New Jasper business combines tech and nutrition to help people with their health
A mother-daughter duo — Sandy Horton and Brittany Tarrh — recently opened Total Body Thermography & Wellness at 142 West Third Street; a business dedicated to helping people gain and maintain their health holistically.
But the pair do so with the assistance of some advanced imaging technology. Using a special thermographic camera, Sandy, Brittany and Brittany’s husband, Derek, can help pinpoint areas of concern or even detect the early onset of diseases. The three are clinically-certified thermographers.
The process is quick and painless; almost like a portrait session but with a camera shooting a photo that is quite a bit more than skin deep. After sitting still for a cool-down period, clients are scanned with a special camera attached to a nearby laptop. The camera uses infrared to create a heat map of the body it photographs.
The resulting image appears to be a swirl of red, orange, yellow, green and blue hues. Warmer areas are red, orange and yellow, while cooler areas are blue and green.
As most people know, temperature is important in the human body. Many times, we aren’t considered truly sick unless we have a measurable fever.
But as the scans show, there are variations in temperature across the whole body and according to Brittany and Sandy, sometimes those variations can indicate health issues before other types of scans do.
It’s a simple concept really. Have you ever felt the heat around a bruise or other area of inflammation on your body? What you can sometimes feel with your hand on the outside of your body, this camera spots inside your body. These hot spots can be indicative of issues.
“Thermography provides the earliest possible detection of cancer and disease,” Brittany said. “Thermography can also detect pain and inflammation, as well as injury, sinus and dental issues, thyroid, sciatica, DVT, and so much more.”
It was Sandy’s personal experience with mammograms that led her to thermography. In her family, her sister and three aunts — one dying from it — have had breast cancer. The 52-year-old has been sure to have regular mammograms but every single one has been inconclusive due to the dense tissue in her breasts.
“I have had 18 mammograms and not one of them has been conclusive because of dense breasts,” Sandy said.
She set up an appointment with a thermographer and had her first thermogram completed in March. While it was initiated by the need for early detection of abnormalities in her breasts due to her family history, she decided to have an entire body scan completed.
She came away from it with some new information about her body. She learned her thyroid had lit up (terminology they use for the heat pattern indicating an area of concern found in the thermograms). A subsequent followup with her doctor determined her thyroid was operating on the low end of the spectrum for what is considered normal. “I learned why I walked 220 miles in a month and only lost two pounds,” she explained.
Enthused by the nature of the thermogram and how it could help people, Sandy began researching the process. As she learned more about thermography and how it can help guide people in their health decisions, she became excited about potentially bringing it to the area — the closest locations are in Louisville and Indianapolis.
She brought the idea to Brittany who had been on a holistic health journey of her own for several years.
Dealing with a chronic bladder condition called interstitial cystitis had led her and her husband to consult with herbologists and nutritionists to potentially alleviate her painful symptoms.
The 33-year-old began researching alternative health after running into treatment roadblocks for the disease that is considered incurable. She met with some local specialists and began to learn more about how food and environment can impact one’s body.
She continued to research how this could impact her own condition and that led her to a Chinese couple in Los Angeles who specialized in herbal remedies for Brittany’s specific condition. She flew out and met with them and, along with helping her with her condition, they opened her eyes to how holistic health methods can be beneficial to anyone.
She knew she wanted to use this knowledge to help more people but was unsure of how to implement it until her mom came to her with her idea about thermography. The two women’s separate health journeys had brought them to the point where both their interests complimented their ability to help people dealing with health issues in the new business.
So along with the thermal imaging, Brittany and Sandy offer holistic health suggestions as well as products to help their customers with their health and overall well-being.
Scans are offered in three packages, a breast exam is $195 for the initial screening; a half-body scan covers the chest area up to the head and this costs $295; a full-body screening is $395.
Those scans are sent to a team of doctors and radiologists to be read. A report is sent back to the client and if something is noted that needs to be looked at by a doctor, the report will inform them of that.
According to Brittany, the time needed for each exam varies but you can expect 15 minutes for a breast screening, 30 minutes for a half-body screening and an hour for the full-body screening. In that time is included some consultation about preventative health measures and nutritional plans. The new store carries a full line of nutritional supplements and herbs as well.
Along with what the store offers, the pair plan on holding lunch-and-learns and seminars to teach people how to manage their health and about the importance of clean living.
They are excited about bringing thermography to the area. With the small size of the camera and equipment, Sandy and Brittany plan on offering a mobile clinic if it’s needed. The technology is already being used to detect problems in horses and they see themselves branching off into detecting health issues in animals and livestock in the future.
They recommend the thermogram process for anyone no matter how young or old.
“Everyone can benefit from it,” Sandy said. “It’s going to tell you a story of your body.”
But for the pair, it really comes down to just helping people with their health concerns.
“I want to help people,” Brittany said. “People have helped me on my health journey and I want to give back.”
More information can be found on the Total Body Thermography & Wellness Facebook page as well as their website, totalbodythermography.com.
So glad to hear this! I found holistic care for my pet, but finding it for myself has been very difficult.