Polish salt mines no hardship for asthma patients

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2007

WIELICZKA, Poland (AFP) — It's not exactly your average aerobics class: the teacher is a physiotherapist, and the students are asthmatic.

And the gym is 130 metres (426 feet) below ground, in the world's oldest working salt mine.

While the idea of a spell in the salt mines might conjure up visions of being sent to Siberia, Wieliczka is a benign venue for hundreds of patients who every year head to the underground sanatorium near Krakow, in southern Poland.

For 500 euros (690 dollars) -- which is often covered by health insurance -- the mostly asthmatic or allergic patients can spend 14 days deep in the mine's microclimate, breathing the therapeutic air.

"This air is absolutely beneficial for asthmatics, because they don't have any contact with...