About lasers in general
Lasers can be divided into two major groups in terms of their biological effects:
High power = “hard lasers” - surgical lasers
Low power = "soft lasers" - therapeutic lasers
High-performance surgical lasers are suitable for various surgical procedures and surgeries due to the very strong heat effect. (heat effects: cutting, vaporization, coagulation) In soft lasers, the photochemical effect of laser light is used to initiate beneficial biological processes.
How does soft laser therapy work?
As early as 1947, research showed that the mitochondria of cells in our body are photosensitive.
Mitochondria of different cells respond differently to light of different wavelengths (colors).
Of the entire light spectrum, red (eg 660nm) and infrared (eg 808nm) light have the strongest healing effects
The "soft laser" has a "BIOSTIMULATION" (stimulating) effect on the living organism. This means that cells and tissues can regenerate faster when illuminated with "soft laser light" (eg wound healing is accelerated). Laser light increases the metabolism of cells, and even new cells, tissues, and new capillaries are formed. Soft laser light also stimulates the immune system.
In summary, laser light stimulates the body's ability to heal itself! In addition, it has a number of beneficial effects on the body: e.g. reduces inflammation and swelling, relieves pain, reduces muscle tension…
What is the physiological effect of soft laser light?
Soft-laser treatment has three basic healing effects on the human body:
-
Painkiller
-
Anti-inflammatory
- Biostimulation effect - Stimulates (stimulates) the body's ability to heal itself!
In our body, laser light activates certain enzyme processes that trigger ATP production. ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the only and most important form of energy that drives all chemical reactions in every cell in the body. Increased energy production results in more efficient (metabolic) function of cells and faster regeneration, thus shortening the healing time of diseases.
Soft laser treatment not only alleviates the symptoms of diseases, but also eliminates the causes in many cases as a result of complex biochemical processes.
What is the most effective laser treatment?
It depends on what disease you want to apply to.
Simpler soft lasers can be purchased in the 1-10mW range, which have an extremely long treatment time and are only suitable for stimulating the skin surface. They are medically ineffective.
30-250mW is the next range, which is already suitable for healing subcutaneous tissues, muscles, ligaments, small joints. However, this range is not yet effective enough to relieve pain or regenerate deeper muscles and cartilage.
400-2000mW is the top category of soft lasers. Numerous clinical studies and practical experience also show that with this performance,
excellent results can be achieved in analgesia even when lasers with lower power were ineffective.
Castano [65] * has shown experimentally that a high-performance infrared laser can achieve similar results
in knee joint pain as steroid injection (dexamethasone).
A Hungarian medical team led by Dr. Klára Barabás experimentally showed that with a high-power (25J / cm2) infrared laser,
biochemical processes can be initiated, which are also necessary for the regeneration of cartilage. [66]