When you think about laser therapy, chances are you think of tattoo or hair removal. But did you know there are other medical applications for lasers as well? If you are suffering from joint or muscle pain, it is possible that you could find relief with Multiwave Locked System (MLS) therapy. The light from the laser is at such a wavelength that it penetrates the skin and goes directly to the nerve or muscle tissue that is causing your pain. This brings the therapeutic effects that can provide you with real relief.
There are two types of lasers used in MLS therapy – Class 3 and 4 – low and high powered. The Class 3 lasers are sometimes called cold lasers, though neither of the laser therapies use energy high enough to burn your skin. The wavelengths penetrate just like X Rays and get to the heart of the problems that are causing you pain.
The laser works in several ways:
- Decreasing inflammation: Firstly, it can decrease inflammation by stimulating the tissue to renew itself through the release of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and the dilation of the surrounding arteries, which provides more nutrients and oxygen to the affected area.
- Cellular stimulation: Laser therapy can also encourage the body to release chemicals that encourage cellular reproduction and growth, as well as endorphins that decrease the reception of pain.
- Wound Healing: Laser treatment can also help the body produce collagen, which aids in increasing the rate of wound healing
- Tissue regeneration: Finally, the photons actually stimulate the damaged tissue to help it repair and renew itself, generating an all-natural response to begin the healing process in the areas of the damaged tissue, including muscles and nerves.
What Conditions Can Laser Therapy Treat?
Because of these all-natural properties, laser therapy treatments have a wide variety of applications, including:
- Pain: laser treatments can address many different types of pain, such as neck, back, joint, muscle pain, and persistent conditions such as bursitis, tendonitis and other ligament and muscle strains. By lessening the edema in the affected areas and encouraging healing and the release of endorphins, the pain is actually decreased at the source instead of being masked by heavy medication.
- Wound healing: By lessening the inflammation and encouraging the body to engage in its natural healing processes, the tissues that have suffered trauma and injury are encouraged to begin the process of healing themselves, so invasive procedures are unnecessary.
- Inflammation: By encouraging the body to reduce edema and allow the surrounding tissue to begin the healing process, pain associated with different types of inflammation can be drastically reduced. When the nerves surrounding the tissue are no longer compressed and the tissues begin to heal, the pain in the surrounding area decreases.
Whatever the source of your damaged joint, muscle pain, or inflammation, laser therapy might be just the right pathway to healing and relief.