Long Covid sufferers doing salt therapy at a former mine see an average ‘60 to 80 per cent improvement in their physical tests’
- One of the world’s oldest salt mines, Wieliczka in Poland is being used to help recovering Covid-19 patients breathe easier with salt therapy and a dose of fun
- Poland has taken a lead in rehabilitation programmes and research into long Covid, launching its first facility for post-Covid-19 patients in September
Gyrating with gusto to the sounds of Cyndi Lauper’s Girls Just Want To Have Fun, a group of middle-aged Poles fight off lingering Covid-19 symptoms with gym circuits.
But this is no ordinary fitness workout – it is taking place 130 metres (427 feet) underground in a cavernous space next to a dark green brine lake in a former salt mine in southern Poland that dates back to the 13th century.
“When I came down here, I was enchanted by this place,” participant Jadwiga Nowak said, as other tracksuit-clad attendees raised fitness balls in the air, rode exercise bikes and jogged on the spot.
One of the world’s oldest salt mines, Wieliczka is recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Over the centuries, miners turned it into a unique work of art, carving out a maze of tunnels leading to chambers and shrines complete with salt chandeliers.