Spa aims to ease respiratory ailments Health Care Advice

Spa aims to ease respiratory ailments

Tucked away in a Metro Detroit strip mall is an Eastern European salt-cavern experience proprietors say promises those with respiratory issues relief simply by inhaling its brackish air.

At Salinair on Van Dyke and 19 Mile, a slight salt flavor hits people’s lips upon entering its salt room a serene space that’s dimly lit with colorful lasers. Soft piano music plays overhead while a generator pumps microparticles of salt into the room. Three coats of rock salt line the walls.

There are four Barcaloungers and four reclinable beach chairs on pebble-sized sea salt for adults; a children’s area is sectioned off by a row of salt blocks and offers a finer, sandlike sea salt, a television and beach toys. This encourages children to play with the salt so they inhale more of the negatively charged particles.

“We tried to re-create a salt mine environment because that one was proven in alleviating respiratory diseases,” said owner Iosif Meluta, a 45-year-old Romanian immigrant who lives in Rochester Hills.

The salt treatments, known as halotherapy, claim to cleanse and restorea person’s respiratory system because the salt’s “negative ions are believed to produce biochemical reactions that increase levels of the mood chemical serotonin, helping to alleviate depression, relieve stress and anxiety, regulate sleep patterns and boost our daytime energy,” according to Salinair’s website.

Two doctors who work with allergies and asthma said they don’t know if this sort of halotherapy is safe or effective because there has been minimal clinical research, but both said inhaling salt particles could make patients feel better, at least in the short term.

“As long as they continue to take their medication and follow the advice of their physician and it makes them feel better; I have no problem with that,” said Dr. Michael Blaiss, a clinical professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center in Memphis. “If I knew that it caused an underlying problem, I would be very against it.”

Salinair is the only salt spa in Michigan and offers Metro Detroiters a chance to experience what’s become a growing spa trend in the United States.

Its salt room generator continually pumps microparticles of salt into the air 10 milligrams per cubic foot. A ventilation system clears the air from the room after each session, which can cost between $20 and $45 for adults, depending on the package.

Patients leave with a salty taste on their lips, but the consumption level is no more than a daily dose of salt, Meluta said.

Parents seek a solution

Three years ago, Alex Meluta, the owner’s son, was diagnosed with asthma, a disheartening diagnosis for the boy, now 9, who loves to play tennis and swim competitively. A year later, Alex contracted pneumonia and spent a week in the hospital.

Between recovery medication and different inhalers, Alex was taking medication every day, and his parents didn’t think that was the long-term answer. They also were worried his breathing problem might prevent him from competing in sports as he grew up.

So in September 2010, his father and his mother, Ella Meluta, opened Salinair, mimicking the salt mine atmosphere used for healing purposes in Romania and other European countries for centuries.

“We know it’s hard to swim against the wave, trying to say that salt is good for health,” Iosif Meluta said. “Everybody thinks salt is bad for your health, but actually, sometimes, salt is good for your health.

“If we fail, at least we did something for our son.”

Now, the family displays all of Alex’s tennis trophies in the spa’s lobby he’s ranked in the top five among players age 10 and under in southeastern Michigan, according to the United States Tennis Association.

“When I started coming here, I didn’t have to take any more medicine,” Alex said. “When I was at tennis, with my airways, I was always wheezing, but now because I’m better I don’t do that anymore.”

Fans applaud results

Isabella Samovsky, who opened Solay Wellness, a salt treatment manufacturer in Skokie, Ill., seven years ago, said 20 or so salt spas have opened in the United States over the past few years.

“This isn’t a new therapy in any way. This isn’t anything new and crazy,” she said.

Blaiss, a former president of the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, first saw a salt mine spa about a decade ago in Poland and began seeing them pop up across the United States.

Doctors often prescribe saline solutions salt water to help break up mucus in the sinuses, and Blaiss said inhaling salt could have the same effect.

He compared salt treatments to herbal treatments and said drug companies don’t see the benefit of researching a natural product from which they cannot profit.

Dr. Alan Baptist, director of the University of Michigan asthma program, said he’s seen one study of salt therapy from Budapest, treating 35 people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The subjects said they felt better in the study and could walk longer distances, but their lung capacity didn’t improve.

“If you don’t treat inflammation and only treat the symptoms, there can be a lot of problems,” Baptist said.

“The bad thing about salt … is that it will cause lungs to constrict. It could help clear the mucus, but it could be masking the symptoms and not treating the underlying cause of asthma.”

Baptist warned of other studies in which improving symptoms of asthma actually led to more asthma-related deaths, but without specific data for salt therapy, he doesn’t know any harm.

For those who have been using Salinair, though, the improvement of symptoms keeps them coming back.

“It’s been a godsend,” said Carrie Campbell, 60, of Rochester Hills, who suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

“I’ve been hospitalized twice this year before I started this, and I’m off medication and I’m not on oxygen any more.”

Rani Carlesco, 45, of Sterling Heights said she saw an online deal for Salinair a few months ago and kept coming back. She suffers from bronchitis and said one of her doctors noticed her breathing better through a stethoscope.

“It’s made a huge difference,” she said.

Virtual Health Center