with respiratory health conditions.