MOST PEOPLE ARE trying to avoid unemployment these days, but Dr Alexander Yuan seems to be actively pursuing redundancy. The Hong Kong chiropractor, naturopath, Chinese herbalist and homeopath, whose hitherto claim to fame has been to set up the first colon hydrotherapy clinic in Southeast Asia, believes he has found a 'healing tool' that will revolutionise healthcare - and effectively put members of his own profession out of work. The Space Healer, as Yuan has nicknamed the gadget, may sound like something out of Star Trek but is in fact a bona-fide electronic stimulator that works with the nervous system's adaptive ability. It apparently heals a medical dictionary's worth of diseases and disorders, reduces chronic pain, and can even iron out facial wrinkles. Battery operated, the hand-held device is compact enough to fit into a shirt pocket and looks more like a basic remote control than the future conqueror of the world's ills. 'The Space Healer is incredible,' says an effusive Yuan at his clinic, the Optimum Health Centre, in Causeway Bay. 'I believe it is the most effective electronic healing device in the history of mankind. It is easy to use at home and is like having the best emergency doctor using the best healing tools at your disposal 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I want to empower every family in the world to look after themselves and be free of pain. It will mean less reliance on doctors but to me this is a real health revolution.' When you are healthy, Yuan explains, your nervous system constantly sends out different 'dynamic' signals that produce chemical messengers called neuro-peptides at the nerve endings. These regulate bodily functions and help you to adapt and cope with changes in the external environment. If you fall ill or get injured, these dynamic messages either can't get through to the organs or get stuck in a fixed pattern. The nervous system consequently gets blocked, our body can't function properly and very often we are in pain. The Space Healer can recognise what constitutes a healthy (dynamic) and an unhealthy (fixed) signal. If you place the machine on the skin where treatment is needed, it will pick up unhealthy signals. It then enters into a sort of dialogue with the body, altering the fixed impulses and sending dynamic electrical feedback through the skin instead. No two consecutive signals are the same and they eventually break the pain/sickness-causing pattern and restore the nervous system to its former healthy state. 'Think of it as jump-starting or pushing a car that won't start,' says Yuan. 'Once you get the vehicle moving it will continue to go - and probably go well.' Although Yuan now holds the licence to manufacture the Space Healer worldwide, the miracle machine was invented about 20 years ago by a team of scientists at Sochi University in southern Russia for the then Soviet space industry. Whereas the Americans could transport ailing astronauts back to Earth in shuttles if necessary, the Russians didn't have that facility. Taking a pharmacy on board wasn't an option because the number of medicines to cover all eventualities took up too much room, and with all water in the spacecraft being recycled, they couldn't run the risk of pharmaceuticals that had been ingested by astronauts contaminating the supply. The fruits of their labour, the prototype that would eventually become Yuan's Space Healer, satisfied all criteria, healing a gamut of problems with a minimum of fuss. Two of the scientists who developed it went on to receive the Order of Lenin - the equivalent of the Nobel Prize - but ironically the gadget was never used in space. The 'space race' was called off and when the Americans introduced the Russians to the joys of shuttle evacuation, the Space Healer became obsolete. However, four of the scientists who had worked on the original project continued to develop the machine privately. Yuan first came across the Space Healer at a conference on cancer in Britain. 'I travel the world in search of healing tools and have spent more than $1 million trying different things. Lasers, electronic devices, high and medium frequency generators ... I've tried everything under the sun. But this is the best.' The device only became available four months ago and comes in two models: basic ($2,880) and deluxe (about $4,580). The latter has more features such as a setting that tells you when you last had a treatment; both come in minimal packaging to keep costs down. If you decide to invest in one, Yuan promises a money-back guarantee within 10 days if you're not satisfied. 'I've checked it out with the Government Health Department - it's as safe as any battery-operated device and there are no side effects.' An average Space Healing session lasts about five to 10 minutes and depending on the problem, you could find yourself cured after one treatment or needing a few more. 'Anywhere I go I will demonstrate free of charge,' says the enthusiastic Yuan, who offers three free sessions to anyone who wishes to try the device. 'In terms of most acute injury one treatment isn't enough, but in 80 per cent of cases there is complete pain relief. With peridontal disease, tendonitis and frozen shoulder, I've had no failure; with acute sciatica a very high success rate. I could take all day telling you what it has done. 'It doesn't just mask pain - it does more than that. If you use a tool that masks symptoms your body will always resist and the pain or disease will just come back. This is a true healing response. Even if the Space Healer doesn't 'cure' someone after one session, no one says it doesn't help. It always does something, so how can that be detrimental?' Hong Kong resident Amanda Holroyd was trying to avoid surgery for chronic mastoiditis, a problem with the middle ear, when her general practitioner mentioned the Space Healer. 'I tried the Space Healer three times and I definitely felt less pain directly after using it,' she says. 'It affected me very quickly and although the actual treatment was painful, afterwards I felt a great relief.' She subsequently bought a unit but returned it within 10 days (and received a full refund) because she and her friend found it too painful to use. Although Holroyd still thinks the Space Healer is 'an exciting and powerful healing tool', she feels the machine's very simple design, packaging and manual need to be perfected and upgraded, particularly when you are paying the price Yuan charges. 'Also, you can't tell what power level you are on so there could be the opportunity to use an inappropriate power,' she says. 'Perhaps an introductory training session when you buy one would be a good idea.' She does, however, see a bright future for the Space Healer: 'I think it will take off and love the idea that we, the public, are becoming more self-reliant. Dr Yuan is a wonderfully passionate and dedicated man on a mission with a huge amount of knowledge and experience in the field of complementary medicine. But I don't believe the machine is the 'miracle cure' on its own. To work effectively, it would have to be used in combination with nutrition, exercise, the mind and other complementary medicines.' As a sufferer from back pain due to a prolapsed disc, I was a willing guinea-pig. While I lay face down on a couch, Yuan applied the Space Healer to the painful area near my spine. It felt as though I was being stung by several very angry wasps, and although the sensation lessened with time into a tingling buzz it was uncomfortable. The treatment lasted about 10 minutes and my back pain was a fraction of what it had been when I'd walked into his clinic. Yuan recommended further treatments and I would have gone for more had he not been off on a business trip. My back pain has since returned to its former level.