FiND iT FREDERiCK Magazine Winter 2017 | Page 57

FLOTATION THERAPY
After years of chronic back pain , Tom Palermo , an admitted skeptic , visited a float spa in Hagerstown . To his own surprise ( and relief ), his pain immediately subsided and he began to research the industry of float spas and the benefits of sensory deprivation chambers . After traveling throughout the country , Tom and his wife , Alyssa , “ wanted to make something worthy of Frederick . Float Frederick is the largest float center on the East Coast .” The Palermos created five spacious float rooms , measuring 8 by 5 feet with an 8 foot ceiling and clear doors- certainly a long way from the cramped , enclosed pods that started it all !
The benefits of flotation were well established in the 1950s , based on National Institutes of Health research , but the technology to create sensory deprivation chambers allowed for only small capsules for floating .
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