Low Level Laser Therapy

Laser Therapy Melbourne

If you suffer from lower back pain, neck pain, joint pain, musculoskeletal pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, carpal tunnel, sprains and strains, migraine or any other acute or chronic pain, you might like to consider using laser for pain relief at Melbourne Natural Therapies. 

We’ve been using laser therapy since 2006 to treat physical pain and dysfunction, and also to speed up the healing process in a number of different musculoskeletal conditions. Laser therapy is a drug-free, painless, non-invasive, and effective therapy that has been proven to give pain relief in the shortest possible time, increase the speed, tensile strength and quality of tissue repair whilst resolving inflammation. We offer low level laser therapy as a stand alone treatment, or in combination with remedial massage. 

Low Level Laser Therapy is often abbreviated to LLLT. It’s regularly referred to in research papers as Photobiomodulation. Quite often it is called Cold Laser Therapy and increasingly we see it referred to as Red Light Therapy.  

Pain Relief Naturally – Laser for Pain Relief

Low Level Laser has been used for many decades to reduce pain, inflammation and oedema, promote healing of wounds, deeper tissue and nerves, and prevent cell death and tissue damage. 

Low level laser therapy is a treatment that utilises specific wavelengths of light to interact with tissue and help accelerate the healing process. It can be used on people who suffer from a variety of acute and chronic conditions in order to help eliminate pain, swelling, reduce spasms, increase functionality and encourage tissue regeneration.

Many pain relievers simply mask the pain or only address the symptoms. Low level laser therapy treats the underlying condition or pathology to promote healing, reduce inflammation and give relief for both acute and chronic pain. This means that the treatments are effective and the benefits of low level laser therapy are long lasting, not contradictory to any other treatments or therapies and can be used alongside pharmaceuticals, and in some instances, reduce the reliance on them significantly.

Low level laser therapy with remedial massage

At Melbourne Natural Therapies we offer stand alone laser therapy pain relief treatments as well as laser and remedial massage in the same session. Remedial massage helps us to thoroughly identify and treat the areas of the body which are contributing to any pain. 

For instance, instead of only treating lower back pain at the area of discomfort, we might also use massage to treat tightness in the hamstrings or quadriceps and identify other postural imbalances that are the root cause of the lower back pain. Laser will be used primarily at the site of pain for analgesia, reduction of inflammation and tissue repair and whilst massage will treat any accessory areas of the body. 

Or following a knee injury, low level laser therapy will help to heal and relieve the structures of the knee that massage cannot treat, such as meniscus or ligaments, whilst remedial massage will treat any associated or compensatory muscle patterns that may have been a contributing factor in the knee injury, or as a result of the injury.

If you would like to try laser for pain relief of arthritis, we would recommend having a low level laser and remedial massage combination, as there are often multiple joints that require pain relief treatment with laser light along with multiple other areas which would respond best to massage. 

What happens in a laser treatment?

All the therapists using low level laser therapy for the treatment of pain at Melbourne Natural Therapies, use a class 3 laser therapy device. A full history of your condition is taken at your first treatment and at each subsequent session, the therapist will review how your condition is progressing, and alter the dosage, treatment areas or treatment schedule accordingly. 

During the entire process, you generally don’t feel any sensation in the part being treated. Some patients feel a slight tingling sensation or warmth whenever the probe head of the laser touches the skin. For most patients, LLLT has no sensation.

What can laser pain relief treat?

Low level laser therapy can stimulate all cell types including muscle, ligament, cartilage, bone and nerves. This means that a number of conditions can be effectively treated by low level laser therapy. At Melbourne Natural Therapies we use laser light to treat injuries, conditions or areas of the body that massage techniques cannot, such as tendinopathies, bursitis and joint pain. Below we have a list of commonly treated conditions. This list is certainly not exhaustive as there are so many conditions successfully treated with low level laser therapy.

Some conditions that may typically be treated by low level laser treatments include:

• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Nerve pain
• Arthritic pain and stiffness
• Muscle and joint pain
• Hip pain such as bursitis, tendinopathy or sciatica
• Knee pain such as meniscus injuries, bursitis or ligament injuries
• Limb pain such as Golfer’s elbow, Tennis elbow or ankle sprains
• Injuries such as strains, sprain, fracture repair or corkys 
• Pain associated with muscle spasms and trigger point activity
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Fibromyalgia pain
• TMJ
• Wound Healing

Potential advantages of low level laser therapy

• Low level laser therapy (often referred to as cold laser) is a non-invasive procedure; the laser probe is held against the skin with the laser aperture angled towards the area to be treated. This means that it can be used on very sore or damaged tissues without causing any further pain, pressure or potential injury.  
• Low level laser therapy, or LLLT, can potentially provide pain relief or pain reduction without the reliance on pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs or surgery and unlike many medications, cold laser therapy does not have serious side effects when used properly. It may not remove the need for pharmaceuticals entirely, but it can often reduce the reliance on them as unlike pain medications, laser therapy is also helping to heal the tissues and treat the root cause.
• It can be used alone or in combination with a number of other therapies and is not contraindicated or conflicting with other treatments. 

How Does Cold Laser Therapy Work?

Cold lasers are handheld devices, often no bigger than a flashlight. The laser probe is usually plugged into a main unit. The clinician holds the laser directly over the injured area for 30 seconds to several minutes, depending on the size of the area being treated and the dose being provided by the laser unit. During this time, non-thermal photons of light are emitted from the laser and pass through the skin’s layers (the dermis, epidermis, and the subcutaneous tissue under the skin). This light has the ability to penetrate 2 to 5 centimetres below the skin to the tissues to be treated. Once inside the cell, the laser beam can trigger many cellular changes such as the production of enzymes and protein substances vital for innumerable biochemical actions. Normally-functioning cells are not adversely affected by low level laser and low level laser therapy does not heat or cut tissue, unlike high intensity lasers.

What this means in practise is that the application of laser light facilitates the cells to function optimally and in doing so, pain is decreased, inflammation is reduced and tissue healing is accelerated. 

History of laser therapy – What is photobiomodulation?

In 1960, physicist Theodore Maiman devised a way by which a ruby crystal could emit an intense, short-lived high-powered beam of visible red light strong enough to drill a hole through a stack of razor blades. Some benefits of low-level laser therapy were recognized through residual effects of the more common high-energy (hot) surgical laser, which vaporises tissue and seals blood vessels and is considered superior in some surgical cases to the traditional scalpel method.

Physicians found that the residual or escaping low-intensity (cold) light beams from the surgical beam resulted in less pain, faster healing, and very little scar tissue. Hungarian scientist Endre Mester published these findings in 1969. Research and experimentation with low-powered laser beams for non-surgical healing has been underway since the 1960s. 

Why use laser therapy for pain relief?

Over the past few decades, pain relief from laser therapy has gained a lot of popularity all over the world, thanks to the non-invasive, painless, and drug-free nature of this treatment. A lot of patients suffering from various body aches and pains now consider low level laser therapy to be the best way to effectively treat a number of wounds, injuries, pain syndromes, and neurological conditions.

If you would like to make an appointment or you have any questions about laser therapy that aren’t answered here, please don’t hesitate to contact the clinic on (03) 9645 9923 or send us an email. 

FAQs

What’s the difference between laser therapy and red light therapy?

The laser therapy device for pain relief that we use at Melbourne Natural Therapies uses both laser light and red light for pain relief and tissue healing.

Laser and red light therapy for pain relief uses a certain bandwidth of light that is proven to have a healing and analgesic effect on human tissue. Red light therapy uses a part of the light spectrum that is visible to the human eye, which is why you can see a red light. The LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) used in red light therapy are not able to penetrate deeply into the skin, the light is scattered and non-directional and so can only treat superficial layers. Red light therapy is often used to treat the skin on the face in cosmetic treatments and to heal wounds. 

Laser light however is invisible to the human eye. For laser pain therapy, the laser light needs to be ideally between 650nm and 980nm to have the required biological effects of pain relief and healing. Laser light is a much more coherent beam which does not scatter and it can be directed resulting in targeted pain relief. 980nm can penetrate deeper tissues than 650nm so many laser therapy devices often use a combination of laser lights and red lights (both visible and invisible) to treat a variety of tissues at different depths within the one treatment. Devices designed for home use often do not have the sufficient wavelength of light to deliver the light’s energy to deeper tissues.

A greater powered laser device delivers the required energy to the target tissue more quickly. Laser therapy devices designed for home use are often not powerful enough to deliver energy to the required depth and they take a very long period of time to treat even superficial tissues. By going to a clinic that offers low level laser therapy with a trained therapist using an appropriate laser therapy device, means you know that the treatment you are receiving is going to be treating the required areas effectively and that the right areas are being treated.

Low level laser therapy Melbourne – how long is a treatment?

Laser treatments for pain relief can take as little as a few minutes to treat  a single area. 

At Melbourne Natural Therapies we have a 15 minute short consultation option for treating a single area of the body. We may treat several points within the one area. For example, using low level laser to treat bursitis, we may treat around the bursa, pointing the laser light in different directions, as well as treating the tendons that lie over the top of the bursa and some trigger points in the muscle attaching to the tendon.  

To use cold laser therapy in the treatment of larger areas of the body, multiple areas or more than one joint, such as in the treatment of lower back and neck pain, we would need a long consultation in order to treat a number of different points.

Using low level laser for pain of arthritis, we would recommend using laser therapy in combination with remedial massage for a more comprehensive treatment of the joints and muscles affected.

Laser pain relief – how many treatments do you need?

Laser therapy for pain relief requires a course of sessions. There is an initial loading dose, followed by a transition phase and then down to a maintenance dose.

For acute conditions, it may be possible to get relief is 3-6 sessions. For chronic conditions, it could take as many as 12 sessions before significant pain relief is felt. 

As with any musculoskeletal treatment, we recommend appropriate exercise and a good diet and hydration alongside. These factors will optimise treatments, enable the body to recover faster and generally result in less treatments being required. 

For loading periods, we may ask you to come 2-3 times per week until improvement is seen, then dropping to once per week, fortnightly and so on, until a maintenance dose is found. It is important during the transition period to maintain the benefits of the treatments whilst reducing the frequency.

Generally, when laser therapy is ineffective, it is because the client has not committed to the treatment plan, or the transition phase has been too quick. 

Laser V Ultrasound

Laser therapy uses light to create biochemical changes in the body whereas ultrasound uses sound waves. 

Simplified, the wavelengths of light used in laser therapy enable more oxygen to circulate which boosts cellular activity and helps the cells to function optimally. It dilates blood vessels to allow for better circulation and removal of waste products and inflammation from the tissues and it can relax muscle trigger points. It can be directed towards bone, ligament and other connective tissues as well as muscles and skin.

In ultrasound, ultrasonic sound waves penetrate the tissues and the vibrations create heat which in turns boosts blood flow and relaxes muscles. Improved circulation may help with tissue repair and healing. It is generally used for muscle pain. Ultrasound uses heat alone to treat tissues and is being used less and less in physiotherapy treatments due to further research showing better improvements with other forms of treatment.

Is laser or TENS machine better?

Laser light uses red and infra-red light. TENS uses low-voltage electrical currents. Laser therapy for pain relief can be targeted to different tissues at different depths. 

Laser is painless whereas TENS can be uncomfortable and doesn’t work for everybody. There are theories about how TENS works whereas there is scientific proof of the effect of laser light on cells. 

TENS is being phased out in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders in favour of treatments like laser.  

Is laser therapy covered by Medicare?

Consultations for low level laser therapy at Melbourne Natural Therapies are not covered by Medicare. You can use your private health insurance as our therapists are all remedial massage or myotherapists and use laser therapy as an adjunct to their massage treatments. All our therapists have undergone training in the correct use of lasers for musculoskeletal conditions and have had training in laser safety. All therapists are fully insured.