Cold Laser Therapy and Chiropractic

When you think of lasers, it’s typical to think of Star Wars or other such futuristic movies, but lasers have their use in modern-day conventional and chiropractic medicine. Cold laser therapy, as differentiated from hot lasers, is a noninvasive technique for alleviating pain and stimulating tissue healing in many different kinds of conditions.
While hot lasers are used in cancer treatments to destroy cancerous tissues, cold laser therapy is a lower level of concentrated light that can penetrate the skin to a certain depth and stimulate cells to regenerate and grow. This type of therapy stimulates the cells of the body to generate more adenine triphosphate or ATP, a substance that cells use to bring in oxygen. The increased oxygen level in the cells allows them to work more efficiently at growing and repairing themselves. It is an exciting new development with wide and varied applications. It is even used as a needle-free alternative to acupuncture for patients who want the benefits of acupuncture, but who fear the use of needles.

When undergoing a treatment of cold laser therapy, the patient can expect a series of many short visits to the chiropractor. Each treatment lasts for just a few minutes, while the laser beam is applied strategically to certain spots to alleviate pain and stimulate healing. Either the patient and the chiropractor or therapist may wear goggles to protect their eyes from the intensity of the laser, or they may be directed to look away to protect their eyes. There is seldom any sensation of heat involved, though occasionally patients may report a sensation of hot or coldness during the procedure. Most patients feel no sensitivity or pain during or after the treatment. While some patients experience some immediate relief of symptoms, others may take up to 6-8 visits before any noticeable improvement is made. A treatment plan of cold laser therapy may include anywhere from 12-25 short visits, depending on the condition being treated and the patient’s particular response to the treatment. After having been studied for many years at many different levels, there have yet to be reported any significant side effects from the laser therapy, properly applied.

There are two kinds of cold lasers approved by the FDA at this time. The 3A level laser penetrates a short way into the skin, and is useful when used with cuts or surgical incisions, arthritis, as well as other conditions relatively close to the surface of the skin. The 3B level cold laser goes deeper into tissue, and is useful to treat joint pain, deep muscle wounds, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other deeper conditions. Overall, this treatment is beneficial for many kinds of pain conditions, such as muscle spasms, back pain, shoulder pain, stiffness, and wound healing.

The practice of chiropractic medicine continues to advance with exciting new tools to help improve patient healing and quality of life. Cold laser therapy is one of those tools that a chiropractor can wield in the patient’s behalf to banish pain and accelerate healing of chronic conditions.