Since 1839
The History of Salt Therapy
Salt therapy started underground. It traces back to the salt mines of Eastern Europe, moved into dedicated salt-mine spas in Poland and Ukraine, and became halotherapy in 1985, when the first halogenerator recreated salt-mine air in an ordinary room. Here is how it got from the mines to your home.
From Salt Mine to Halogenerator: the Timeline
Centuries ago · Eastern Europe
Workers in the salt mines and caves of Eastern Europe spent their days breathing air full of fine salt particles, and were noted for having remarkably few breathing complaints.
1839 · Wieliczka, Poland
Dr. Feliks Boczkowski opened the first health resort at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, offering brine salt baths to visitors. He had noticed that the mine's salt workers rarely suffered from the lung problems common among other miners.
1949 · Germany
Physician Dr. K. H. Spannagel began studying the Klutert cave as a place for patient care. His work with Hungarian geologist Dr. H. Kessler laid the foundation of modern speleotherapy, the use of underground cave air for wellness.
1958 · Wieliczka, Poland
Professor Mieczysław Skulimowski became the salt mine's physician and began welcoming patients into its salt chambers, an approach later known as the Skulimowski method.
1964 · Wieliczka, Poland
The underground Kinga allergy spa opened inside the mine, with Professor Skulimowski as its first director.
1950s onward · Eastern Europe
Salt-mine and salt-cave therapy centers opened across the region, in Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine as well as Poland, welcoming visitors who came to spend time breathing the underground salt air.
1968 · Solotvyno, Ukraine
The first speleo-hospital opened inside the Solotvyno salt mine.
1978 · Wieliczka, Poland
UNESCO named the Wieliczka Salt Mine one of its very first World Heritage Sites.
1985 · Odessa, USSR
Researchers at the Institute of Balneology developed the first halotherapy device, a machine that disperses dry salt particles into the air. It brought salt-mine air above ground for the first time: the first halogenerator.
1991 onward · Worldwide
After the Soviet Union dissolved, halotherapy spread to wellness centers across Europe, Canada, Australia and, finally, the United States.
Today · Home, spa and sauna
The Salt Therapy Association, founded in 2012, now counts more than 3,800 members in 61 countries. Its industry standards call for a professional halogenerator, salt particles of 5 microns or smaller, and 99.99% pure pharmaceutical-grade sodium chloride. HaloTherapyPRO halogenerators produce particles of 1–5 microns, most below 1 micron, for home rooms, tents, spas and saunas.
Where the Word “Halotherapy” Comes From
Halotherapy comes from the Greek halos, meaning salt. Its older cousin, speleotherapy, takes its name from the Greek word for cave: it is salt therapy delivered underground, in the natural air of salt mines and caves.
Halotherapy is what happened when that idea moved above ground. Instead of traveling to a mine, a halogenerator grinds pure salt and fills an enclosed room, booth or tent with the same kind of fine, dry salt air.
Wieliczka Today
The salt mine where it began is still open. Wieliczka is now both a museum and a working health resort, with treatment chambers about 135 meters below the surface where visitors still come to breathe the mine’s salt air.
In 1978 UNESCO made it one of the first places on its World Heritage list. Nearly two centuries after Dr. Boczkowski opened his resort there, salt therapy has spread from that one mine to spas, salt rooms and homes around the world.
What Nearly 200 Years of Salt Therapy Means for You
The same idea as the salt mines
Wieliczka's salt chambers worked because the air itself carried fine, dry salt. A halogenerator recreates exactly that: pure sodium chloride, ground fine and carried through an enclosed space.
No mine, no trip, no appointment
For most of its history, salt therapy meant traveling to a salt mine or a spa. Since the first halogenerator in 1985, the salt air can come to you, in a pop-up tent, a spare room or your sauna.
Built to today's industry standard
The Salt Therapy Association's standards call for particles of 5 microns or smaller. HaloTherapyPRO halogenerators produce 1–5 microns, most below 1 micron, and are engineered and assembled in the USA.