Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT)

What is Low Level Laser Light?

Most lasers are "Hot" or high powered lasers. They are the type used in surgeries, cauterizing or cutting tissue, and they increase thermal temperature of what they contact. They are catabolic resulting in cell destruction.

Low-level laser light is compressed light of a wavelength from the cold, red part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation. It is different from natural light in that it is one precise color; it is coherent (it travels in a straight line), monochromatic (a single wavelength) and polarized (it concentrates its beam in a defined location or spot). These properties allow laser light to penetrate the surface of the skin with no heating effect, no damage to the skin and no known side effects. Rather, laser light directs bio-stimulative light energy to the body's cells which the cells then convert into chemical energy to promote natural healing and pain relief.

What is Low Level Laser Therapy? (LLLT)

Low level laser therapy is the application of red light to improve soft tissue healing and relieve both acute and chronic pain. Low level therapy uses cold (sub-thermal) laser light energy to direct bio-stimulative light energy to the body’s cells without injuring or damaging them in any way. The therapy is precise and accurate and offers safe and effective treatment for a wide variety of conditions.

How Does Low Level Laser Therapy Work?

Pain results from trauma, inflammation and/or cellular disruption, malfunction, or less than optimal cellular function. Healing and pain relief come with cellular normalization. Photons enable cells to perform optimally by stimulating them to initiate bio-chemical reactions, which produce enzymes and ATP (usable energy). Use of low level lasers, (cold lasers or soft tissue lasers) enhances cellular function and it can also encourage the formation of collagen and cartilage in damaged joints and the repair of tendons and ligaments. Cold lasers and soft tissue lasers are gentle and non-heating to the tissues. They are configured with frequencies and power densities that are favorable to the cells and tissues of the body.

Low level lasers supply energy to the body in the form of non-thermal photons of light. Light is transmitted through the skin's layers (the dermis, epidermis and sub-cutaneous tissue or tissue fat under the skin) at all wavelengths in the visible range. However, light waves in the near infrared ranges penetrate the deepest of all light waves in the visible spectrum.

When low level laser light waves penetrate deeply into the skin, they optimize the immune responses of our blood. This has both anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects. It is a scientific fact that light transmitted to the blood in this way has positive effect throughout the whole body, supplying vital oxygen and energy to every cell.

LLLT is an effective therapy that works in harmony with the body's own healing and pain relieving mechanisms. There are no harmful side-effects from LLLT. LLLT is anabolic in that it stimulates the cell without cell destruction and has very little risk. Cold laser operates at a frequency of approximately 635nm (nanometers) and does not raise the surface temperature of the surface it contacts. FDA requires that low level laser be 5mW (milliwatts) or less at the point of aperture.

Gordon Gould developed the concept of the first laser in 1957. The healing benefits of LLLT became recognized in the late 1960's. We rely on laser daily to listen to CD’s, communicate, measure speed and distance.

What Kind Of Laser Is Used In Therapy?

We use the Quad Laser. This state of the art laser has four diodes and emits four separate beams of pure light. This allows us to treat multiple conditions in a single treatment. An example of a treatment might include a setting for pain, muscle spasm, lymph drainage and muscle relaxation.

We have been able to reduce pain and increase range of motion while helping facilitate the body's natural ability to remove metabolic waste. In cases of injury clinical studies have documented a 35-40% decrease in healing time and a dramatic reduction in pain and scar tissue formation.

Low level laser therapy has the potential to improve the body's ability to heal and repair tissues while restoring neurological function.

Anderson Family Chiropractic, P.C. strives to offer practical healing techniques to assist the body’s natural healing. We believe that given the proper stimulus and nutrients, the body will naturally move towards homeostasis or balance. If the body can create the conditions of pathology then given the mechanism to release those conditions, it can naturally move itself towards balance or homeostasis. Our mission is to identify and facilitate these natural movements toward healing and balance.