People are always curious when they see someone in our office being treated with the low level laser. They wonder how a “red light” can create such dramatic changes in mobility and strength so quickly. Here’s a quick rundown of the science:
- There is no heating of tissues involved. The effect is created energetically, not thermally.
- Laser light at the wavelength used in our laser (Erchonia PL-5000) stimulates the mitochondria inside your cells to produce more energy.
- This increased energy output is what speeds healing, decreases inflammation and improves strength.
- Low level laser therapy has no undesireable side effects in the hands of a trained therapist.
The most amazing thing about it, to me, is how fast this happens. Most of the time, 2-10 seconds of laser therapy is all it takes to create the desired change for that visit. It takes vastly longer to test for what needs to be treated than to do the treatment itself.
In our office, low level laser therapy is usually recommended for patients with problems that don’t respond as quickly as we’d like using chiropractic adjustments. We’ve also had very good results with carpal tunnel syndrome patients using the laser too.
For those who want to dig into the science of low level laser therapy further, check out this article and its follow-up.
4 comments
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June 4, 2009 at 10:10 pm
John
Laser therapy dude? Straight up quackery, stick to crackin’ backs.
June 8, 2009 at 6:56 pm
Anthony J. Davis, D.C.
You are certainly welcome to your opinion, and thanks for leaving commentary. I do disagree with your assertion, though.
The clinical results I’ve seen in my practice, coupled with the fact that there are over 1500 peer-reviewed studies showing the benefits of low level laser therapy from a breadth of disciplines including not only chiropractic, but also physical therapy, dermatology and plastic surgery have lead me to believe that it’s not quackery.
That’s my opinion, and I may be right.
September 21, 2009 at 7:47 am
Steve Vaitl
Hello, Anthony! Long time no see.
You are absolutely right. It’s certainly not quackery, unless of course you wish to argue that NASA is producing and using quackery. Just as our skin needs the energy contained in the packets of light (which Einstein referred to as photons) in order to produce Vitamin D, the metabolic cytochrome “cytochrome C-oxidase” is a photon acceptor molecule (similar to chlorophyll in plants but accepts a different wavelength/energy level/color of light). It also happens to be the 3rd enzyme of the electron transport chain which is used by our cells as a means photo-chemotransduction (the scientific word used in biology for transferring energy from light to chemical form).
The acceptance of the photon energy sets in “motion” the production of ATP, as if the normal cellular respiration cycle was operating. ATP is the energy “money” of every living cell we know of on earth.
These are all relatively basic concepts and constructions that any 2nd year Biology major and their textbooks would know. I am aware that you know this information, however I put it here for John to look into.
As I now tell my students, “Yes, I could be wrong, there’s always that chance. But if I am, I am in VERY good company with the foremost scientific researchers of today, including the folks at NASA.” Something I’ve added since I had you in class!
Steve
Steve Vaitl, D.C.
Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician
Certified Chiropractic Extremity Practitioner
Adjunct Professor, Anatomy, Biology and Chemistry
Kansas City Kansas Community College
September 21, 2009 at 8:12 am
Steve Vaitl
One additional thing, Anthony. as fate would have it, I just checked my email and found a message from another blog I follow from Thor Laser Company. They feature a monthly literature update about all the newly published articles regarding LLLT, yes even the “non supportive” ones. If you’d care to check it out here’s the link to it (no I don’t receive compensation of any kind from the Thor company, John):
http://blog.thorlaser.com/