Laser

Low Level Lasers are widely used in chiropractic, physical medicine, and adjunctively with acupuncture. Low level lasers increase circulation, reduce inflammation, reduce pain, improve joint mobility, and speed healing. Low Level or "Cold" lasers do not heat the tissue. They stimulate healing at the cellular level. The frequency of the laser light is absorbed by the cell's mitochondria - the "powerhouse" of the cell - producing more cellular energy (technically termed ATP).

Not all lasers are the same. Low powered lasers may require 10-20 minutes or more to produce a therapeutic dose and deliver adequate tissue saturation. Higher powered lasers, such as the ones we use by Apollo, take minutes to deliver the proper dosage measured in joules. There is no benefit from a 20 minute session with a low powered laser versus a 2 minute treatment with a higher powered laser that is not pulsed. Some devices you see marketed as lasers are not actually lasers at all but LED lights, the benefits of which do not compare to real laser.

Laser Therapy has applications in a number of areas:

1. Soft tissue repair - as in the treatment of whiplash injuries, trigger point syndromes, and scar tissue
2. Inflammatory conditions - as in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, fibromyalgia, muscle spasm, bursitis, tendonitis, and plantar fascitis
3. Pain control - as in the treatment of osteoarthritis, joint pain, headaches, neuralgia, neck pain, back pain, TMJ pain, and chronic pain syndrome
4. Laser acupuncture - For those patients who do not want needle acupuncture, laser stimulation of the same painful points is an effective alternative. It is also our standard approach for acupuncture on children. We typically use some combination of needle and laser for the majority of our adult acupuncture patients.