Welcome!
It is our belief that the best approach to health is restorative and preventive healthcare. Our intention and responsibility is to arm our clients with information that widens their ability to choose healthcare based on personal values, reason, intuition and common sense. Scientific studies and statistics must be viewed within the context of these factors and not the other way around.
A Brief History and Definition
Thermography is infrared imaging. The same technology behind night vision photography. It has been around since 1982 for examining breast tissue and other body areas where problems are close to the surface.Its safety and effectiveness were endorsed by the FDA for body imaging before mammography was invented. Mammography was quickly adopted by the medical profession because the machine seemed to have less variables and a radiologist would be accountable for the readings. It was decided to drop endorsement and adopt mammography as the technology of choice.
Thermography then became the venue of chiropractors and functional medicine physicians.
In 2010, Christiane Northrup, MD, a well-known speaker and author on women’s health, helped to bring thermography back on the radar. She wrote an article that was published by the Huffington Post, The Best Breast Test: The Promise of Thermography summarizing Thermography as follows:
6 Reasons Why I Recommend Breast Thermography
In addition to early detection and accurate test results, here are some other reasons I like thermography:
- Good for young, dense breasts and implants. Younger breasts tend to be denser. Thermography doesn’t identify fibrocystic tissue, breast implants, or scars as needing further investigation.
- Detect cell changes in arm pit area. The arm pit area is an area that mammography isn’t always good at screening.
- Great additional test. Thermography can be used as an additional test to help women and their care teams make more informed treatment decisions.
- It Doesn’t Hurt. The pressure of a mammogram machine is equivalent to putting a 50-pound weight on your breast, which can be quite painful for most women.
- No radiation. Another reason the United States Preventative Services Task Force reversed its aggressive mammogram guidelines was because of the exposure to radiation. It’s well known that excessive doses of radiation can increase your risk of cancer. (Semelka 4). It’s ironic that the test women are using for prevention may be causing the very problem they’re trying to avoid in the first place! And this doesn’t even touch on the harm done to the body from unnecessary biopsies, lumpectomies, mastectomies, chemotherapy, radiation treatment, and so forth.
- Thermography is very safe. Thermography is even safe for pregnant and nursing women! It’s merely an image of the heat of your body.
“With thermography as your regular screening tool, it’s likely that you would have the opportunity to make adjustments to your diet, beliefs, and lifestyle to transform your cells before they became cancerous.
Talk about true prevention.”
— Christiane Northrup, M.D.
About Us
Dr. Cockburn, Founder of CCTI
Dr. Cockburn is licensed as a Doctor of Chiropractic at Cleveland College of Chiropractic, Los Angeles, California in 1975.
In 1987, Dr. Cockburn became Board Certified in Thermal Imaging, a non-invasive diagnostic procedure, which he has now taught worldwide. In 1989, he lost his mother to breast cancer and since that time he has written many articles in professional publications and has made many personal appearances concerning Breast Thermography.
Dr. Cockburn succumbed to a serious illness in 2011. Dr. Connor and Fe Murray bought the practice in 2012.
Kenneth Connor, DC
Certified in Thermal Imaging by George Chapman, DC of Clinical Thermography Associates in San Diego, CA.
Graduate of Los Angeles College of Chiropractic 1992
N.U.C.C.A. Pracitioner (Upper Cervical Specialty) since 1992
International and local private practice in Chiropractic since 1992
Fe Murray RN, MSN
Certified in Thermal Imaging by George Chapman, DC of Clinical Thermography Associates in San Diego, CA.
Registered nurse with Masters of Science degree in Nursing,
Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, specializing in acupressure and Holistic Women’s Health
Professor of Nursing Nutrition, Pediatrics and Mental Health to nursing students at West Coast University.
Why Thermography.
Thermography is infrared imaging. The same technology behind night vision photography. It has been around since 1982 for examining breast tissue and other body areas where problems are close to the surface.Its safety and effectiveness were endorsed by the FDA for body imaging before mammography was invented. Mammography was quickly adopted by the medical profession because the machine seemed to have less variables and a radiologist would be accountable for the readings. It was decided to drop endorsement and adopt mammography as the technology of choice.
Thermography then became the venue of chiropractors and functional medicine physicians. In 2010, Christiane Northrup, MD, a well-known speaker and author helped to bring thermography back on the radar. She wrote an article that was published by the Huffington Post on 10/12/10, saying “You would be surprised by how many women tell me their doctors make them feel guilty for not having a mammogram. Women who just know they have healthy breasts. Don’t be intimidated if you prefer to forgo annual mammography.”
Advantages and Benefits
New and fast growth gives off more heat than normal tissue. When a growth is invading a body area, it wants to survive on the nutrients it can steal from surrounding tissue. It can secrete factors that stimulate the growth of blood vessels that will bring warm blood, oxygen and nutrients to it. It can secrete factors that keep the blood vessel dilated even when other vessels constrict. This is called neoangiogenesis (new vessel beginning).
The infrared camera can pick-up heat radiating from the surface, and just below the surface of the skin. The camera translates the radiation frequency into colors. The technician taking the picture can designate which colors are normal, and which are warmer or cooler than normal. Benign cysts tend to be somewhat hollow and therefore cooler. Cancer tumors tend to be warmer.
Because the camera is sensitive to the surrounding temperature and so are human bodies, the office or environment where the imaging is being done can effect the results.
Prior physical activity, a large prior meal, skin inflammation or trauma can also give off heat signatures. The technician must properly prepare the room, the camera, and the client beforehand.