Best Alternative Pain Relief

Some cool pain relief treatment images:

Guy with cane


Image by Ed Yourdon
This guy was walking from the Broadway side of 72nd Street to the Amsterdam Avenue side, right past the entrance to the 72nd Street subway station. He was giving me a slightly quizzical look, as if to say, "What kind of nut would want to take a picture of me?"

Note: this photo was published in an undated (late Oct 2010) blog titled "Helping You Ease Arthritis Pain." It was also published in an undated (Dec 2010) "Neck Arthritis" blog, with the same title and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page.

It was also published in a Jan 7, 2011 blog titled "Where can I find cura-heat liquid for arthritis pain relief?" And it was published in an undated (mid-Feb 2011) arthritis blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. It was also published in an undated (late Mar 2011) blog titled "Make Everyday Tasks Easier With Aids for Arthritis." And it was published in an Apr 4, 2011 blog titled "http://www.pronexcervicaltractiondevice.com/how-does-your-doctor-treat-your-fibromyalgia-i-get-little-to-no-relief-headachesneckjawfacial-pain/" It was also published in a May 15, 2011 blog titled "treatment for fibromyalgia pain?" And it was published in a May 28, 2011 blog titled "Does Natural Arthritis Relief Really Work?"

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This is part of an evolving photo-project, which will probably continue throughout the summer of 2008, and perhaps beyond: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan — between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

I don’t like to intrude on people’s privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they’re still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what’s right in front of me.

I’ve also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting — literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I’ve learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture … after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it’s pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.

For the most part, I’ve deliberately avoided photographing bums, drunks, drunks, and crazy people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don’t want to be photographed, and I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. I’m still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We’ll see how it goes …

The only other thing I’ve noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, far more people who are not so interesting. They’re probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I’ve photographed … but there was just nothing memorable about them.

Healing With Light (NASA, 03/03/11)


Image by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
Editor’s note: great story we posted today about how a NASA light technology, originally developed for plant growth experiments in space, is being used to reduce the side effects of various medical treatments, including those for cancer, wounds, etc. You can read more about the technology here: www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals.html. I love success stories like this!

Glowing red light from High Emissivity Aluminiferous Luminescent Substrate, or HEALS technology — previously used to grow plants for space experiments — also has been proven to aid in the healing of human wounds, burns, diabetic skin ulcers and oral mucositis – a common and extremely painful side effect of chemotherapy and radiation treatment. NASA has partnered with Quantum Devices Inc. (QDI), of Barneveld Wis., to develop the WARP 75 light delivery system device for wound healing. A two-year clinical trial using the WARP 75 device on cancer patients undergoing bone marrow or stem cell transplants, concluded that there was a 96-percent chance that the improvement in pain relief of those in the high-risk patient group was the result of the HEALS treatment. The clinical trial was funded by NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The NASA program works with industry and commercial partners to spinoff space technology and adapt it for new, innovative applications.

Image credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham

View more images:
www.nasa.gov/topics/nasalife/features/heals_photos.html

Watch a video of HEALS in action:
www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=…

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