Tissue Depth Considerations for Laser Therapy

posted by Apollo Lasers on Friday, May 29, 2015

Low level laser therapy is both easy to use and effective in reducing pain and healing wounds or inflammation. However, practitioners should be aware that tissue depth and other factors can affect laser therapy's efficacy. 

Certain parts of the body, such as the elbow or ankle for example, lie close to the surface of the skin, which requires very little penetration depth on the part of the laser or the practitioner.

However, other areas such as the shoulder blade are packed with tissue, muscle and blood vessels, and require the practitioner to go deeper. One way this can be achieved is through compression--gently pressing the laser into the skin to displace surrounding blood and gain better access to underlying tissues. 

Practitioners should also be aware that clothing can also impede the effectiveness of laser therapy by up to 100 percent. 

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Laser therapy has revolutionized the practice of chiropractic—low level lasers can allow chiropractors to treat a whole host of conditions, ranging from chronic pain, to inflammation, to promoting wound healing.

However, while lasers bring cutting-edge technology to chiropractic practices, there are still a number of issues to take into consideration with laser therapy, and one of the most important is tissue depth. Some conditions, such as tennis elbow, will require a very shallow treatment depth, whereas therapy for a frozen shoulder requires deeper laser penetration.

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This article excerpt, by Tina Beychok, originally appeared here: http://www.chiroeco.com/tissue-depth-considerations-for-laser-therapy/32317/.