Tampa gets first U.S. salt room for respiratory sufferers

Twice a week, Steve Johnson relaxes in a plush recliner, listens to soft music, reads a magazine and treats his allergies in a room made of salt.

Johnson is a regular at Breathing Clear, a speleotherapy salt room that opened in Tampa in May. "It's very relaxing. It's very clean. I don't even smell the salt," says Johnson, 38, an accountant.

The speleotherapy room at Breathing Clear, the first of its kind in the United States, is meant to mimic the salt caves of Eastern Europe, registered respiratory therapist Melissa Weeks says.

"People have been visiting salt caves and mines since the middle ages. The salt absorbs moisture from the respiratory tract, thins the secretions and helps expel those much more readily," Weeks says.

Modern-day facilities are designed to treat a variety of respiratory ailments, including allergies, asthma, bronchitis and sinusitis, chronic pulmonary obstructive disorder and cystic fibrosis.

Speleotherapy rooms differ from other salt rooms, which use special generators that grind the salt into tiny particles and blow it into the air. The bricks at Breathing Clear, which are mined in the Ukraine, have a higher concentration of sodium chloride, which is ingested much faster, Weeks says. Rooms are kept at nippy 69 degrees to help pull the salt from the blocks.

Clients sit in a room at Breathing Clear for an hour. They simply relax and breathe as they normally would. Visits are sold in packages of four for $195.

Johnson, a 20-year allergy sufferer, says he saw signs of improvement after seven visits. He hasn't had to get any allergy shots since he started his sessions, he says, and he only takes medication once or twice a week now.

Salt therapy isn't designed to replace medications, but it can complement their effectiveness, Weeks says.

First-time visitor Ayne Cardona brought her son, Alex Tessier, 1, for a visit recently, hoping to clear up his congestion. Children can play in a "sand box" made of salt from the ground bricks.

"It makes sense to me that salt is a purifier because we use it for the pool, we use it for purifying water and all that stuff," says Cardona, 35. "I'm always looking for new stuff that's natural, so it's kind of preventative at this point."

There can be side effects. According to breathingclear.com: "Some patients experience itchy skin or a tickling in the throat while in a Speleochamber. The drainage of accumulated mucus which Speleotherapy causes can cause an increase in coughing after several days of therapy, which is why we recommend leaving 2 to 3 days between treatments. Speleotherapy is not recommended for patients suffering from advanced hypertension and other serious heart conditions or intoxication."

Tampa physician Jimmie Wilbur says salt room therapies are safe, but research on their effectiveness is lacking.

"We really don't have any good studies to tell us that it actually makes a difference, or why," Wilbur says. "In Western medicine, we use saline as a nasal irrigant to reduce congestion, and the healing power of a week at the shore may not all lie in the sand."

Wilbur considers salt rooms an "alternative" therapy that shouldn't be used as a primary treatment.

"There doesn't seem to be any negative effects to the treatment," she says. "Like any other treatment for asthma, the greatest risk may be that some patients, in seeking a perceived safe and natural treatment, may delay too long when additional interventions are required. Is it too obvious to say, 'Take it with a grain of salt?'"