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The Healing Nature
of Light
CURRENT STATE OF TECHNOLOGY
Light has been used for healing for many
centuries, starting with the Greeks and Romans who recognized
the positive effects of sunlight. Ancient Greek physician,
Hippocrates even had patients recuperate in roofless buildings
where they could soak up the rays of the Sun. Nils Finsen
won the Nobel Prize in 1903 for “Physiology of Medicine”
for his treatments of Lupus and Tuberculosis patients with
ultraviolet light. And just recently modern-day scientists
have come to understand more about the nature of light and
its restorative capacity, and medical researchers have been
able to develop techniques and devices that use light as an
integral element of the healing process.
What we usually refer to as “light”
is the visible part of the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.
What we call light is that range of colors that comprise an
ordinary rainbow. Conventional light has a thermal effect;
it warms up the skin. Ultraviolet light is the part of the
spectrum that causes a tanning of one’s skin; infrared
light is used as a heat source.
Low-level laser light is compressed light of a wavelength
from an extremely narrow spectrum of electromagnetic radiation.
It differs significantly from natural light in that it is
one precise color; it is coherent (it travels in a straight
line), essentially monochromatic (a very narrow bandwidth
of two or three wavelengths) and polarized (it concentrates
its beam in a defined location or spot). These properties
allow laser light to penetrate the surface of the skin with
no heating effect, no damage to the skin and no known side
effects. Laser light directs bio-stimulating light energy
to the body’s cells, which the cells then convert into
chemical energy to promote natural healing and pain relief.
In its’ various formats, phototherapy
as a practice area in Alternative & Complementary Medicine
is gathering substantial attention from serious research scientists,
practitioners and the general public.
Older devices used a continuous wave laser, pre-set pulse
time(s) or, in one case, a variable frequency of extremely
limited range in full, one-cycle increments. Present research
and newer technology permit the therapy technician to adjust
laser pulses in a range from .1hz to 1.5 Mhz pulses per second
(0.1hz to 1,500,000hz) for effective therapy in less time
and over a lesser number of treatments.
HOW IT WORKS
Photonic energy is absorbed by the photo acceptor sites on
the cell membrane, triggering a secondary messenger to initiate
a cascade of intracellular signals that initiate, inhibit
or accelerate biological processes such as wound healing,
inflammation, or reduction of pain, and cell growth.
Low-level light therapy uses cold laser light
energy and/or LEDs to direct bio-stimulating light energy
to the body’s cells without injuring or damaging them
in any way. Low-level lasers supply energy to the body in
the form of non-thermal photons of light. The energy range
of low level laser light lies between 1 and 5mW (milli-watts),
while for surgical lasers, the energy range lies between 3000
and 10000mW. These pulsed LLLT sources deliver photons, the
smallest electromagnetic package that exists in nature to
the tissues in the area of involvement of the injury.
When pulsed at specific rates the therapy
device optimizes the immune responses of the tissues. This
has both anti-inflammatory and immuno-stimulative effects
. It is a scientific fact that light transmitted to the blood
in this way has positive effects throughout the whole body,
supplying vital oxygen and energy to every cell.
· LLLT promotes
healing in many conditions through increase of ATP (adenosine
tri-phosphate) levels and activation of enzymatic
pathways in the targeted cells.
·
Growth factor response within the cells and tissue
is increased as a result of enhanced
ATP and protein synthesis.
· Improved
cell proliferation is observable.
· Pain
(both acute and chronic) relief as a result of increased endorphin
release.
· A
strengthened immune system response due to increasing levels
of lymphocyte activity.
· There
is a pronounced anti-inflammatory and anti-edematous effect.
Through the application of light to injuries or wounds, soft
tissue healing rate and pain relief are accomplished. Furthermore,
the process increases the speed, quality, and tensile strength
of tissue repair, increasing the blood supply to the affected
area, stimulating the immune system, nerve function, developing
collagen and muscle tissue, and helping to generate new healthy
cells and tissue and promoting faster wound healing and clot
formation. LLLT does no damage to tissue cells and is safe
in most applications. The therapy is precise, accurate, easy
to administer and offers safe and effective treatment for
a wide variety of conditions.
BIO-MODULATION
When studying the biological effects of LLLT on cells and
tissue, the word bio-modulation is often used to describe
LLLT’s effects. This refers to the stimulation of cells
and tissue by LLLT to bring them to their most normal and
natural state. The goal in bio-modulation is to stimulate
cell function without exceeding the cell’s or tissue’s
ability to function properly. The effect of photo-bio-stimulation
on animal cells is analogous to photosynthesis in plant cells
whereby a chain of chemical reactions is set in motion. In
human tissue the resulting photochemical reaction produces
an increase in the cellular metabolism rate, expediting cell
repair and stimulation of the immune, lymphatic and vascular
systems. The net result, observed in clinical trials to date,
is apparent reduction in pain, inflammation, edema and an
overall reduction in healing time.
COHERENT LIGHT & THE BODY
Numerous biological processes that take place in treated tissue
have been successfully demonstrated with the use of therapeutic
LLLT. Significant enhancement of ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate)
has been recorded. is one of the cardinal absorbents of the
resting living state of the cell and without it the cell cannot
maintain life!1 Therapeutic LLLT increases ATP production
in the mitochondria of the cell. With more energy available,
the cell may utilize this fuel to operate more efficiently.
Since Lohmann's discovery of ATP in 1929, we know that ATP
is the product of all energy metabolism, aerobic as well as
anaerobic. Further, we know that in muscles, all ATP is absorbed
in myosin. This is one key that helps us to understand how
specific light sources are able to significantly reset muscle
clinically in a very short period of time. However some other
emerging science is necessary to understand in greater scope
this most dramatic and helpful modality of the new century.
This
helps us to understand the complex mechanism of LLLT ability
to reset musculature, returning its function to normal in
a very short period of time. This phenomenon has created a
new paradigm for the use of LLLT in the patient with chronic
pain and can have a profound, efficient and immediate affect
on the recipient of the treatment. Significant increase of
ATP levels at the myosin can have a profound effect on the
modulation of muscle. Additionally we must consider that the
essence of lambda nu (energy emitted from the laser) may reset
the muscle as well.
Not
only does laser increase ATP at the cellular level, but researchers
have shown that it causes stimulation of the mitochondria,
cellular enzymes, macrophage activation, collagen synthesis,
significant increase of granulation tissue, increased permeability
of cell membranes, increase of serotonin and endorphin levels
with decreased fiber activity and bradykinin.2 These are but
a few mechanisms that have been proven to take place with
laser irradiation. There is no other modality known that even
comes close to the myriad of physiological changes that take
place with the LLLT and yet cause no adverse effects. Pain
management professionals must understand and accept this exciting
new modality.
REFERENCES
1 Ling G. Life at the Cell and Below - Cell Level. New York,
NY: Pacific Press; 2001:234-246.
2 Turner J. Hode L. Laser Therapy. Grangesberg, Sweden: Prima
Books; 2002:362.
SOFT TISSUE INJURY THERAPY
Connective
tissue injuries, such as tendon rupture and ligamentous strains,
are common. Unlike most soft tissues that require 7-10 days
to heal, primary healing of tendons and other dense connective
tissues take as much as 6 - 8 weeks during which they are
inevitably protected in immobilization casts to avoid re-injury.
Such long periods of immobilization impair functional rehabilitation
and predispose a multitude of complications that could be
minimized if healing is quickened and the duration of cast
immobilization reduced.
The absorption spectrum of human fibroblast mono-layers showed
several absorption peaks, among them one at a wavelength of
630nm. Cultures of these fibroblasts were subjected to He-Ne
laser (632.8nm) irradiation of various energy doses by varying
power density and exposure time. On three consecutive days
the cell mono-layers were irradiated for periods between 0.5
and 10min. Laser power varied from 0.55 to 5.98mW. Both cell
number and collagen type I production were determined for
each irradiation condition within one experiment. Results
show that laser power below 2.91mW could enhance cell proliferation
(as determined by cell counting), whereas higher laser power
(5.98mW) had no effect. Stimulatory effects were most pronounced
at irradiation times between 0.5 and 2min.
Collagen type I production (as determined by an ELISA)
was affected in the opposite direction to cell proliferation:
when the cell proliferation was increased, collagen type I
production was decreased. From these experiments it is clear
that exposure time and power density determine the effects
of LLLT irradiation. Both stimulation and inhibition of the
observed cell properties can be obtained with the same light
source on the same cells.
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