Scientific rationale for Halotherapy

The research on the development and justification of the action mechanisms and clinical efficacy of Halotherapy has been carried out from the end of the 1980s until the present in collaboration with leading scientific institutions of Russia.

During 1991-1995, I together with my colleagues in the Russian Research Institute of Pulmonology (Moscow) and St. Petersburg State Medical University named after I.P. Pavlov have performed a series of researches on testing the mechanisms of the effect of the dry, fine-grained salt aerosol and the ways of application of the halo-aerosol technology for the patients of pulmonary clinic. The outcomes of our work have been summed up in “The Guidelines for the application of medical technology of Halotherapy for overall treatment and rehabilitation of respiratory diseases,” edited by the Academician Alexander G. Chuchalin and approved by the Ministry of Health of Russian Federation. Thus, the method of the Controlled Halotherapy has become officially acknowledged, accepted, and authorized for use in medical practice at any medical institution in Russia.

Since 1994, the coordination of the research is being provided by the Clinical Research Respiratory Center established in St. Petersburg (Russia) within the Clinical Hospital №122 of the Federal Medical-Biological Agency of Russia. Certain summarized results of these studies were included in my Doctor of Medical Sciences Theses “Halo-aerosol Therapy in Overall Treatment and Prevention of Respiratory Diseases” (2001).

In 1991-1995, in Russia and Ukraine, Halotherapy was applied mainly in the field of pulmonology. Since 1995, Halotherapy is widely used in physical therapy, spa medicine, pediatrics, rehabilitation of patients with bronchopulmonary diseases, and otorhinolaryngology.

These research have led to a conclusion of the possibility of halotherapy application for respiratory hygiene (i.e., airways clearance). Therefore, since 2006 halotherapy started to spread in the spa and wellness industry under the name HaloSPA™.

In the recent years, the coordination of a series of research projects on Halotherapy is also carried out by the Institute of Respiratory Hygiene and Halotherapy established in Budapest (Hungary). This Institute is engaged in informational support for the technologies used in the rehabilitation of the respiratory system, develops guidelines, organizes training seminars, provides consultations on the organization of medical and health services with the use of Halotherapy and other methods of respiratory care.

During the development stage of Halotherapy, 11 theses of Ph.D. were completed.

The novelty of the solutions is protected by patents (11 patents for the methods of treatment approaches and devices for its implementation). Over 200 scientific papers on the subject relevant to the research have been published. Ministry of Health and Social Development of Russian Federation approved ten guidelines and manuals for physicians.

We have successfully presented an innovative Controlled Halotherapy technology repeatedly at scientific forums and congresses of the Russian Respiratory Society; of the Russian Society of Pediatricians; of the European Respiratory Society (ERS) in Florence (1993), Berlin (1997), Munich (2006), Glasgow (2004), Vienna (2009); of the International Society of Medical Hydrology, Balneology, and Climatology (ISMH) in Istanbul (2006), Porto (2008), Paris (2010), Granada (2012); of the International Society ‘Interasma’ in Jerusalem (1996), Poznan (2005); at International Congress “Russian Biotechnology” (1993) in the USA; of the Polish Association of Balneology and Physical Medicine Krynica (2005), Polanica-Zdroj (2007), Lodz (2008), Naleczow (2011); at leading Russian and international exhibitions of medical and healthcare equipment in Moscow, St. Petersburg, other Russian significant cities, in Richmond, Hannover, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart, Bologna, etc.