Posted on 06/07/2016 12:50:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A new research report appearing in the June 2016 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, opens up the possibility that small electrical currents might activate certain immune cells to jumpstart or speed wound healing. This discovery, made by a team of scientists from the United Kingdom, may be of particular interest to those with illnesses that may cause wounds to heal slowly or not at all.
"In some instances, such as diabetes, the body's ability to heal is compromised and wounds can become infected. In instances where there is a lack of macrophages present, the application of 'synthetic' electric fields using clinical devices would assist the repair process, not only by attracting macrophages to damaged sites to support healing but also by changing their properties to facilitate wound repair and importantly to reduce infection," said Heather M. Wilson from the University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen, U.K.
To make their discovery, scientists exposed macrophages, originating from human blood, to electrical fields of strength similar to that generated in injured skin. When the current was applied, the scientists found that the macrophages moved in a directed manner and from these studies would be predicted to move to the edge of damaged skin to facilitate healing. Not only did the electrical fields coax macrophages into moving directionally, they also significantly enhanced the ability of macrophages to engulf and digest extracellular particles, called "phagocytosis." Phagocytosis is an important process in wound healing whereby macrophages clean the wound site, limit infection and allow the repair process to proceed. Electric fields enhanced the uptake and clearance of a variety of targets known to promote inflammation and impair healing. These targets included latex beads, expended white blood cells, and the opportunist fungal pathogen, Candida albicans. The experiments also showed that electric fields selectively augmented the production of protein modulators associated with the healing process, confirming that macrophages are tuned to respond to naturally generated electrical signals in a manner that boosts their healing ability.
"The field of bioelectromagnetics is beginning to reveal how we might use intentionally directed electrical or magnetic fields to provoke specific biological responses," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology. "This new work identifies previously unappreciated opportunities to tune immune system function with electrical fields and has potentially wide-reaching implications for wound repair for a variety of diseases where macrophages play a role, including infectious disease, cancer and even obesity."
The hospital sent some sort of device home with my dad after he had surgery there. It was supposed to be used daily and was to speed up healing of the bone. I remember he was not to return it to the hospital when finished.
On another note, I had a pretty bad bone density reading in my spine 2 years ago, but didn’t want to take Boniva or Fosamax, so began taking AlgaeCal and then about 7 months ago added the use of a ‘whole body vibration’ machine. I just got a new reading last week and had gained 3 points. The doctor was impressed that I did it without meds and did not scold me - told me instead to keep using my ‘jiggle machine’.
All last week I had some sort of knee problem. Couldn’t lift my right leg, and to use a cane to walk (hobble) around.
My wife picked up one of those new “Icy Hot TENS” units for knee and shoulder. I put it on Friday afternoon, wore it overnight and the next morning, no more throbbing pain, and I could lift my leg and walk sans cane.
I’m a believer in the unit now.
TTF Tumor Treating Field therapy has been shown to have a great effect on the abiity of cancer cells to reproduce. Learn more here http://www.novocure.com/our-therapy.aspx
This is not to be confused with the hundreds of websites and products that are pure quackery about magical cancer cures from electric devices. The people behind those sites and “cures” that prey upon the desperation of cancer patients and their families have a paid reservation in hell.
And the new fad being Hypobaric Chambers that claim to cure autism.............
Hypobaric Chambers have been used for years in vet medicine for wound healing.
This is what cold laser therapy and pulsed emf therapy does. Puts energy into cells that need it so that they can get their repair processes working again.
How soon will we have 6011 or LH7018 body rod for healing?
This is legit. I know someone at MD Anderson who did some research on this, except he was looking at DC current.
I’ve been out of the MR biz about 3 years, but when I left standard suite was 1.5T, Research and high end was 3T, and research only was above 3T up to 11 but most were 7-9 IIRC. That being said even on a 1.5T I wouldn’t be surprised if even the technician isn’t getting some potential benefit, as the mag field pulses outside the room as well, but the RF is limited to inside the room.
Might be interesting to see if there are differences between ultrasound, CT, and MR techs related to either psychological or physiological symptoms and illness rates.
Truedat but they're now being advertised for treating everything from autism to macular degeneration to cerebral palsy.......
Crackpot science for the desperate? I don't know, you tell me.......
Yes. There is a lot of legitimate cancer research involving electric fields. Unfortunately Google searches and spam can lead a lot of people to some pretty hokey stuff.
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