Sensory Deprivation Tanks Offer Relaxation Therapy, Pain Relief

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- What if someone told you that you could float your troubles away, literally? From back pain to stress, some say a type of therapy that's making a comeback may be the answer.

It's called flotation therapy, and it happens in sensory deprivation tanks or flotation tanks.

They are several places in Pittsburgh now offering the therapy, one of them is Float Pittsburgh at Capristo Salon in Shadyside.

"I've really seen almost two different-looking people from when they go in to when they come out," said Pittsburgh Float owner Luke Raymer. "Just smiles on their face."

It's totally dark inside tanks and sound is blocked out. You float in about ten inches of salt water. Sessions last for an hour or 90 minutes.

"It is a place for me to center myself, and that's what I like the most about it," said Angel Light, who works at the salon. She tried out the tanks and now has become a regular.

A scientist named John Lilly developed sensory deprivation tanks in the 1950s to study consciousness. By the late '70s, tanks were being sold. But now, the idea is back, and more than 270 flotation centers have opened up across the U.S.

The floating is supposed to make you feel like there's no gravity, allowing muscles and joints a pressure-free environment.

Raymer first tried it in Toronto when he was having back pain.

"By the time I got out, I felt immensely better!" he said.

You start the experience with a shower, and if you're wondering about how clean the water is inside the tanks, Raymer says the salt helps with that.

"It's more dense than the Dead Sea, actually," he said. "Things can't survive in there."

Plus, he says they filter it before and after anyone uses it.

Dr. Richard Firshein is an alternative medicine specialist in New York City. He says there's proof that the therapy works.

"The benefits according to studies that are done show that it induces a very deep state of relaxation, much faster than typical meditation," he explained.

A one-hour session at Pittsburgh Float is $70. The price goes down the more sessions you buy.

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