What Is Laser Therapy?
Laser therapy is a medical treatment that uses focused light to stimulate a process called photobiomodulation, or PBM. During PBM, photons enter the tissue and interact with the cytochrome c complex within mitochondria. This interaction triggers a biological cascade of events that leads to an increase in cellular metabolism, decrease in pain, reduction in muscle spasm, and improved microcirculation to injured tissue. This treatment is FDA cleared and provides patients with a non-invasive, non-pharmacological alternative for pain relief.
How Does Laser Therapy Work?
The primary target for the photobiomodulation process is the Cytochrome C complex, which is found in the inner membrane of the cell mitochondria. Cytochrome C is a vital component of the electron transport chain that drives cellular metabolism.
As light is absorbed by Cytochrome C oxidase (COX), it stimulates the electron transport chain to increase the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) within the mitochondria. When tissue is damaged, the production of ATP in the cell is impaired which slows down the metabolism of the cell as a protective mechanism. PBM helps restore the oxidative process which helps restore normal cellular function.
In addition to ATP, laser stimulation also produces free nitric oxide (NO) and modulates reactive oxygen species (ROS). NO is a powerful vasodilator and an important cellular signaling molecule involved in many physiological processes. ROS have been shown to affect many important physiological signaling pathways including the inflammatory response. Together, increased NO and improved ROS levels provide an environment for faster signaling, resulting in decreased inflammation.
PBM helps restore normal cellular function which helps prevent apoptosis (cell death). This helps reduce inflammation, edema, and hastens the tissue repair process.
What Does Laser Therapy Treat?
Acute Conditions Laser therapy has been shown to be effective to help treat acute conditions. Bringing pain under control quickly helps the healing process and usually helps promote better outcomes.
Chronic Conditions With chronic conditions, research has shown that therapy lasers can be used to help combat persistent pain and promote circulation to damaged tissues. It can be a powerful, non-pharmaceutical solution to help reduce pain without the side effects of medication.
Post-Activity Recovery LightForce® Therapy Lasers can be found on the sidelines of many pros, college, and Olympic sports teams across the United States and many parts of Europe and Asia. Laser therapy has been shown to be effective at improving post-activity recovery times and reducing delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS).
Pricing Laser Therapy $30 per region