Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Sports Injuries

Jun 12, 2023

Sports are a healthy way to keep fit, but they come with the risk of injuries that cause immense pain and affect performance. According to statistics, there are 3.5 million sports injuries in the US every year! Sports injuries are common and adversely affect the quality of your life.

Damaged cells from the injuries cause inflammation around the injured area, and you might start noticing redness and swelling. Unfortunately, recurrent inflammation results in arthritis and joint degeneration, meaning your days in the field are over. Luckily, laser therapy is an effective, safe, and quick solution to inflammation and injury.

What is Laser Therapy?

Laser therapy focuses beams of light on affected areas to reduce pain and treat injured tissues. The use of light in therapy has been around for decades since a physicist invented the laser in 1958. Later in the 1960s, Endre Mester discovered the medical use of laser therapy after noting that when he shaved the back of a rat and illuminated light on it, the hair grew faster

Since then, laser therapy has gained popularity and been approved by the FDA, and doctors now use the technique to treat injuries and diseases. Light from a laser can be intense, but the doctors control the beams to only focus on destroying damaged tissues. Thus, it is safe and does not pose any danger to the patient or the doctors.

How Does Laser Therapy Heal Injuries?

Laser therapy is a non-invasive treatment that promotes tissue, muscle, and bone healing after injuries. Laser energy photons penetrate the skin around the injured region, where the body absorbs them and facilitates cell regeneration and growth. Most importantly, laser therapy stimulates blood flow to the injured area, which delivers oxygen, water, and nutrients to accelerate healing.

Moreover, using lasers helps minimize pain, lowering the amount of pain-causing chemicals in a specific body part. Additionally, laser therapy encourages the production of endorphins to help with pain management. With reduced pain and inflammation, laser therapy allows you to recover and resume your sports activities sooner.

Ways Laser Therapy is Useful in Treating Sports Injuries

Sports injuries are mainly caused by overuse of tendons, ligaments, joints, and others and can be hard to ignore. First, laser therapy reduces severe pain and inflammation caused by consistent injuries. It speeds up healing by allowing new cell regeneration in the affected areas and stimulating the body to heal. As a result, laser therapy also improves muscle performance during physical activities.

When injuries take longer to recover, numbness and reduced mobility are the consequences. However, laser treatment also helps improve nerve regeneration, which otherwise results in loss of motor function.

Since laser therapy is non-invasive and has minimal side effects, it is ideal for treating sports injuries and getting athletes back in the game faster.

3 Main Sports Injuries That Laser Therapy Treats

Laser therapy enters the skin and effectively treats sports injuries that most doctors only treat through surgery and injections. The following are three main sports injuries that are treatable using laser therapy.

Achilles Tendinitis

Your Achilles tendon is found at the back of the leg and can sometimes be injured during strenuous physical activity or overuse. Laser therapy helps to relieve Achilles tendinitis symptoms like pain and swelling by increasing blood flow to the tendons to enhance healing. Additionally, laser treatment helps to minimize nerve sensitivity and reduce pain.

Plantar Fasciitis

Athletes and sports lovers constantly exert pressure on their feet, which can lead to plantar fasciitis. The plantar fascia then weakens and causes a stabbing pain in the heel area. Laser therapy speeds up tissue repair by deeply penetrating the heel, thereby reducing inflammation. The treatment also stimulates the immune system to fight inflammation and reduce the pain.

Ankle Sprains

It’s common for anyone to twist, turn, or roll their ankle, resulting in a sprain. When this happens, the strong ligaments supporting the ankle tear and cause pain. Repeated sprains result in bigger issues like arthritis, thus the need to treat them with laser therapy. The treatment stimulates tissue growth and regeneration, decreases heel inflammation, increases blood flow, and speeds healing.

Does Laser Therapy Speed Up Recovery Time?

Laser therapy treatment is the way to go if you want a speedy recovery. Laser therapy accelerates recovery time compared to traditional treatment options, which require a lot of rest and therapy before recovery. This is because it penetrates the tissues and activates the immune system to heal the body, which speeds up healing.

Laser treatment expedites healing by repairing and generating new cells and providing nutrients and oxygen to the affected area. Within one to two treatment sessions, you will notice a reduction in pain and inflammation and, ultimately, a quick recovery.

Schedule a Sports Injuries Appointment

Are you experiencing excruciating pain after a sports injury, or are injuries taking time to heal? Laser therapy is the key to ending the pain and reclaiming your sports freedom, whether it’s a new or old injury.

At Sunshein Podiatry, we offer laser therapy for sports injuries with our MLS laser. Not only are treatments short, with no side effects or medications required, but MLS laser therapy is also painless. Contact our office today to find out more about MLS laser therapy and see how we can help you get back into the game you love playing without pain!

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