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LOW-LEVEL LASER

Low Level Laser: Image

HOW LASERS WORK

To understand why everyone hurts and is tired all the time you have to understand how our body makes energy.

Your body doesn’t run directly on the food you eat, just like your car engine doesn’t run directly on oil. Oil needs to be refined into gasoline and your food needs to be transformed into ATP which is the only energy your body can use 

Inside every cell are hundreds of small bacteria sized structures called mitochondria. These are the structures that make ATP. Nothing else in the body makes ATP, just the mitochondria. Dysfunction of the mitochondria are linked to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, tight muscles, fatigue, brain fog, pain, fibromyalgia and many other health problems.

Have you ever heard of mitochondria before? If you have, it was probably in grade school or high school when you studied cellular biology. The only thing kids are ever taught about them is that they are “The Power House of the Cell”. To learn anything more involves biochemistry which is complex.

But the mitochondria are your food to ATP converters. They take the energy from the molecular bonds in your food and convert that energy into molecular bonds found in ATP. When the body needs energy, it breaks one of these ATP bonds thus releasing the energy that the cell needs to do work.

When mitochondria lose the ability to perform this energy conversion efficiently we start having health problems, tight muscles, pain and much more.

Low Level Laser Therapy to the cells where the mitochondria are sluggish reinvigorates and restores their normal function. ATP production is increased, collagen production is increased, muscles relax, pain decreases or goes away, flexibility increases, organs improve in their function and more.

If you haven’t heard of Low Level Laser Therapy, or Cold Laser, you will within the next few years.

When all these conversion steps work great in every cell of your body, life is good. When any of these steps are interfered with, life is not good. You can eat poor quality food…You can have poor digestion…Your mitochondria can do a poor job making ATP. Any of these individually can cause problems and many have problems with all three steps.

You can eat better quality food…You can have better digestion by taking digestive enzymes with your meals…You can also have healthier mitochondria producing more ATP by using Low Level Laser Therapy. To understand this, you need to know a bit about the final conversion process to ATP.

The key molecule in the Mitochondria that is susceptible to problems is Cytochrome C Oxidase (Cyt C). What’s really fascinating about this molecule is that it’s like chlorophyll in plants. Cyt C and chlorophyll both absorb light and can do work with the light energy. For a plant, chlorophyll absorbs light energy during photosynthesis to help with plant growth. For humans, Cyt C performs a critical step in converting the energy in our food into ATP. Although their functions are slightly different, they both absorb light energy.

However, if Cyt C gets clogged up with a Nitric Oxide molecule, it can’t convert energy anymore. It’s not that it’s damaged at all, it’s just clogged up. Photons from the Low Level Laser(s) give the Cyt C the energy it needs to kick out the clogging Nitric Oxide molecule. The light isn’t needed for that molecule afterwards either so energy production continues even after the laser light is removed. The image above only shows one Cyt C molecule, but in a single mitochondria there are millions to billions of these Cyt C molecule. Say half are clogged up. How do you think you’re going to feel?

Low Level Laser: Text
Low Level Laser: Video

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Sports Performance and Rehabilitation

 

What is it that every athlete is looking for?  Would it be fair to say a competitive edge?  Could more strength and speed as well as a faster recovery and decreased soreness provide some of that competitive edge?  As an athlete those are things all competitors strive for.  Not only athletes but your average Joe and Jane as well.  Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) also known as cold laser or photobiomodulation (PBM) is a solution.  I know it seems too good to be true but the scientific literature is full of studies.

 

In the December 2016 Journal of Biophotonics, Ferraraesi et. al. found “PBM can increase muscle mass gained after training, and decrease inflammation and oxidative stress in muscle biopsies. We raise the question of whether PBM should be permitted in athletic competition by international regulatory authorities.”  How would you like to experience those results?  Do you see how that can give you a leg up on the competition?

You can find more info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27874264

 

Need more evidence that LLLT can give you and edge?  How about this study from The Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research which found that PMB improved performance in Rugby players.  “Photobiomodulation therapy significantly (p ≤ 0.05) improved the average time of sprints and fatigue index in BST.”  BST is a sprint test. 

You can find more info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27050245

 

To achieve your desired outcome of a competitive edge, you are probably wondering when you should have your Low Level Laser Therapy applied.   According to a 2016 study in Lasers in Medical Science, Vanin et.al. concluded that “With an apparent lack of side effects and safety due to no thermal damage to the tissue, we conclude that the application of phototherapy yields enhanced strength gains when it is applied before exercise.”  This same study also concluded that there may be “additional beneficial value in post-injury rehabilitation where strength improvements are needed.”  You can find more info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27371449

 

 

In the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy they conclude that  “PBMT before an exercise session could enhance the performance of high-level volley- ball athletes, decrease the delayed onset muscle fatigue, and prevent the expected increase of blood lactate levels.”  It also “confirmed the potential of PBMT as an ergogenic agent, and as a therapeutic tool to enhance post-exercise recovery.” “This increasing evidence lead to the 

 International Olympics Committee to recommend PBMT as a therapeutic agent to improve acute muscular recovery…”  When the IOC is behind something we know it is effective.  This analysis also show improvement in conditions such as COPD and fibromyalgia.

You can find more info here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6546960/

 

There are more studies on the benefits of Low Level Laser Therapy.  I have been using them since 2018 on athletes from across the country.  These are D1 athletes from the University of Michigan, BYU, Indiana University and many more as well as numerous high schools in Indiana and Michigan.

 

If you are an athlete or a parent of an athlete looking for that competitive edge of improved performance and faster recovery/rehab, give us a call or send us an email.

812-216-8496

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