Salt Therapy from Australia

[Speaker 0] First of all we've been told for years that too much salt is bad for us. Now it can be used to bring much needed relief to the millions of Australians who suffer skin and respiratory complaints. Some patients swear by it but not everyone is convinced.
[1] It’s improved, I’d say 95% to what it was.
[2] My breathing is a lot easier and I can exercise a lot harder now.
[3] This is salt therapy. New age medical miracle or simly another unproven theory.
[4] I would like to see more evidence before I would be prepared to recommend it to the public or to my patients.
[3] It’s called halo therapy, brand new to Australia and involves shutting yourself in a room to breathe in fine particles of salt to alleviate a range of conditions.
[2] So far so good, it works amazing.
[3] Nick Nicholetes is a professional fitness instructor who was hospitalized multiple times as a kid with asthma.
[2] The thing is there was just no relief, there was only pereventitive medications. What it does it actually opens up my airways a lot more so I’ve got more lung capacity, I can actually take in deeper amount of oxygen. Yeeh it’s had a huge impact.
[3] In fact its supporters claim halo therapy can treat a range of lung conditons and even bring relief to sufferers of skin problems like eczema by using a natural mineral in a temperature controlled environment.
[5] Salt as a natural antihistamine and a natural antibacterial, it helps to relieve any inflamation and infection and it helps to dislodge the mucus that’s in the lungs.
[3] Dave Lindsey runs Salts of the Earth one of only two halo therapy centres in Australia.
[5] The machine starts grinding off pharmaceutical salt and when the paharmaceutical salt is airborn it is then dispersed in through the room and they are exposed to this pharmaceutical salt for forty five minutes, they are breathing this salts in so it’s getting to the area, of the area of the lungs, sinus, etc.
[3] But not everyone is convinced.
[4] There are few case studies on halo therapy but the evidence is not strong.
[3] Dr. Kerryn Phelps says there’s no conclusive modern studies that the procedure works.
[4] The original studies what we call observational where it was observed that miners in salt mines had lower incidence of respiratory conditions. But they were spending ten hours a day, five six days a week in the salt mines in these situations.
[5] Hi Cheryl, how are you today?
[1] Good thanks.
[5] Excellent. How is bronchitis?
[1] Oh, much better thank you.
[3] Cheryl Boltcher’s life had become a misery.
[1] I’ve been a chronic bronchitis sufferer for many years and as I am getting older it’s getting worse. I have a great deal of difficulty breathing, my chest gets really tight.
[3] Cheryl was on antibiotics and steroids to treat her condition but she claims it’s improved to the point where she can get around without getting breathless.
[1] Since I’ve been coming here I haven’t been using a ventolin puffer to help me breathe at all.
[3] At all?
[1] At all.
[3] It’s a big change since three month ago.
[1] It is. Very much so.
[4] It is very important that people who have asthma or emphysema or bronchitis or any other respiratrory condition do not abandon their standard medical treatments and medical supervision because that could be life threatning.
[6] Coming here and having freeness of breathing is something I’ve never thought I could be able to expect.
[3] Tony Guthrie is giving halo therapy a try after a lifetime of suffering asthma. How quickly was it that you noticed the difference in the way that you were breathing?
[6] Almost immediately. My breathing is very constricted. Having been here the first time it just seemed that my airways opened up straight away.
[3] Operators say it’s safe for children too. The effects can often last for months and each forty five minutes session costs about forty five dollars.
[5] Once they can get the congestion gone and they feel relieved, it’s only the matter of every so often when they feel as if they get the tightness or they feel as if they need a session then they can come back and do it.
[4] I would encourage the operators of a unit like this to engage in scientific evidence so that they can prove that there are benefits but also to be alert to any risks.
[2] Yeeh, look, I mean it’s just sort of one of those things you have got to try. Aaa, you know you really have got to see for yourself but it has made a big differenece on me.