What’s New
July 2010
“Shaking” the spine could be good for your back.
From Utoday News, July 07, 2010
Photo by Riley Brandt, University of Calgary
“Shaking” the spine could be good for your back, says, Christopher Hunter, biomedical engineer at the Schulich School of Engineering and the McCaig Institute.
Slipped discs, pinched nerves, whiplash and disc degeneration affect millions of North Americans. They often lead to severe back pain. Sufferers often rely on powerful medication for relief, and that medication can be addictive.
It’s long been thought that people exposed to mechanical vibrations, such as construction workers and truck drivers who spend long hours absorbing vibrations from seats, are more prone to back disorders. But new research at the University of Calgary’s Schulich School of Engineering in collaboration with sponsor Optima Health Solutions International Corp. (KKT International) has uncovered potential benefits of these vibrations.
“Mechanical vibrations appear to alter cell behaviour in a way that points to the potential for the regeneration of cells and tissues in the spine. Our results were both surprising and encouraging, given the socio-economic costs of back pain,” says Christopher Hunter, biomedical engineer at the Schulich School of Engineering and the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health. Hunter’s work is supported in part by funding from Alberta Innovates – Health Solutions.
Mechanical vibration is already used as a form of therapy by Optima and many back-pain sufferers swear by it. Christopher Hunter and the Associate Research Director of Optima, Geoffrey Desmoulin, are the first to study the ‘how’ behind the apparent success of applying vibration. Their research shows that vibrations can benefit the spine, depending on the type and frequency of vibration, where it is applied and for how long. “This information is very exciting and Optima has been able to use this research in clinics around the world as results come in,” says Geoff Desmoulin.
Hunter and Desmoulin experimented with spines from cattle, which are structurally similar to human spines. Experiments involved shaking bovine discs and applying vibrations with a stylus from the Khan Kinetic Treatment (KKT) device, Optima’s primary product. Both showed beneficial results at the cellular level.
These findings could lead to more effective treatments for back disorders and help patients avoid reliance on powerful pain-killing drugs. Better treatments could reduce the strain on the health-care system and reduce the economic costs of lost productivity due to back pain. The next step in this research is to gain a better understanding of how vibration frequencies travel through different types of tissue such as muscle and bone.
Hunter and Desmoulin have completed a series of papers outlining their findings. Two have been published in the journals Biomechanical Engineering and Spine. A third will be published in Spine later this year.
April 2010
UofC Connections to Body Worlds Exhibit
From Utoday News, April 30, 2010
The Soccer Player, 2005
Copyright: Gunther von Hagens, Institute for Plastination, Heidelberg, Germany
The world famous exhibit makes its Canadian debut today at the TELUS World of Science – Calgary. Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS & The Brain features more than 200 specimens, including full body plastinates. This is the first time in Canada the exhibit also features the latest in neuroscience.
Faculty of Medicine academics and students are helping to educate the public about the intricacies and the importance of studying the human body, as well as giving lectures on the brain and volunteering as roving expert guides for the exhibit.
The Hotchkiss Brain Institute has partnered with the TELUS World of Science - Calgary to provide a series of lectures every Friday evening in May. The lectures will feature Institute members and trainees who are conducting world-class neurological and mental health research, allowing the public a unique opportunity to interact with some of Calgary’s leading neuroscience and mental health researchers.
Lecture topics include: Lasers and Brain Chips: The Future of Brain Research, The Rise of the Machines in Stroke, A Beautiful Mind: Schizophrenia and the Brain, and Multiple Sclerosis in Alberta. Lectures are free with the purchase of admission to the BODY WORLDS & The Brain exhibition. Details can be found online at hbi.ucalgary.ca.
Dr. John Bertram, the Director of the Gross Anatomy Lab and the university’s Body Donation Program, is training volunteers from the McCaig Institute for Bone and Joint Health to give tours at the exhibit. He is also giving tours himself, and speaking about the role of body donation programs in medical education and research.
Dr. von Hagens invented plastination to preserve bodies. All bodily fluids are extracted from a specimen to stop decomposition, and replaced with plastics that give the specimens rigidity and permanence.
Nearly 30 million visitors in 50 cities around the world, including Los Angles, London and Tokyo have seen a BODY WORLDS exhibition since its debut in 1995.
