Cold Laser Therapy at MyChiroMed
What is Cold Laser Therapy
Cold Laser Therapy (or Photobiomodulation) is a treatment that utilizes specific wavelengths of light to interact with tissue and is thought to help accelerate the healing process. It can be used on patients who suffer from a variety of acute and chronic conditions in order to help eliminate pain, swelling, reduce spasms and increase functionality.
How Cold Lasers Work
Cold lasers are hand-held devices used by the clinician and are often the size of a flashlight. The laser is placed directly over the injured area for 30 seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of the area being treated and the dose provided by the cold laser unit.
During this time, the non-thermal photons of light that are emitted from the laser pass through the skins layers (the dermis, epidermis, and the subcutaneous tissue or tissue fat under the skin). This light has the ability to penetrate 2 to 5 centimeters below the skin.
Once the light energy passes through the layers of skin and reaches the target area, it is absorbed and interacts with the light sensitive elements in the cell. This process can be compared to photosynthesis in plants - sunlight is absorbed by plants, which is then converted to usable energy so that the plant can grow.
When cells absorb this light energy, it initiates a series of events in the cell that is theorized to eventually result in normalizing damaged or injured tissue, a reduction in pain, inflammation, edema and an overall reduction in healing time by increasing intracellular metabolism.1,2
Cold laser therapy can stimulate all cell types including muscle, ligament, cartilage, nerves, etc., so a number of conditions can be treated by cold laser therapy.
Some of conditions that may typically be treated by cold laser therapy include:
- Autoimmune System
- Bursitis
- Carpal Tunnel
- Cervical (Neck) Pain
- Diabetic Ulcers
- Epicondylitis
- Fibromyalgia
- Hip Pain
- Knee Pain
- Low Back Pain
- Migraines
- Myofascial Pain
- Neuropathy
- Plantar Fasciitis
- Postherpetic Neuralgia
- Sciatica
- Shoulder/Rotator Cuff
- TMJ Syndrome
- Trigeminal Neuralgia
Effectiveness of Cold Laser Therapy
For years, physicians have been using cold laser therapy on patients who are seeking effective, alternative methods for pain relief. Since 1967 there have been over 2,500 clinical studies published worldwide. Many of these studies are double-blinded, placebo-controlled and have demonstrated cold laser therapy to be a proven method for pain relief.
Our Cold Laser
The Cold Laser we use at MyChiroMed consists of four lasers at 650nm/5mw which is beneficial to more superficial problems like diabetic ulcers, scars, post-surgical incisions and the one powerful 810nm/200mw laser is for deeper penetration up to 5 cm to assist the body in healing conditions associated with arthritis, fibromyalgia, and disc herniations just to name a few. Plus it is made right here in the USA!
Benefits of cold laser therapy
- Painless
- Time Effective: The typical treatment time per area is 3 minutes.
- Extremely safe
- Non toxic
- Non-invasive
- No side effects or pain during or after the procedure
- Cost effective.
- Highly effective in treating sports injuries
General laser biological effects
- Increases cell growth: Laser photons accelerates cellular reproduction and growth
- Increases Metabolic activity: Photons initiate higher outputs of specific enzymes, greater oxygen and food particle loads for blood cells and thus greater production of the basic food source food cells.
- Increased Vascular activity: Laser photons induce temporary vasodilation that increases blood flow to effected areas.
- Reduced fibrous tissue formation: Laser photons reduce the formation of scar tissue following tissue damage from: cuts, scratches, burns, or post surgery.
References:
1.Martin R. Laser-Accelerated Inflammation/Pain Reduction and Healing. Practical Pain Management. Nov/Dec 2003 3(6):20-25.
2.Marovino T. Cold Lasers in Pain Management. Practical Pain Management. Sep/Oct 2004. 4(6):37-42.
3.http://www.spine-health.com/treatment/pain-management/types-conditions-treated-cold-lasers
