Physical therapist Jean Read knew before she reopened The 3 Elements that she wanted a salt room.
“When I dreamed of whatever I would put in a clinic once I had one, the salt room was certainly one of the top on the list because it’s so needed in our current day, with all the pollution in our air or water,” she said.
Read originally operated her massage and alternative therapy clinic in Poplar Bluff from 2000 to 2005 before moving to another wellness facility. She decided to return to her holistic roots and reopened the business on Sterling Drive in October. So far The 3 Elements has multiple wellness treatment spaces specializing in everything from sleep states to lymphatic flow. Dry salt therapy, or halotherapy, is regarded as a natural treatment for the lungs and skin.
“So a salt room has to have a generator that grinds the salt small enough so that it’s between 0.1 and 0.5 microns in size. When it’s that small it can...be absorbed right in,” she explained.
Read stated these particles of pharmaceutical-grade salt help with conditions like acne and eczema, and in the airways they offer relief for symptoms of asthma, allergies, COPD, chronic sinusitis and other conditions.
“The benefit is that pharmaceutical grade salt, which is 99.99% pure sodium chloride, is antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and it also reduces mucus production.”
A salt room session involves lounging in the space for 40 minutes or so. Participants are encouraged to take deep breaths through the nose and mouth.
“Because it’s usually a calm situation, that helps reduce stress and anxiety,” Read added.
Despite halotherapy’s benefits, Read stressed The 3 Elements is not a doctor’s office.
“We can’t prescribe or treat or ameliorate diseases, all that technical stuff. We’re just here to support people in helping to reduce their symptoms,” she said.
Read has worked as a physical therapist since 1989. Her time in the health care system eventually motivated her to take up a holistic practice.
“I’ve worked in many hospitals through the years, in and out, and I’m just really dismayed with how medicine has become more about the pharmaceuticals and the surgeries, and the never-ending revolving door of medicine, instead of really getting to the root problem of things,” she said. “And so over the last 10 years, especially, I’ve focused more on holistic health, and what can we do to help support the body to do what it does best, and that’s to heal and repair and restore itself on an ongoing basis.”
Poplar Bluff was the perfect location, she added, because Southeast Missourians are hours away from similar resources in cities like St. Louis, Memphis, Little Rock and Springfield.
“We really need a hub here where people can come for more holistic care,” she said.
Other resources at The 3 Elements include a sauna blanket, deep-pressure Flowpresso machine, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy (PEMF) and Biomat, and traditional hot stone massages. With the salt room in place, Read is still looking to the future with plans to add wellness and nutrition classes to her schedule, and in January or February she hopes to acquire a cold plunge tub to give patients a healthy shock to their systems.
“The benefit of cold plunge is phenomenal,” she said, citing improved immune health and a rush of serotonin and dopamine. “So it’s a really powerhouse for the brain.”
More information and appointments are available by calling 573-926-9102. The 3 Elements is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, and by appointment only Friday and Saturday.