Chiropractors utilize laser therapy to treat a variety of conditions such as Acute and chronic pain, arthritis, sports injuries, and musculoskeletal disorders. The treatment is painless making it a popular choice among patients seeking alternative therapies for pain management. With its ability to enhance tissue repair and reduce inflammation, chiropractic laser therapy serves as an effective tool in providing relief and improving overall quality of life for individuals experiencing acute or chronic musculoskeletal issues.
What is Low Level Laser Therapy?
Low level laser therapy is a form of alternative medicine that uses laser light at low levels. The light is applied to the surface skin of the body with the intentions of decreasing pain or inflammation, promoting healing of wounds, tissues, and nerves, or for preventing tissue damage. This is much different than the high-level lasers that we know for surgical procedures to cut and destroy unhealthy tissue.
How Does Low Level Laser Therapy Work?
Low level laser therapy is said to work through a photochemical effect (which also occurs with photosynthesis in plants). When cells inside tissue are stressed via disease and injury, the mitochondria (or powerhouse/place where metabolism takes place inside a cell) produces harmful nitric oxide. The nitric oxide displaces needed oxygen from cells thus causing inflammation or cell death. When tissues absorb the light from the low-level laser therapy, the nitric oxide is dissociated (or irreversibly split) allowing more oxygen back into the cells and therefore increasing tissue oxygenation.
Via this mechanism, cell metabolism and mitochondria function is restored allowing health of the tissue. The absorption of the light is also said to increase cell proliferation and migration (regeneration) and to modulate levels of growth factors and inflammatory mediators.