The therapeutic laser programs offered at HealthPoint Laser Clinic were developed in conjunction with Alpha Life Style Laser Systems, a world leader in the therapeutic application of low level laser. Alpha Life Style Centre has carried out research and development for over two decades, resulting in a unique, multi-phasic approach that includes laser therapy, behaviour modification and detoxification, making it one of the most comprehensive and successful programs of its kind. HealthPoint Laser Clinic is proud to be trained and certified by one of the pioneers in the field, Mr. George Lucio, founder of Alpha Life Style Laser Systems.
What is low level laser therapy?
Low level laser therapy is known by many names:
- Cold laser therapy
- Laser light therapy
- Laser therapy
- Light therapy
- Low energy laser
- Low energy photon therapy
- Low intensity laser therapy
- Low level laser
- Low power laser
- Low reactive laser therapy
- Photo bio-stimulation
- Phototherapy
- Soft laser therapy
- Soft tissue laser therapy
- Therapeutic laser
Laser therapy is the application of low incident levels of laser energy to achieve an ever-increasing number of clinical indications. These include: pain attenuation in a large variety of acute and chronic pain entities including pain related to abnormalities in the nerves, soft tissue, muscles, tendons, joints and bone; improved wound healing in soft tissues, tendons and bone including the induction of healing in slow-to-heal or non-healing wounds; improved local and systemic blood circulation, very useful in blood-related conditions such as Buerger’s and Raynaud’s diseases and torpid leg ulcers; increased lymphatic circulation and drainage which improves the early inflammation and swelling associated with acute injuries; enhanced autoimmune response in immune-deficient conditions such as psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis and atopic dermatitis; and in more specific indications such as the control of hypertension and the restoration of normal pigment in selected abnormally coloured cutaneous lesions.
Laser therapy is delivered using dedicated systems, designed to produce optimum levels of laser energy at specific wavelengths to achieve the desired therapeutic effect in complete safety. These systems should be compact enough to be easily portable; rugged enough to withstand extended use in and out of the treatment room; and reliable enough to preclude constant technical problems while being easily maintained.
How does a therapeutic laser system work?
Laser therapy has been increasingly used in medicine over the last few years as a non surgical means of effecting cures for a variety of pains and ailments, for assisting normal healing processes to occur earlier and better, and as prophylaxis against the occurrence of undesirable side effects. Let us look concisely at what laser therapy is, how it works, and why it is used.
Light energy consists of small packets of energy, called photons, which travel in a wave-like pattern. The number, or density, of photons in a beam of light energy, combined with the wavelength, or colour, of the light will determine what reaction will occur when the energy is incident on tissue. When incident photon densities are not high enough to cause any rise in tissue temperature, the energy is transferred directly to the target cells, which changes their level of activity. It only takes one photon, in theory, to achieve a photoresponse in a target cell. The wavelength of the laser energy will determine how deeply the beam penetrates: infrared lasers have the best penetration, thus achieving deeper absorption which is of great importance in treating muscle and joint pain types. Depending on the condition of the cells and their surrounding tissue the reaction may be photoactivation, such as induced wound healing, or photo retardation, such as the slowing down of pain transmission to give pain attenuation. These opposite sides of the same therapeutic coin are collectively referred to as photoactivation or photomodulation.
In laser surgery, the level of laser-tissue reaction is higher than the survival threshold of the target cells, and the target cells are damaged or destroyed. In laser therapy, on the other hand, the level of reaction is lower than the survival threshold, and the cells are activated. Thus a common term seen in reports is low level laser therapy, or LLLT. All our tissues consist of cells, and so all tissues are potential targets for laser therapy, from skin to bone. The energized cells communicate with each other, and with non-irradiated cells, through increased levels of intra- and extracellular chemicals. If the cells are in a normal condition, then the level of activity remains higher for a short period, and then drops down to normal. Even in a ‘normal’ patient, an almost immediate flood of endorphins, our body’s naturally-occurring opiate, occurs after laser therapy, but as they are not required for any specific pain control mechanism, they are quickly dispersed throughout the body, and naturally disappear. In other words, laser therapy assists the natural healing processes of the body: if there is a need for these processes, such as in the relief of a painful condition, or repair of damaged tissues, then the normal healing mechanisms occur more efficiently. ‘Normalization’ is the keystone of laser therapy, and so LLLT can be used to remove pain or to cure numbness; to remove abnormal colour from, or restore pigment to depigmented skin; to increase blood flow in blood-starved tissues, or decrease blood flow in certain birthmarks such as ‘strawberry marks’; and to control both hypotension and essential hypertension. Just as some patients do not respond to a particular medication but will respond to a different one, so some patients will not respond to LLLT, or will respond poorly. Similarly, some patients need a combination of medications: thus some patients will need LLLT used in combination with other therapeutic modalities. From a study of the many papers on LLLT published in the international medical literature, we can confidently say in pain attenuation, for example, which is the largest application of LLLT, we can guarantee more than 76% pain relief in over 80% of patients. Laser therapy is not a magic wand!
What is the difference between a Hot [Thermal] Laser and a Cold Laser?
A Hot Laser is a surgical laser used purposely to cut and/or destroy tissue. This is a class 4 laser.
A Cold Laser is a therapeutic laser created for tissue healing and does not destroy or damage tissue and does not create heat. HealthPoint uses a class 3B laser.
What is Wavelength?
Wavelength determines the colour of a laser beam. Light energy exceeding 700mW becomes clear or infrared.
What is a Super-Pulsed Laser?
A Super Pulsed laser produces a high power level of impulse of light for a very brief duration for each pulse. It is the high power during each pulse that drives the light energy to the target tissue. Higher peak power leads to higher photon density, delivering the highest concentration of photons and providing the deepest tissue penetration.
What is the difference between green light, red light and blue light?
The colour of laser light is determined by the wavelength outputted.
- Red light is achieved between 600 – 700mW of energy.
- Green Light is achieved when 500 – 500mW of light energy is exerted.
- Blue light is achieved when 400 – 450mW of energy is outputted.
- Green light and Blue light is almost entirely absorbed by hemoglobin red blood cells.
This means that these colours of light cannot penetrate below the dermis (live skin cells), therefore cannot heal tissue below the dermis. Red light, on the other hand, can penetrate the dermis and therefore heals injuries below the skin surface, in fact up to 4” below the dermis.
When was the first laser invented?
The ruby laser was the first laser invented in 1960. Ruby is an aluminum oxide crystal in which some of the aluminum atoms have been replaced with chromium atoms. Chromium gives ruby its characteristic red color and is responsible for the lasing behavior of the crystal. Chromium atoms absorb green and blue light and emit or reflect only red light.
For a ruby laser, a crystal of ruby is formed into a cylinder. A fully reflecting mirror is placed on one end and a partially reflecting mirror on the other. A high-intensity lamp is spiraled around the ruby cylinder to provide a flash of white light that triggers the laser action. The green and blue wavelengths in the flash excite electrons in the chromium atoms to a higher energy level. Upon returning to their normal state, the electrons emit their characteristic ruby-red light. The mirrors reflect some of this light back and forth inside the ruby crystal, stimulating other excited chromium atoms to produce more red light until the light pulse builds up to high power and drains the energy stored in the crystal.
The laser flash that escapes through the partially reflecting mirror lasts for only about 300 millionths of a second-but very intense. Early lasers could produce peak powers of some ten thousand watts. Modern lasers can produce pulses that are billions of times more powerful.
Another characteristic of laser light is that it is coherent. That is, the emitted light waves are in phase with one another and are so nearly parallel that they can travel for long distances without spreading. (In contrast, incoherent light from a light bulb diffuses in all directions.) Coherence means that laser light can be focused with great precision.
Many different materials can be used as lasers. Some, like the ruby laser, emit short pulses of laser light. Helium-neon gas lasers or liquid dye lasers, on the other hand, emit a continuous beam of light.
[courtesy of Theralase Technologies Inc.]