There’s Nothing Passive about Deep Laser Therapy

There are arguments, especially from mainstream medicine critics, that passive therapy, relieving low back pain with little or no participation from the patient, is no different that prescribing pain pills to do that job. These critics apparently include laser therapy among passive treatments while they accept physical therapy and chiropractic applications like spinal and manual manipulation as helpful due to the patient’s so-called participation.

According to “Choosing Wisely,” an affiliated website to the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM):

Passive physical therapies—such as heat, cold, electrical stimulation, and ultrasound—may give you brief relief from pain and discomfort. They may help you relax during spinal manipulation or before a physical activity like walking, biking, or swimming. But these therapies do not help you prevent long-term problems…

What is not recognized when including deep tissue laser therapy as passive, with no other value than temporary relief of pain, is that it promotes healing— something that pharmaceuticals and surgery don’t do. Additionally, laser therapy is not addictive like a drug— other than, as with a massage, it makes you feel better for a while. As we’ve stated before, the process of photobiostimulation assists the body in generating its innate healing powers through stimulation “that awakens cellular activity to relieve and eventually eradicate low back pain.”

The criticism that treatments which ease pain but require recurring treatments is somehow harmful because they do not correct the problem has long been directed at chiropractic medicine. Meanwhile, physical therapy is becoming increasingly respected and regularly prescribed by MD’s and surgeons as having curative and healing powers through strengthening and promoting flexibility in movement. Surgeons, in fact, prescribe PT before and after surgery.

Awakening Body’s Healing Powers

Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy is proof positive that physical therapy and chiropractic treatments overlap, and both have the propensity of awakening the healing powers of the body.

We specify lower back pain because of the massive numbers of people suffering from this condition (an estimated 80 percent U.S. population at some time in their lives) who want to avoid surgery and those addictive prescription medicines. That includes opioids which, despite the epidemic they have perpetrated, are still prescribed regularly, though more cautiously, by medical doctors.

Our gateway to relief and healing is a powerful, noninvasive tool called the LCT 1000 Deep Tissue (Class IV) Laser. We continue to describe it as “the most powerful healing technology available today” for conquering low back pain. In addition, as we have previously explained that it is part of a “multi-pronged approach” with minimally noninvasive treatments like massage, acupuncture, trigger-point injection therapy and physical therapy.

For a more technical explanation, the Oakland Spine team explains deep tissue laser therapy thusly:

This process involves the application of deep, penetrating photonic energy via a hot laser, which is a completely painless and side-effect-free process. Laser therapy increases the production of an essential substance called ATP (Adenosine-triphosphate), which is responsible for cellular energy production. An increase in ATP production greatly reduces pain and inflammation and promotes accelerated healing.

— Call us today at (201) 651-9100 for an appointment at Oakland Spine & Physical Therapy.