The Effect of Halotherapy in Chronic Respiratory Disease: An Adjunct to Physiotherapy-A Narrative Review

Halotherapy is the use of dehumidified oxygen or salt aerosol microparticles attached to a face to treat pulmonary conditions. It was first reported as a substitute to oxygen masks for speleotherapy, a healing technique utilized in saline in Eastern Europe since the early nineteenth century. Micronized NaCl (1-5 m) is effortlessly inhaled by the proximal and distal respiratory tracts. At this juncture, it disintegrates in the mucosal sol layer of the upper airways that coats the respiratory epithelium. The objective of this study was aimed to determine the effectiveness of halotherapy in chronic respiratory disease as an adjuvant to physiotherapy. Literature search engines-PubMed, Google Scholar, and Cochrane were used to select articles that reviewed or used halotherapy as the key point in the publications. Database searches were performed to assess the literature available on halotherapy for chronic respiratory disease. 8 studies were included in the narrative review. Studies included in the review held strong evidence for using halotherapy as an alternative to traditional physiotherapy measures. The synthesis of this study shows fair support for the use of halotherapy as an adjunct to physiotherapy in Chronic Respiratory Disorders (CRD), by including salt rooms, Halogenator and traditional halotherapy managements as accustomed to the patient in relieving and resolving symptoms of the same.