Understanding Halotherapy
Salt aerosol inhalation & irrigation in mainstream medicine.
Salt aerosol inhalation and the use of saline solutions are not new or foreign ideas – doctors have been using saline in mainstream medicine for a long time to help relieve respiratory conditions, sinusitis problems and allergy symptoms.
"Inhalation of hypertonic saline produces a sustained acceleration of mucus clearance and improved lung function. This treatment may protect the lungs from insults that reduce mucus clearance and produce lung disease, “ according to the clinical studies published in The New England Journal of Medicine, 2006; 354:241-50.
“The use of nebulized 3% hypertonic saline is a safe, inexpensive, and effective treatment for infants hospitalized with moderately severe viral bronchiolitis”, according to the clinical study published in The Journal of Pediatrics, 2007 Sep;151(3):266-70.
“Nasal irrigation is a simple, inexpensive treatment that relieves the symptoms of a variety of sinus and nasal conditions, reduces use of medical resources, and could help minimize antibiotic resistance”, according to the article published in Canadian Family Physician Journal , 2003; 49:168-173. In our day, salt water is of course a common home remedy. When we are sick, for example, we may gargle or cleanse the nose with salt solutions and experience some relief. The efficiency and effectiveness of these improvised means, however, are of no comparison with Halotherapy. It means that a patient can try Halotherapy without risk, since he/she continues with current prescribed treatment plan. Halotherapy gives a patient an additional safe and effective treatment option which can be used with or without medications.
The effectiveness of saline treatment is indeed well documented and widely accepted by the medical profession, and not just recently. In fact, over 2000 years ago, the Greeks were frequently utilizing it topically (for skin), internally (for digestive problems), and by inhalation. Hippocrates himself, the father of modern medicine (460 BC) was prescribing, through the medium of steam, salt inhalation for respiratory diseases. For salt in the history of medicine article please click here.
Here is why. Saline solution has limited penetration into the respiratory system, and indeed cannot go at all into the deeper regions. It therefore provides just limited effect. Halotherapy provides a way to transport salt more deeply, and throughout the system, without water. Salt water is not the healing agent. Salt is. Water is simply the vehicle that delivers the salt to the nose or throat. . Safe and effective delivery of the healing salt particles deep into the sinuses and the lungs requires some other means, and that means is dry saline aerosol inhalation, known as Halotherapy.
During Halotherapy treatment patients sit in comfortable chairs in the treatment room, and while they relax or watch TV they inhale salt aerosol micro particles produced by special medical technology. Please click here to see technology drawing in details.
Salt aerosol micro particles in controlled and low concentration are mixed with air (instead of water) and gradually (during the course of one hour) are inhaled into the patient’s respiratory system. In this way, the salt aerosol micro particles are delivered into most parts of the respiratory system.
The Halotherapy modality, which has been practised in Europe for many years, in fact introduces no new substances into the body but well-known salt. Halotherapy technology basically offers more options in the way Sodium Chloride or salt may be transported into the respiratory system, allowing for successful treatment of more diseases/conditions than before. Please click here to see salt delivery comparison table.
This type of administration (Halotherapy) of sodium chloride requires no physical contact with a patient, which makes it very easy to use in pediatric practice. The treatment is so simple and pleasant, that compliance is high.
Since Halotherapy treatment has no known drug interaction, patients may safely add it to the prescribed treatment plan in order to reduce or stop the amount of prescription medications and cut recovery time.
If you or your child has been on medication for a long period of time but the treatment outcome is not satisfactory, it is worth trying Halotherapy. As you know, when the same actions lead to the same outcomes, the time comes to consider new options, especially when they are known to be safe and effective. Indeed, In Europe medical doctors even start treatments of many respiratory conditions with Halotherapy if the patient condition does not require immediate use of prescription medications. That allows them to avoid exposing people, and especially children, to medications with known side effects.
Halotherapy may also play an important role in the prevention and treatment of common colds. The best time to treat a cold is at its onset. Halotherapy treatment at the first sign of cold symptoms helps to eliminate or reduce mucus and inflammation of the respiratory system, thus helping to stop the cold without medications as well as to reduce the risk of complications and prescription drugs use. This is especially important for children and adults with asthma since the common cold is a trigger for the condition.
