Berkeley Springs Salt Cave

The Evolution of Halotherapy (Dry Salt Therapy) Modern dry salt therapy (halotherapy) can date its origins to the salt mines in Europe and Russia, where it was called speleotherapy, a respiratory therapy which involves the breathing of salt-infused air in a micro-climate of a salt mine. It was first officially recognized as a therapy in 1843 by Polish physician Dr. Feliks Boczkowski, who noticed that the salt mine workers rarely suffered from respiratory issues. Miners, who chiseled, ground, and hammered the salt, produced micro-sized particles that were dispersed into the air and inhaled. Additionally, there were ideal conditions below the Earth’s surface where air pressure and circulation, and humidity and temperature affected the quality