One of our prized treatment options at Favero Chiropractic is our cold laser therapy. Last time we explained what it is and how it feels to get treatment. Today we’ll cover more about how it works and what we like to use it for.
WHAT CAN COLD LASER BE USED FOR?
Chiropractic adjustments are fantastic for the joints, muscles, and nerves to help reduce pain and increase the movement and function of your body. It helps to have additional tools to increase the healing in these areas, such as low level laser therapy (LLLT).
LLLT, also called cold laser, delivers energy to our bodies through light. The energy our bodies receive from this light can be used to increase local blood circulation, relieve muscle spasms, and decrease joint aches, pains and stiffness. It can bring relief for the pain and stiffness associated with arthritis.
Cold laser therapy is most commonly used for pain, tissue healing, inflammation, and edema. This might be the main problem or part of a larger injury such as a kinked neck or a sprained ankle. It works amazingly for rolled ankles and pulled shoulders, but also for knee pain, TMJ or jaw problems, hand/wrist pains, and so much more!
HOW DOES IT WORK?
The physiological and therapeutic effects of LLLT on biological tissues are far from well established or understood, but laser therapy is gaining laboratory and clinical data to prove its effectiveness.
The human body is composed of approximately 70% water with the remaining 30% constituted by organic molecules. For all practical purposes water molecules are transparent to LLLT. Therefore, it is the absorption characteristics of organic molecules that determine the physiological and therapeutic effects in human tissues.
The main therapeutic effects attributed to LLLT are promotion of tissue healing and pain management. The exact mechanism by which LLLT accomplishes these effects is unknown, but several mechanisms have been postulated to explain the photobiomodulation effect.
If you want to get detailed, here is a list of some specific things the cold laser is proposed to do for our bodies:
1. Accelerate phagocytosis
2. Decrease inflammatory response
3. Accelerate collagen synthesis
4. Increase vascularization during healing tissue
5. Decrease pain increase serotonin metabolism
6. Decrease scarring
7. Increase tensile strength in healing tissue
8. Increase ATP release
9. Increased lymphatic drainage
10. Stimulate fibroblastic activity
11. Decrease microorganisms
MORE INFO, FOR YOU WHO LIKE THE DETAILS
“Laser” is an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. A laser device controls the way that energized atoms release photons.
Atoms are constantly in motion continually vibrating, moving and rotating. Atoms can be in different states of excitation. In other words, they can have different energies. If we apply a lot of energy to an atom, it can leave its ground-state energy level and go to an excited level.
Just as the electron absorbed some amount of energy to reach this excited level, it can also release this energy. The electron can simply rid itself of some energy. This emitted energy comes in the form of photons (package of light energy).
The stimulated photons are then amplified inside the laser device and then delivered to the body as a powerful infrared light. Light energy is absorbed by irradiated tissue where it is transformed into biochemical energy. The energy is available for photochemical cell activities.
So there you have it! More information than you probably wanted or needed, but we thought we’d provide it in case you were curious. Now you’re ready to come in and give it a try! Give us a call at 801.784.6306 or click here to Request An Appointment.