Friday, 1 May 2009

using light to heal - NASA

interesting article on the healing use of light as developed by NASA:


Healing with Light Moves Beyond Fiction

Fans of the Star Trek television shows can recall many stirring scenes of medical officers treating patients without drugs or surgery, using instead a device the size of a cell phone that sends out light rays to "miraculously" heal wounds and cure disease before their very eyes.

Now, the use of light emitting diodes (LED) in the practice of medicine has moved well beyond science fiction and into the real world. Soldiers injured by lasers in combat, astronauts in space and children in cancer wards are already benefiting from the healing properties of near-infrared light in ways that could only be imagined a few years ago. Several research projects at the Medical College of Wisconsin are at the center of LED treatment development and the application of new technology to a wide range of injury and illness.

"The potential is quite endless," said Harry T. Whelan, MD, Medical College Bleser Professor of Neurology, Pediatrics and Hyperbaric Medicine. "I like to say that the history of medicine, since the beginning of time, has been poisons and knives. Drugs usually poison some enzyme system for the benefit of the patient. Think about the drugs you take: Digitalis is digitoxin; it's from the foxglove plant and it poisons your heart gently to help you with cardiac disease. Motrin and aspirin basically poison the prostaglandin system to decrease pain by poisoning the inflammatory cascade. Blood thinners basically poison the clotting system, and on and on and on.
full article click here:
http://healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002355.html

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