It sometimes feels as though every new year brings a gimmicky, too-good-to-be-true health craze. Maybe it’s a new diet or a specific food group to avoid, maybe it’s a band that wraps around your waist and jiggles the fat away. Frequently, these are, in fact, too good to be true, and don’t yield the health benefits they claim.
Cold laser therapy, despite its futuristic-sounding name, is a painless, incision-free means of helping speed up your recovery and help alleviate a number of chronic and short-term maladies.
What Is Cold Laser Therapy?
Cold laser therapy, also often referred to as low-intensity light therapy or low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a non-invasive, low light treatment that involves applying different wavelengths of light directly to a trouble area.
Cold laser therapy differs from other forms of light or laser-based therapy in that the lower light levels react differently with the human body. Where a laser therapy meant to target tumors or help coagulate body tissue will use more light and therefore apply additional heat to your tissue, low-level laser therapy doesn’t quite reach that level, hence the use of the word “cold.”
How Does it Work?
Used by a trained clinician, this method has been around since the 1960s and has shown strong results. The light that is beamed into the patient’s tissue will be absorbed by cells, which then respond by outputting a physiological reaction that helps to promote regeneration and, ultimately, accelerates the healing process.
How Does It Benefit Your Health?
1- It Can Help Inflammation Reduction
One of the most common uses of cold light therapy is the reduction of inflammation within the body. Issues like inflammation around the knee or other joints can cause chronic pain, particularly in those with an injury history. Cold laser therapy can improve flexibility and pain levels, open up blood vessels, and help build connective tissue.
On top of inflammation, cold laser therapy is known to help a wide array of injuries or sources of chronic pain, including shingles, soft tissue injuries, burns, arthritis, and much more.
2- It’s Entirely Safe and Easy
Cold laser therapy, unlike many of its invasive counterparts, requires little preparation on your part and virtually no recovery period afterward. The process is also completely painless and is FDA-approved to treat a wide number of conditions. There are also no known side effects of the therapy. Since the effects on unborn children have not been studied extensively, those who are pregnant should generally avoid cold laser therapy.
3- It’s Cost-Effective
When compared to other treatment options, cold laser therapy stands out due to its low cost and low-risk level. Where surgery or other invasive procedures often involve potentially life-altering upfront costs and similarly dangerous medications afterward, cold laser therapy does neither. Though the price will differ from provider to provider, the procedure is often far less costly than alternatives, despite the fact that many issues require repeat treatments when done with cold laser therapy.