5 Essential Benefits of Cold Laser Therapy

Whether it stems from a long-standing overuse injury, an age-related degenerative condition like osteoarthritis, a persistent headache disorder, or just stress-driven muscle tension, living with pain can deplete your energy, disrupt your sleep, make you less active, and diminish your quality of life.    

If you’re tired of masking your pain with medication, we can help. 

As chiropractic care providers who take a holistic treatment approach to musculoskeletal aches and pains, our Spine Care of Manassas Chiropractic Center expert team uses cold laser therapy to ease inflammation, alleviate pain, accelerate healing, and restore function. 

Here, Dr. Lincoln German and Dr. Mikaela Foley explore five essential benefits of this innovative, versatile, and highly effective treatment approach. 

1. Totally noninvasive 

Medical lasers exist on a spectrum: Surgical lasers emit high-intensity wavelengths of heat energy to cut, coagulate, and vaporize tissue, while therapeutic, non-surgical laser devices emit low-intensity wavelengths of cold energy to stimulate tissue healing and ease pain. 

 Cold laser therapy, also known as low-level laser therapy (LLLT), is a noninvasive way to help heal superficial wounds (class 3A lasers) and deeper musculoskeletal pain conditions (class 3B lasers). Depending on the nature and location of your pain, we can set the laser to reach two to five centimeters below your skin—no incisions necessary. 

2. Painless and soothing

The handheld cold laser device looks similar to a small flashlight. When we gently pass it across the treatment area, its non-thermal light photons painlessly penetrate your skin and subcutaneous fat tissues. The sensation of the laser’s energy is invisible — you feel nothing other than the light pressure of the device against your skin.

At the same time, the laser’s cold energy quickly begins to stimulate improved blood flow and dial down localized inflammation that has a direct soothing effect.   

3. Multi-level healing

Cold laser therapy fosters healing at the cellular level to support recovery at the functional level. How does it work? It’s all about how the targeted cells interact with the laser’s energy and the cascade of healing effects that interaction sets into motion.    

When targeted body cells absorb cold laser energy through their light-sensitive receptors, they interact with it — in much the same way, a plant leaves absorb sunlight and convert it into growth-fueling energy during photosynthesis.

 When cold laser energy enters your body cells, it causes a chain reaction of healing:    

• Intracellular metabolic activity increases significantly
• The revitalized cells receive an influx of fresh nutrients
• Vital cellular energy (ATP) production starts to ramp up  
• Localized blood flow increases, improving circulation

By initiating this all-natural reparative process, cold laser therapy helps ease inflammation, repair tissue damage, improve nerve function, accelerate healing, speed recovery, and alleviate pain. 

4. Varied applications 

Noninvasive cold lasers are FDA-approved to treat a wide variety of pain conditions, ranging from muscle strain and joint stiffness to chronic back pain and even fibromyalgia. At Spine Care of Manassas Chiropractic Center, we’ve used LLLT to treat: 

Noninvasive cold lasers are FDA-approved to treat a wide range of pain conditions, from muscle strain to joint stiffness, chronic back pain, and even fibromyalgia pain. At Spine Care of Manassas Chiropractic Center, we’ve used LLLT to treat conditions as varied as:  

• Herniated or bulging spinal discs
• Myofascial tension or spasms
• Overuse injuries (i.e., tendonitis)
• Osteoarthritis joint degeneration
• Degenerative disc disease (DDD)
• Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS)
• Migraine and headache disorders

 Cold laser therapy is an effective pain reliever. It stimulates deep healing in all cell and tissue types, including muscles, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, and nerves. 

5. Therapeutic support

Because cold laser therapy alleviates pain by advancing healing, it’s an ideal care component in many circumstances. For example, athletes can use cold laser therapy to recover more quickly following competitive events. In contrast, people who are coping with a chronic pain condition can use the treatment to attain long-term relief without medication.  

In this way, cold laser therapy helps increase the efficacy of other beneficial pain interventions, including chiropractic care, massage therapy, physical and occupational therapy, and postural rehabilitation. 

Ready to find out how cold laser therapy can benefit you? Call or click online to schedule a visit at Spine Care of Manassas Chiropractic Center in Manassas, Virginia, today.