Chronic pain has been described as pain that persists for longer than 12 weeks. This could involve pain associated with past injuries, arthritis, or other medical conditions. Living with chronic pain can be very difficult, as it can be uncertain whether your pain will go away. Chronic back pain is the most common, though some people also experience chronic neck pain, chronic leg pain or chronic shoulder pain.
Laser Therapy uses Low Level Lasers, which affect the healing process at a cellular level. They work by stimulating healing and new tissue regeneration, which reduces chronic inflammation by affecting compounds in the body related to pain and inflammation.
Low Level Laser therapy is proven to reduce pain in the short, medium and long term. Relief from pain can come just minutes after treatment, and in hours to days after treatment, cells responsible for pain and inflammation diminish.
The long term pain relief associated with Low Level Laser therapy occurs within a week or two after treatments and can last for months or years as a result of the stimulation of natural tissue healing. This means that Laser Therapy can effectively provide relief from chronic pain for many patients.
The power of Laser Therapy to reduce pain, swelling, and inflammation has been proven in over 400 clinical trials, thousands of laboratory studies and published in many leading journals.
How does Low Level Laser therapy work?
Low Level Lasers are handheld devices used by the clinician which are small and look much like a handheld torch. The laser is placed directly over the injured area for 30 seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of the area being treated and the intensity of laser used.
Once the laser energy passes through the layers of skin and reaches the target area, it is absorbed and interacts with the light sensitive elements in the cell. This process can be compared to photosynthesis in plants – sunlight is absorbed by plants, which is then converted to usable energy so that the plant can grow.
When cells absorb this light energy, it initiates a series of events that eventually result in mending damaged or injured tissue, a reduction in pain, inflammation, and an overall reduction in healing time.
What is the process?
The use of Low Level Laser therapy is growing in traditional medical practice, as a proven non-surgical and drug free alternative for reducing chronic pain.
Under the care of a doctor or qualified practitioner, Low Level Laser therapy is considered to be very safe. Laser therapy is non-invasive and painless, so you can be treated with no downtime and no side effects.
One of the drawbacks may be time. While each session only takes a few minutes, it may take a series of treatments before you can gauge its effectiveness. While short and medium term pain relief is possible from one or two sessions, it may take several more to achieve long-term results.
Contact Victoria’s Cosmetic Medical Clinic
Contact us to ask a question about our treatments or book a consultation with one of our experienced professionals.