Dr. Gregory Chang

Dr. Wayne Stokes

Dr. Gregory Chang, Assistant Professor of Radiology and Dr. Wayne Stokes, Head of Sports Medicine Rehabilitation at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York are using the amazing 7T MRI Scanning technology to study whether or not exercise can reverse osteoporosis.

The doctors gave me initial 7T scans of bones around the knee and an exercise protocol.  I am performing five weight bearing exercises 3-4 times per week.  After three months of the weight lifting protocol, the doctors will scan my bones again to see if there is improvement in bone density.  I am working very hard on the exercises.  Keep your fingers crossed!

Hugo Chang, the engineer responsible for the installation and maintenance of the 7 T MRI Machine.

7TMRI

Looks like any MRI scanner, right?  Not so.

About the 7T MRI Scanner, to quote the manufacturer, Siemens:

“7T MRI now emerges as the equipment of the elite, the new research and development frontier, the system of the pioneers. 7T MRI provides the potential for microscopic spatial resolution visualizing anatomy previously unseen. In addition, it enables the observation and analysis of tissue metabolism and function. 7T MRI is a great instrument for the research and development of molecular imaging methods, promising a whole new world of applications….

*This system is a research tool and is intended for investigational use only. This information is preliminary. The system is under development and not commercially available in the U.S., and its future availability cannot be ensured.”

And Hugo Chang is the man who makes it work.  He jokingly told me “It’s my toy.  Other people play with Legos.  I play with this.” Imagine the stress of being the person responsible for installing and maintaining a $7 million dollar machine that is so new, even the makers couldn’t know what might go wrong in the field.  And imagine the mind of a man who can maintain this thing. That’s Hugo Chang.

Eckhart Tolle discusses how to let go of self-inflicted mental suffering and the ways in which suffering becomes a catalyst for personal growth.

Photo credits for these images go to Gregory Chang, M.D., Assistant Professor in the Musculoskeletal Imaging Division, Department of Radiology at the NYU Langone Medical Center for Biomedical Imaging.  Dr Chang is using the technology to study osteoporosis.  I am especially excited about being part of his research using 7T MRI imagery to study the the effects of weight lifting on osteoporosis.

The “camera” is the7T Siemens MRI.  In case you would like to buy one of these 7 million dollar machines, I am including a link to their website below. There are very few 7T’s in the world.  Apparently the level of detail shown in these images could previously be gained only through an autopsy.

What’s it like to get a 7T MRI? Very Noisy.  It is loud, much louder than a typical MRI machine.  But it’s worth it.  Just look at the images!

http://www.medical.siemens.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/PSGenericDisplay~q_catalogId~e_-11~a_langId~e_-11~a_pageId~e_68112~a_storeId~e_10001.htm

In research studies a type of hands-on-healing, or energy healing called “Therapeutic Touch” (TT) has proven to grow bone cells in petri dishes.  For the study, a Therapeutic Touch practitioner sent healing energy to bone fragments in some kind of growth medium in a petri dish.  A faux healer performed the same movements on other cultures, but did not send healing energy.

Gloria Gronowicz, Professor of Surgery at U-Conn reports that, “The TT-treated cells grew faster than the other cells.  In fact in one test, cells treated with TT grew at double the rate of untreated cells.”

In addition to seeing increased cell division under the microscope, Gronowicz observed that the bone cell cultures treated with Therapeutic Touch also absorbed more calcium, the essential mineral for growing strong bones.

Interestingly, similar experiments using TT on bone cancer cells produced different results. Unlike the healthy cells, the bone cancer cells did not appear to be stimulated by TT.

“Therapeutic Touch appears to increase DNA synthesis, differentiation, and mineralization in normal bone cells, and decrease differentiation and mineralization in a bone cancer derived cell line,” says Gronowicz.

I am not a certified TT practitioner, but I have taken several classes in this modality.  After my 84 year old mother fell last August and sustained 16 fractures to her pelvis, spine and ribs,  I performed Therapeutic Touch on her weekly.  Her fractures completely healed in 16 weeks and she experienced no more bone pain. He doctors said her results were remarkable.  My mother attributed her phenomenal healing to Therapeutic Touch treatments.

Here are links to the U-Conn study and to the Therapeutic Touch website.

Click to access gronowicz-theraputic-touch-study.pdf

http://www.therapeutictouch.org/what_is_tt.html