About Laser Therapy

Alternative strategies for caring for ourselves that look at the body as a physical and spiritual whole represent the new paradigm in health care.

Traditional therapies addressing the dynamics of the inner vital force now work harmoniously alongside allopathic medicine. Clearly, neither approach on its own is sufficient. Laser Therapy is the synthesis of the ancient use of acupuncture and the modern form of laser, bound tightly together by the age old principle of caring – giving us one of the most advanced forms of therapy today. Laser Therapy has been used internationally and nationally for decades.

Low level laser method aims to biostimulate. Because of the low power nature of low levels laser, the effects are biochemical and not thermal and cannot cause heating and thereby cannot cause damage to living tissue. Three distinct effects are known to occur when using low level laser therapy:

1. Growth factor response within cells and tissue as a result of increased ATP and protein synthesis; Improved cell proliferation; Change in cell membrane permeability to calcium up-take.

2. Pain relief as a result of increased endorphin release; Increased serotonin; Suppression of nociceptor action.

3. Strengthening the immune system response via increasing levels of lymphocyte activity and through a newly researched mechanism termed photo modulation of blood.

Laser is an acronym of "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation".

Laser is located in a narrow spectral band of visible and infrared radiation, bracketed by other electromagnetic radiation with well-established therapeutic benefits.

Two general classifications of laser can be made: High Power (hot) lasers and Low Power (cold/soft) lasers. The difference is based on the optical energy of the device.

Hot lasers are capable of causing thermal changes in the target material. Most people associate laser with this category.

Examples of low power lasers are just as common. These lasers are not capable of causing thermal changes in the target material. Some examples include:

• Krypton Laser – used in laser light shows.
• Helium Neon Laser – used in grocery stores to detect prices, surveying and alignment, and in superficial tissue biostimulation.
• Gallium Arsenide Laser – generically known as infrared lasers and used in sub-cutuaneous tissue biostimulation.

It is important to clearly understand the difference between low power lasers used to stimulate tissue and a high power device for surgical applications.