Salt Therapy evolved from the salt mines and underground health resorts throughout Europe. This goes as far back as the early 1800's where physicians were having patients go underground into the hollowed-out salt chambers in the salt ines for respiratory therapy. This became known as speleotherapy, and it spread throughout Europe. There are still speleotherapy facilities today, of which the most active and popular is the Wieliczka Salt Mine, just outside of Karkow, Poland. There are numberous medical professionals, researchers, and clinicians that have published hundreds of papers, articles, abstracts, and studies validating speleotherapy. In fact, the health care systems of many countries cover these treatments with their health coverage/insurance.
In the 1970's, the first halogenerator was developed. The first above-ground, man-made salt rooms using a halogenerator appeared in clinics, hospitals, and daycare centers throughout Russia and Eastern Europe. The advent of the halogenerator brought about the birth of halotherapy.
The salt used for halotherapy is pure grade sodium chloride (also known as medical-grade or pharmaceutical-grade salt) which is the highest purity salt, often used in medical applications. It is99.995 NcCI and contains no insoluble ingredients and is free from all other contaminants. This type of salt is place in a device called a halogenerator which grinds the sodium chloride into micron-sized particles to form a dry slat aerosol that is inhaled in a salt chamber environment. Digesting salt and dry salt inhalation are very distinct. Pure grade sodium chloride is the only salt approved by the Salt Therapy Association for use in halogenerators for several reasons.
