Laser therapy is a treatment that involves the use of light-emitting diodes on the body’s surface to stimulate the body’s natural ability to heal. There are many different types and uses of Laser Therapy, including applications for dermatological treatments, surgical applications, and musculoskeletal healing/repair. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use in the treatment of bony and soft tissue disorders in 2009 and has been successful in facilitating faster healing of musculoskeletal injuries and conditions such as arthritis and/or fractures since then.
You should know, there are different classes of laser. These classes are categorized by the amount of power generated by the light source. Earlier research was patchy for some of the less powerful classes of LLLT (3 and 3b), however the Class 4, higher power lasers have been quite beneficial across the board for things like muscle and bone healing.
Here are a few reasons you may want to look into Class 4 laser therapy for your musculoskeletal needs:
LLLT can enhance callus development
LLLT is known to have numerous effects on bone structure.
One particular effect that caught the attention of multiple experts is its ability to enhance callus development. But what is callus development? (1)
To answer that question, it’s best to discuss the steps on how bone heals in the body.
The bone healing process starts immediately after injury, but the actual callus formation begins about one week after you sustain an injury. The body begins by forming a soft type of bone called callus, which fills in the inflamed/injured area of the body.
The callus helps hold the bone together while the healing process continues, although the callus itself is not sturdy enough to resist pressure or tension. This is why injured individuals use casts or limit weight-bearing immediately after an injury — to support the injured area while the body transforms the callus into a new bone.
Over the next few weeks, the callus starts developing into a stronger bone that can withstand tension. After somewhere between two and eight weeks (depending on the severity and type of fracture), the callus should be strong enough to support gradual weight or pressure. Once this occurs, the patient can now remove the cast and use the previously injured body part at this point.
Under an X-ray, the part of the body where the bone is healing may look uneven. However, over the next few months, your body will automatically start reshaping the injured bone to go back to looking normal. (2)
A 2010 study shows that low-intensity laser therapy can accelerate the bone formation of the callus, from being soft to hard enough to withstand pressure.
This suggests you can accelerate bone healing with laser therapy. In other words, the fracture healing process, which usually takes anywhere from six to twelve weeks, can be sped up to reduce the overall recovery time of the injury.
Scientists also correlate this particular effect of laser therapy can come in handy on non-union fractures. With non-Union fractures, the healing process is abnormally slow, sometimes taking years to heal completely. (1)
Laser therapy may eliminate facial fractures and bone defects
Facial fractures are one of the most common injuries a person can sustain in their lifetime. It may come from sports injuries, accidents, and even assaults. While the face may not require a cast, unlike wounds on the arms or legs, it can drastically reduce the quality of life of an individual. Fortunately, laser therapy has also shown promise regarding its facial bone healing effects.
In a study consisting of 15 selected subjects, nine improved their facial bone defects after applying laser therapy, specifically, Low-Level Laser Therapy. To be more precise, there was an increase in bone mineral density, showing that the facial fractures healed faster than usual with laser therapy.
Furthermore, the study showed two other benefits that researchers think would be handy for injuries. (3)
2. It can promote analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects
An analgesic is any intervention that relieves pain in the body. An anti-inflammatory is an intervention that reduces inflammation, redness, and swelling. There are corresponding medications for both, however some of these medications can actually impede bone healing, so your doctor (or you) may prefer you avoid these medications while recovering from a bony injury like a fracture or surgery. Examples of these medications include:
- Aspirin
- Celecoxib
- COX-2 inhibitors
- Ibuprofen
- Naproxen (4)
The good news is that a class 4 laser has both analgesic and anti-inflammatory benefits, without the side effects some medications might have. This not only reduces the need for medications to control pain and swelling but actually facilitates bony healing and regrowth.
Examples of bony injuries that can benefit from laser include:
Stress fractures, traumatic fractures, avulsion fractures, chip fractures, and surgeries such as ACL, UCL, or Rotator Cuff surgeries involving graft or tendon fixation into bone.
3. LLLT enhances osteogenesis and angiogenesis processes
According to a recent study conducted in 2021, laser therapy can potentially enhance the osteogenesis and angiogenesis processes in the body. These two processes make bone healing possible. (5)
Here’s a look at each process and what it has to do with bone healing:
- Osteogenesis is the process of creating new materials called osteoblasts that the body will use to form a new bone. It’s also often associated with osteoclasts—the cells that eat up the bone so it can reshape and realign it into more resilient and stronger structures.
- Angiogenesis is the creation of new blood vessels that serve as the route for cells like osteoblasts and osteoclasts, and bone tissues to reach the injury site. This process is crucial since adequate blood flow is necessary for bone regeneration. Moreover, complications may occur if there is an insufficient blood supply. (7)
By using laser therapy to enhance the formation of bone tissues and blood vessels, patients can enjoy a faster, more comfortable recovery using their body’s own processes to do so.
Wrapping up
Waiting for a bone injury to heal on it’s own is perhaps one of the most frustrating situations to be in. Typical bone healing time (without the assistance of a device such as a Class 4 Laser) is among the longest of all musculoskeletal injuries, and many people find the pain and inflammation associated with fractures and other bone injuries to be severely life-limiting throughout the healing process.
Laser Therapy helps manage the pain and inflammation that makes the injury itself less limiting and facilitates the bony regeneration and tissue remodeling needed to support a faster recovery as well – getting you back to whatever it is you love – sooner.
If you found this article helpful, or if someone you know has recently suffered an injury that would benefit from better bone healing through laser therapy, share this article with them, and let us know if you have any questions!
References
- “Effect of low-level laser therapy on the fracture healing process”, Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19399356/
- “How Broken Bones Heal”, Source: https://kidshealth.org/en/parents/fractures-heal.html
- “Influence of low-level laser therapy on the healing of human bone maxillofacial defects: A systematic review”, Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S101113441630793X
- “Analgesics”, Source: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/drugs/21483-analgesics
- “Low level laser therapy promotes bone regeneration by coupling angiogenesis and osteogenesis”, Source: https://stemcellres.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13287-021-02493-5
- “Osteogenesis: The Development of Bones”, Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10056/
- “Overview of Angiogenesis”, Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK53238/
The average healing time for a bone fracture is 6-8 weeks. When a fracture occurs, the soft tissue around the fracture may also be injured, leading to pain, inflammation, and swelling.
We offer non-invasive laser treatment to relieve the pain and discomfort of fractures, stress fractures, and soft tissue injuries.
Laser therapy has been shown to speed fracture healing, decrease soft tissue inflammation, decrease pain, and positively benefit range-of-motion, all with ZERO SIDE EFFECTS.
In the above clinical study, patients with delayed union of limb fractures who refused surgical intervention were treated with laser therapy and Sarmiento functional bracing. Here is what the researchers found:
“The current prospective study of a clinical case series of patients presenting with delayed union of fractures involving the upper and lower extremities who refused operative intervention indicated that low-level laser therapy if administered correctly can on the one hand initiate the bone healing process and on the other hand shorten the time for fracture union”
In this placebo-controlled study, patients with closed bone hand and wrist fractures showed significant improvements in VAS pain scores, physical function, and cortical bridging at the fracture site following laser irradiation:
“LLLT provided pain relief, ameliorated symptoms, and induced healing effects, including improvements in physical function and grip strength in the wrist or hand, after the occurrence of a CBF.”
This double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial showed significant improvement in pain scores for patients in the laser group:
“The use of laser therapy and analgesic medications had better effect during the 24 hours of recovery after the surgery. Laser radiation at wavelengths of 650 and 808 nm (R and IR laser) can decrease postoperative pain and analgesic use in postoperative period. LLLT does not have side effects like respiratory depression, skin reaction, and analgesic nephropathy that are seen with other methods.”
Research is great, but just read these patient testimonials!
Jan, Foot Fracture Healed and Pain Free
“The healing of my broken foot is somewhat of a miracle! I was told it would take up to a year for a broken foot to heal. I wore a corrective shoe and received light therapy 2x per week for 11-12 weeks before I stopped wearing the shoe. Definite closing of the bone was apparent on x-ray after only 7 months! My foot no longer gives me any trouble.”
KB, Knee Fracture Pain Gone From Using Laser and Whole Body Pod
“I was diagnosed with a stress fracture in my knee. It was extremely painful to walk on and my doctor suggested that I stay off of it completely. I felt it tingling every time I did whole body treatments and slightly less pain after each one. After 2 1/2 weeks of whole body with only one laser treatment, my knee never hurt again. A stress fracture completely healed in 2 1/2 weeks and I was walking and running on it with no pain during the 3rd week!”
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