Halotherapy

{{Short description|Unproven alternative medicine that uses salt}}

{{about|alternative medicine using salt|mining for salt|Salt mine}}

{{Pseudomedicine sidebar|fringe}}

File:Halotherapy in Soligorsk Belarus.jpg

File:Speleoterapia.jpg

Halotherapy (also known as speleotherapy when practiced inside caves) is a form of alternative medicine which makes use of salt. Halotherapy is an unproven treatment that lacks scientific credibility.{{cite journal |author1=Shah, R. |author2=Greenberger, P. |year=2012 |title=Unproved and controversial methods and theories in allergy-immunology |journal=Allergy and Asthma Proceedings |volume=33 |issue=Supplement 1 |pages=100–102 |doi=10.2500/aap.2012.33.3562 |pmid=22794702}} Spa owners attribute a wide range of health benefits to halotherapy.{{Cite web|url=https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/halotherapy-the-latest-spa-pseudoscience/|title=Halotherapy – The Latest Spa Pseudoscience|last=Novella|first=Steven|author-link=Steven Novella|date=June 13, 2018|website=Science-based Medicine|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617185019/https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/halotherapy-the-latest-spa-pseudoscience/|archive-date=June 17, 2018|access-date=June 17, 2018}}

Norman Edelman of the American Lung Association suggests that, for people with obstructive lung diseases, halotherapy might be more than placebo effect.{{Cite web|url=http://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2016/06/promising-placebo-salt-halotherapy.html|title=Promising or Placebo? Halo Salt Therapy: Resurgence of a Salt Cave Spa Treatment|date=June 9, 2016|website=American Lung Association|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180617183332/http://www.lung.org/about-us/blog/2016/06/promising-placebo-salt-halotherapy.html|archive-date=June 17, 2018|access-date=June 17, 2018}} He speculates that inhaled salt particles might thin out mucus aiding patients in expelling sputum. However, a recent review of the research supporting halotherapy determined that, out of 151 studies conducted on this topic, only 1 was a well-designed randomized control trial that met their inclusion criteria for a meta-analysis.{{cite journal|last1=Rashleigh|first1=Rachel|last2=Smith|first2=Sheree|journal=International Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease|title=A review of halotherapy for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease|date=February 21, 2014|doi=10.2147/COPD.S57511|pmc=3937102|pmid=24591823|volume=9|pages=239–46 |doi-access=free }}