Halogenerator
A Halogenerator: Dry saline generator (nebulizer) or Dry salt aerosol generator, is a device developed to recreate the atmosphere of naturally occurring salt mines and caves in artificially created halotherapy (Greek: Halos – efflorescence of salt) chambers/rooms.
A concentration of 3–5 mg of particles of sodium chloride minerals per cubic meter, with particles of 2–5 micrometers, is used to create an ideal healing environment.[1] The size of the particles has been investigated by experts and has been proven to be optimal in many clinical studies. This concentration of minerals has a critical importance to the therapeutic action in the respiratory system. The necessary concentration of dry salt aerosol in artificially created Salt Therapy Rooms (STR) can only be created by halogenerators.
Halogenerators produce dry saline aerosol by mechanically crushing rock salt grains to the size of 1 to 5 micrometers. Halogenerators are suitable for all sizes of STR, which vary from 4msq (43sq ft) up to 50msq (538sq ft). The generator is usually installed on the outside wall of the STR in a neighboring room at a height of 80 cm (32") above the floor. The dry salt aerosol is blown into the therapy room via a 10 cm (4") x 15 cm (6") hole in the wall.
Halogenerators provide options to adjust the treatment regime in the salt room according to a patient's specific needs. For example, various sizes of salt particles, levels of energy carried by these particles, concentration of the aerosol, and duration of treatment.
Halogenerators make the micronisation of salt possible, producing very fine particles of salt aerosol which make their way to the deepest parts of the lungs.
Apical breathing makes it impossible for the aerosol to reach the deeper sections of the respiratory system. Likewise, when our respiration is rapid and shallow, the aerosol particles have no way of settling in the lower respiratory tract and are expelled together with the air being exhaled. With this kind of breathing, only around ten per cent of the aerosol is deposited. The highest proportion of aerosol remains in the respiratory tract during deep, relaxed breathing; it then reaches levels of anything from fifty to as much as eighty per cent.
The deposition of aerosol particles depends on their size:
- at greater than five micrometres, they settle in the nasal-pharyngeal cavity, the larynx, the trachea and the bronchi;
- from two to five micrometres, they are deposited in the lateral nose cavities, the remaining bronchi and the bronchioles;
- from 0.5 to 2 micrometres, they settle in the pulmonary alveoli;
- below 0.5 micrometres, they diffuse into the respiratory epithelium.[2]
Dry saline generators are certified as medical devices in European countries, and are in use throughout Europe. Their use is increasing in North America with the escalating public interest in health.
References
- ↑ Alina V. Chervinskaya and Nora A. Zilber."Halotherapy For Treatment Of Respiratory Diseases"
- ↑ Kamińska, Katarzyna. Halotherapy. Salsano Haloterapia Polska. ISBN 978-83-937819-1-1.