I had a patient recently whose complaint was pretty common.
She complained of shoulder pain that was described as “achy most of the time with the occasional shooting knife-like pain.”
Her pain was exponentially worse in certain ranges of motion.
She was unable to do up her own bra or tuck her shirt into the back of her pants. To grab something at arm’s length was impossible.
It got so bad that she could not sleep on the affected side.
In the end, prior to seeing me, her shoulder pain would wake her nightly.
Her pain was there for over six months and it did not seem to be getting any better.
She tried massage, physiotherapy and acupuncture. She eventually went to her medical doctor who gave her a cortisone injection. Twice.
No changes.
She saw me because her husband, a patient of mine, told her he was tired of hearing her complaints and insisted that she come see me.
She was reluctant, to say the least. She had never seen a doctor of chiropractic and was confused as to why she was there because: “I don’t have neck or back pain.”
I told her that we treat neck and back pain, but that isn’t even what we do best.
I asked her questions as to the injury and its progression for about 20 minutes.
I then examined her for another 20 minutes. I was able to reproduce her pain via a series of orthopedic tests and tissue palpation.
The answer became obvious. She had a repetitive strain injury of one of the muscles in her rotator cuff.
I told her it was low intensity laser therapy that she needed. It would remove the binding scar tissue, bring in a brand new blood supply to the injured area and allow the body to heal itself.
The changes would be permanent and corrective.
Since then, she has had her second treatment and she reported a subjective 70 per cent improvement.
The theory is simple. Find the problem. Fix it. Leave it alone.
The body has a limitless ability to heal itself.
The laser speeds that process and you heal like you did when you were nine years old.
About 60 per cent of all my laser therapy patients are those that suffer from shoulder injuries.
No, laser therapy is not for tattoo removal or the eradication of cellulite, at least mine is not.
It is used to treat patients who suffer from pain. Just pain.
In each treatment, lasting 30 to 45 minutes, I use three separate lasers.
The first removes scar tissue and reduces inflammation.
The second starts a process called angiogenesis. This is where the body creates a brand new blood supply to the injured area. This assists in getting rid of waste products and resupplying the injured area with healthy building blocks to create new tissue.
The third laser increases the amount of physiologically available energy to the injured area, exponentially healing the injured tissue.
In essence, get rid of the injured tissue, bring new tissue to the area and allow it to heal using its own normal pathways.
No surgery, no side effects and no pain. The therapy itself is absolutely painless, just bring a good book and let the laser do its work.
