About Us and Our Mission

 

“Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” –Mark Twain

 

Our mission is to develop a revolutionary pain control solution, utilizing the technology embodied in U.S. Patent 7,926,483 (inventor, James E. Lundeen, Sr., BSEE, MS, MD) to relieve pain related to barometric (atmospheric) pressure, dramatically reducing, and in some cases eliminating, the need for medication.  Changes in barometric pressure can result in joint pain, particularly for arthritis suffers, those with previous bone fractures or other injuries and may affect those with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), migraine headaches, among others.  Our mission also extends to job creation on many levels through development of innovative intellectual property and technology.

 

A Revolutionary Pain Control Solution

 

Humankind has long recognized a relationship between changes in the weather and pain. In an article entitled “How Your Knees Can Predict the Weather,” the Wall Street Journal reports that “Hippocrates in 400 B.C. noticed that some illnesses were seasonal. The traditional Chinese medicine term for rheumatism (fengshi bing) translates to "wind-damp disease."”

 

We have all heard stories of people who accurately predict a coming storm, saying they “feel it in their bones” but what is the science behind their prescience? 

 

The above referenced article explains, saying “…one leading theory holds that the falling barometric pressure that frequently precedes a storm alters the pressure inside joints.  Those connections between bones, held together with tendons and ligaments, are surrounded and cushioned by sacs of fluid and trapped gasses.  “Think of a balloon that has as much air pressure on the outside pushing in as on the inside pushing out,” says Robert Jamison, a professor of anesthesia and psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.  As the outside pressure drops, the balloon—or joint—expands, pressing against surrounding nerves and other tissues."

James E. Lundeen, Sr., BSEE, MS, MD has degrees in Electrical Engineering, Chemistry and Medicine.  His invention, “System for Controlling Pressure in Defined Environment and Associated Method” U.S. Patent 7,926,483, is the culmination of his degrees in medicine, chemistry and engineering, combined with his empathy for the injured workers whom he treated.  In clinical medicine, he has conducted 275,000 exams spanning 26 years for patients with chronic pain resulting from injuries, and in many cases, correlated the exacerbation of their symptoms to weather related and specifically to barometric pressure related changes.

Subsequent to the submission of Dr. Lundeen’s patent application, researchers at Tufts-New England Medical Center in Boston, studying specifically those with confirmed knee osteoarthritis, conducted a rigorous scientific clinical research study, concluding that changes in barometric pressure do indeed increase osteoarthritic pain.  The researchers detailed the findings of their study in a journal article entitled Changes in Barometric Pressure and Ambient Temperature Influence Osteoarthritis Pain.

 

Imagine regulating indoor barometric pressure and relieving pain, through your current heating and cooling system.  Life without indoor heating and air conditioning systems is unimaginable today.  The control of indoor barometric pressure is the next frontier for HVAC systems (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) with the potential not only to relieve pain, but to also create a new industry and jobs for a diverse array of individuals, including mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, computer engineers and other IT personnel, physiologists, factory workers, installers, contractors among others.

 

The intellectual property as contained in U.S. Patent 7,926,483 “System for Controlling Pressure in Defined Environment and Associated Method” will make possible the computerized control of barometric pressure to optimize pain reduction in an enclosed habitable environment, such as a room or a vehicle, where control of atmospheric conditions is desirable for human or animal comfort and safety, reducing the need for pain medications.

 

This technology when fully developed will provide for the control of barometric pressure at a constant user-selected level for comfort and for pain control. Many individuals can sense when the weather is changing for the worse. When a low front is approaching, these individuals notice stiff joints and aches including specific areas of the body such as the spine, and frequently experience headache pain. It is far less expensive to control the source of discomfort than to administer frequent doses of pain medication. Since chronic pain treatment is expensive and a major cost driver for insurers, both private and public insurance companies should consider this new technology to be advantageous in an effort to lower treatment costs for long term chronic pain patients.

 

In its Fact Sheet on Pain, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reports the following with respect to pain, among other findings: 

 

Ø  Pain affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.

Ø  Pain is cited as the most common reason Americans access the health care system. It is a leading cause of disability and it is a major contributor to health care costs.

Ø  According to the National Center for Health Statistics (2006), approximately 76.2 million, one in every four Americans, have suffered from pain that lasts longer than 24 hours and millions more suffer from acute pain.

Ø  Chronic pain is the most common cause of long-term disability.

Ø  The French physician, Dr. Albert Schweitzer, proclaimed in 1931 that, “Pain is a more terrible lord of mankind than even death itself.”

Ø  The diversity of pain conditions requires a diversity of research and treatment approaches.

Imagine life without air-conditioning! Once barometric pressure control is available in future HVAC systems, the same statement could be made. The demand for barometric pressure control will be as wide-spread as the demand for heating and cooling today.

IBISWorld reports that the HVAC industry in the United States has an annual revenue of $82 billion dollars. Addition of this new dimensionality of barometric pressure control will be a major addition to the HVAC equipment and technology in common use today.

The market for barometric pressure control is as large as that for conventional HVAC, including climate control systems for home, office, hospital, mall, public buildings as well as vehicles.  New building construction, new vehicle manufacturing, as well as retro-fitting existing homes and late model vehicles comprise the majority of the potential market.

Job creation for installation and servicing of such positive pressure HVAC systems would create a vast number of employment opportunities in building renovation and automotive updating to create sealed environments where barometric pressure can be controlled by microelectronic-controlled air pumps with feedback control loops with atmospheric sensors.  

Interestingly, the researchers at Tufts previously referenced, concluded their journal article wryly quoting medical advice written in 1892, as follows: “Many cases are greatly helped by prolonged residence in southern Europe or Southern California.  Rich patients should always be encouraged to winter in the south and in this way avoid cold, damp weather.”

For millennia, this advice was the most many physicians could offer.  Our aim is high, and our mission is nothing less than creating a solution, not only for the wealthy, but rather an affordable solution to control barometric pressure related pain, dramatically reducing, and in some cases eliminating the need for medication, through intellectual property which will create jobs for a wide array of individuals, including those with advanced degrees, factory workers, construction workers and contractors, among others, all while creating a new industry regulating indoor barometric pressure.