Cold Laser Therapy
Cold Laser Therapy or Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) is a treatment that utilizes specific wavelengths of light to interact with tissue and 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.
Cold laser therapy can stimulate all cell types including muscle, ligament, cartilage and nerves, so a number of conditions can be treated by cold laser therapy:
Arthritis pain
Back pain
Carpal tunnel syndrome
Fibromyalgia pain
Knee pain
Neck Pain
Tendonitis
Cold lasers are handheld devices used by our clinicians and are about 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 sins 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 at 90mw and 830 nm.
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 where sunlight is absorbed and converted into 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.