Salt Therapy and its European well-known beneficial effects in
respiratory diseases
The benefits of salt therapy (also called Halotherapy) or
speleotherapy are well known and documented in Europe.
Halotherapy uses dry aerosol micro particles of salt and
minerals to treat respiratory diseases and seeks to replicate
the conditions of speleotherapy (from Greek speleos=cave), a
treatment that has been practiced in old salt mines of Eastern
Europe since the early 19th century.
In the mid 18th Century a Polish health official Felix
Botchkowski, noticed that the workers of salt mines did not get
ill with lung diseases. He wrote a book about the effects of
salt dust in 1843. His successor M. Poljakowski founded a Salt
Spa in Velicko near Krakow, which is still in operation. During
the Second World War salt mines were often used as bombproof
shelters. After spending time there many people who suffered
from asthma felt that their health had gotten better! Today
there are many salt sanatoriums in Europe (Austria, Hungary,
Poland, Romania, Russia