Latest pain relief treatment

The latest treatment for the relief of pain is called Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT). It is a medical treatment that uses low level (cold) lasers to alter cellular function to effectively relieve pain from rheumatoid arthritis; osteoarthritis; acute and chronic neck pain; tendonitis; chronic joint disorders; back pain; sports injuries and a wide variety of other disorders.

LLLT is used to increase the speed, quality and tensile strength of tissue repair (especially post-operative), resolve inflammation and relieve pain.

Unlike high power lasers, widely used to cut and burn tissue, low level lasers penetrate the surface of the skin with little or no heating effect and no potential tissue damage. The energy is directed deep into the treatment area, stimulating the body’s cells which convert the light energy into chemical energy to promote natural healing. This is a photochemical effect, similar to photosynthesis in plants. When cells get stressed, due to disease, injury or aging, they produce nitric oxide (NO) which displaces Oxygenin in the cells; with the application of the correct wavelength and density of light delivered to the target tissues for an appropriate period of time the NO is dissociated, allowing the oxygen back in and the metabolism to return to normal so the patient recovers more quickly.

There are two basic styles of treatment using LLLT, pinpoint treatment (laser puncture), similar to acupuncture, to trigger a reaction from the body to treat a variety of ailments including depression, migraines, insomnia, menopause neurosis and travel sickness. The other style of treatment which we primarily use in our office is broad coverage of a damaged area for accelerating healing, reducing inflammation and relieving pain.  LLLT is a complementary treatment in that it can be used alongside conventional chiropractic treatments.

Low Level Laser Therapy has been proven completely safe and very effective in over 3,000 worldwide studies. There are normally no adverse effects from LLLT, however, a small number of patients occasionally experience mild discomfort after treatment which normally settles down after about 24 hours.

Among users of Low Level Laser Therapy are Manchester United Football Club, Blue Jays Baseball team and many others professional sports organizations.  To read more about laser therapy, click here.

Neck pain has many causes. Mechanical neck pain comes from injury or inflammation in the soft tissues of the neck.

This is much different and less concerning than symptoms that come from pressure on the nerve roots as they exit the spinal column. People sometimes refer to this problem as a pinched nerve. The big fancy medical term for it is cervical radiculopathy.

There are seven bones in your neck.

A round block of bone, called a vertebral body, forms each bone, or vertebra. A bony ring attaches to the back of each vertebral body.

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Pain Trigger: Smart Phones

Do you have a phone that lets you text, surf the web, and play games? That’s a lot of mileage for your thumbs. As a chiropractor, I have begun seeing arthritis at the base of the thumb in people as young as 30.

Solution: When your thumbs begin to ache, give the texting a rest. If pain continues, use your phone to make an actual call – to a chiropractor. There are effective treatments for arthritis such as Low level laser therapy and Active Release Therapy.

I would guess that at one point or another you have had some type of pain or spasm in your back. This is a pretty safe assumption. I would bet that you have also had some kind of problem that was brought on by something very small. Let me give you an example. You wake up in the morning and walk into the bathroom and as you go to squeeze the toothpaste out of the tube you drop the lid on the floor. So you bend down to pick it up and zap, lightning sharp ache shoots up your spinal column and back down again. You try to stand up straight but for some reason it feels like someone is pressing against your back causing you to hunch over and making it impossible to straighten up.

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Cold Laser Therapy for arthritis Pain

We have been using cold laser therapy at our clinic for several years now with great success…especially with arthritis patients. 

The cold laser therapy is a fantastic tool for not only arthritis, but other musculoskeletal conditions such as sports injuries, back and neck pain, Tennis elbow, plantar fascitis, and TMJ. Laser therapy is a great adjunct to chiropractic care and non-surgical spinal decompression therapy. In fact…we include cold laser therapy for patients with herniated discs.

I came across an excellent article entitled How does cold laser work for arthritis? that does a great job of explaining how and why cold laser works. Here is an excerpt:

Arthritis affects almost 70 million Americans. The most common forms of arthritis are osteoarthritis, a degenerative disease in which the cartilage wears away, and rheumatoid arthritis, which is an autoimmune inflammatory condition. Also, there are other conditions that fall under the “umbrella” of arthritis including bursitis, tendonitis, low back and neck pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and so on.

The common symptom of most forms of arthritis is pain. Pain develops as a result of multiple factors including inflammation with stimulation of neural peripheral pain sensors due to either biochemical factors such as cytokines or to mechanical factors- joint deformity. Arthritis pain may be accompanied by other problems including loss of range of motion and disability.

While medicines, injections, and surgery all have their place and are valuable, there is still a need for potentially useful adjunctive modalities that might speed up recovery and reduce pain faster.

Low level therapeutic laser, better known as phototherapy, is a relatively new form of treatment. Its premise is that certain wavelengths of light have effects on living tissue. This effect is termed “photobiomodulation.”

My Take: Cold laser therapy is a must have for any chiropractor, physical therapist, or sports medicine doctor that wants to offer the most advanced forms of treatment to their patients. Most professional sports teams use Cold laser therapy to speed up the healing process for musculoskeletal injuries, as do elite pain centers around the world. So do yourself a favor and find out if laser therapy makes sense for you.

For more information on Laser therapy, click here. To find out if you are a candidate for Laser Therpay or nonsurgical spinal decompression, please call 604-984-4601 or 604-990-6676.