Cold Laser Therapy
Managing chronic pain can be complicated. The best approach may be multi-layered treatments, but sometimes those treatments clash with each other. This can leave you feeling like a guinea pig, wading through side effects and disappointing results. Cold laser light therapy might be the literal light in the darkness, offering safe and effective pain relief and healing with few, if any, side effects.
What is cold laser light therapy?
Cold laser light therapy is an effective therapeutic tool for acute and chronic pain relief to promote healing of injured or damaged tissues. It typically uses a low-level laser of 600 to 1000 nm wavelength to reduce pain and stimulate healing.
This therapy takes its name from the fact that rather than produce heat, this low-level of energy uses light to change how cells function to promote healing. The laser prompts chemical changes to occur that have the potential to improve the rate and quality of healing.
How does cold laser light therapy work?
Cold laser is a non-invasive and safe treatment for supporting the natural healing process of the body.
The photons of laser light penetrate the skin and the body’s cells absorb it. This can lead to an increased production of cellular energy. The cold laser light waves penetrate the tissue, also triggering the immune responses of the blood system. Taken together, these two actions result in both anti-inflammatory effects and expedited healing times.
How can it help me?
The benefit of cold laser light therapy is very simple. The more energy a cell has, the faster that cell heals. More energy also results in a significant decrease in pain symptoms and healing times. In areas where the tissues are injured or damaged, this means there is more energy available for all three stages of healing: inflammation, tissue repair, and remodeling.
Cold laser therapy is safe and has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Overall studies have demonstrated broad benefits for decreased pain and reduced healing times. Additionally, studies of tissue culture reveal an increased level of endorphins and reduction of inflammatory chemicals.
The following are examples of some research-supported conditions that cold laser light therapy may improve:
- Acute and chronic pain
- Arthritis pain and inflammation
- Tendon and ligament sprains
- Lower back pain
- Muscle strains
- Soft tissue injuries
- Myofascial pain
- Fibromyalgia
- Neck and lower back pain
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Frozen shoulder
- Knee pain
- Temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ/TMD)
- Tendinitis
In addition to the fact that it works, cold laser therapy has few, if any, side effects, and none of them are serious or long-lasting. It’s important to note that pain relief is not instantaneous. Patients receive a series of treatments that may last several months before their condition benefits.
Still, there are no major recovery times and no incisions, stitches, or drug interactions to worry about.