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Chronic nonspecific back pain (CNBP) is a common and cost-intensive musculoskeletal syndrome in Western society. This condition is the most common cause of disability in North America, and it accounts for 64% of new consultations at this pain clinic. It has a lifetime prevalence of up to 80%, and for example, in low back pain, high rates of repeated occurrence have been reported. The mechanisms underlying CNBP are manifold: Mechanical reasons are not the sole triggers, as it was demonstrated that 85% of all CNBP cases show no morphologic causes. There is international consensus that comorbidities such as mood and anxiety disorders are associated with higher levels of perceived pain, and psychosocial mechanisms are essential in the chronification of pain. Patients suffering from depression with comorbid pain show longer times to remission. Psychosocial factors such as avoidance behavior and anxiety are closely connected to depression. They are evidently more accurate predictors for the development of chronic pain compared with biographical or somatic determinants. It has been reported that 60% of chronic pain patients show manifest symptoms of depression. The prevalence of depression is three to four times higher in low back pain patients than in the general population.
Pain relief with IR has been shown and studied for arthritis of the knee. Other beneficial effects documented are increased wound healing, blood flow, endorphin levels, and bioactivation of neuromodulators.
Infrared light promotes faster healing of deep tissues by penetrating the skin and improving the circulation of oxygenated blood in the body, thus relieving pain. Infrared light therapy can penetrate deeply so that it can help even harder to reach cells and tissues.
When infrared light reaches the smallest unit in our body, which are the cells, it is absorbed by the power generators of the cell, which are called mitochondria. This increases the cell’s metabolism, stimulating healing in the muscle, bone, skin, and subcutaneous tissue.
Improving the metabolism of the cells will increase blood flow. A vital component for this is the release of nitric oxide, a molecule that signals the blood flow when activated. Increased blood flow helps bring oxygenated blood and nutrients to different parts of the body, most especially to areas where there is pain. Aside from that, increased blood flow also paves the way for body wastes to be drained from the body faster. All these are crucial in the healing process, which reduces the inflammation and pain of the affected area.
It is widely accepted that a multimodal approach is required in the treatment of CNBP. The incorporation of infrared light therapy may offer this combined intervention strategy — considering pain, psychosocial, and emotional factors and being cost-effective. Infrared light therapy has proved successful mainly in the treatment of mood disorders. It has also been of interest in the treatment of various other behavioral syndromes such as eating and circadian rhythm disorders and headaches. That infrared light therapy could effectively treat CNBP can most likely be explained by the fact that pain and depression have been shown to share similarities in pathophysiological pathways and the brain regions affected. Additionally, melatonin, which strongly depends on the light-dark cycle, contributes to pain control through antinociceptive activity on spinal and supraspinal levels. In fact, MT1 and MT2 melatonergic receptors play an essential role in pain regulation by reducing hyperalgesia and modulating inflammation.
The frequency of sessions will depend on your alignment and the severity. Clients with chronic pain who have regular weekly sessions find this helps manage their ongoing pain issues by staying ahead of the inflammation and helps proactively manage their pain. If the pain is temporary, then 2–3 sessions may be what you need.
If you are unsure, discuss your needs with our friendly staff, who will help you sort through what’s right for your needs.
In 2019, 20.4% of adults had chronic pain, and 7.4% of adults had chronic pain that frequently limited life or work activities (referred to as high impact chronic pain) in the past 3 months. Chronic pain and high-impact chronic pain increased with age and were highest among adults aged 65 and over.
To make the right decision about effective therapies for reducing chronic pain, it’s important to understand how each method works and what results you can expect. TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) is a drug-free therapy that is available to assist with chronic pain management.
The TENS device consists of a control unit, an electrical lead, and gel pads or metal plates applied to the skin. When turned on, the TENS device delivers a low voltage current through the electrode pads placed on the skin. This current activates non-painful sensory nerve fibers and creates a tingling sensation.
You can use it at a doctor or physiotherapist clinic. You can also hire or purchase a TENS machine to use at home.
The electric current from the TENS machines acts on both the peripheral nervous system (nerves extending to your limbs and skin) and the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) to reduce pain.
In the peripheral nervous system, TENS reduces pain through a mechanism called ‘gate control.’ The TENS current activates fast transmitting non-painful sensory nerves. This nervous input travels much faster than the slowly transmitted pain signals, reaching the central nervous system first. These signals compete with the painful nerve signals, preventing the pain signals from traveling to the higher pain centers of the brain[2].
TENS acts by releasing pain inhibiting chemicals in the central nervous system, including natural endorphins and serotonin, and reducing chemicals that otherwise elevate painful sensations. There’s also evidence that pain inhibiting activity occurs in the central cortex of the brain during TENS therapy.
For effective pain relief, a TENS device needs to be used for 30–60 minutes and can be used for up to 2 hours. It can be used several times a day, as needed.
TENS should not be used on broken or desensitized skin, over an area of infection, or in a malignant tumor.
Areas of the body where it is unsafe to use TENS include the head, the front of the neck, or the chest. You should avoid placing the electrode over the carotid artery.
You can use TENS, where the electrodes are placed on either side of the spinal column, but you should not place the TENS electrodes directly over the spinal column.
Patients who should not use a TENS machine include less than 36 weeks pregnant, patients with a cardiac pacemaker, or patients with epilepsy.
Most people will not experience side effects. However, there is a small risk of allergic reaction to the electrode pads. Overuse of the machine may lead to muscle soreness, and setting the intensity too high can produce discomfort and muscle twitching.
Holistic medicine is a whole-body approach to healthcare. It aims to improve health and wellness through the body, mind, and soul.
Holistic medicine is based on several core values:
LED stands for light-emitting diode. These lights have been in use since the 1960s, but people have only recently begun to use them as a skin treatment.
Before red light therapy entered the health and wellness industries, NASA developed LED lights to grow plants in space. But that was short-lived as LED’s benefits for wound healing and human tissue growth became visible.
LED lights, including blue and red, use varying wavelengths to penetrate the skin and absorb cells. The cell’s absorption triggers a biological process that helps the skin, muscles, and tissues rejuvenate and heal.
What makes LED treatment popular is its non-pharmaceutical and non-invasive treatment for healing acne, reversing sun damage, healing wounds, and other skin conditions.
Using LED treatment may be an amazing option for those who prefer a natural and non-pharmaceutical option to manage joint and muscle issues. By using a specific combination of visible and infrared wavelengths, you can heal the body from the inside out, healing conditions including arthritis without any side effects.
Whether you’re suffering from arthritis, carpal tunnel syndrome, or a different ailment, here are the top five pain relief devices to try.
5) Double Side FDA Cleared Red/Infrared Lights Therapy Glove
Those who have arthritis or repetitive strain injury should avoid gripping and straining the area. The double side therapy glove can surround their hand for complete coverage without injuring their wrists or fingers.
4)The Multifunction Pen LED
A portable solution, ideal for travel, the multifunction pen LED is around the size of a flashlight, using specific wavelengths for anti-inflammatory treatment in localized areas of application.
3) Handheld Device with LED Red Light
The LED red light therapy handheld device is built with an ergonomic handle, allowing the wrist to naturally rest and the fingers to grip comfortably. Its compact and efficient design is ideal for travel.
2) Light Therapy Infrared Light Panel for Whole Body
Are you looking for deep penetration? The light therapy infrared light panel has the largest amount of diodes, ideal for full body treatment. It’s ideal for reducing inflammation, increasing circulation, and stimulating cell growth.
1. FDA Cleared Red/Infrared Led Light Therapy Pad
A red/infrared light therapy pad is ideal for treating larger or numerous areas of the body, including the lower back. You can apply the therapy pad for 15 minutes, receiving the ideal amount of LED light for treatment.
Imagine that the movement of a single hair on your arm causes severe pain. For patients with neuropathic pain — a chronic illness affecting 7 to 8% of the European population, with no effective treatment — this can be a daily reality.
Scientists from EMBL Rome have now identified a special population of nerve cells in the skin that are responsible for sensitivity to gentle touch. These are also the cells that cause severe pain in patients with neuropathic pain. The research team, led by EMBL group leader Paul Heppenstall, developed a light-sensitive chemical that selectively binds to this nerve cell type. By first injecting the affected skin area with the chemical and then illuminating it with near-infrared light, the targeted nerve cells retract from the skin’s surface, leading to pain relief. Nature Communications publishes the results on 24 April 2018.
The Spicy Effect
By clipping off the nerve endings with light, the gentle touch that can cause severe pain in neuropathic patients is no longer felt. “It’s like eating a strong pepper, which burns the nerve endings in your mouth and desensitizes them for some time,” says Heppenstall. “The nice thing about our technique is that we can specifically target the small subgroup of neurons, causing neuropathic pain.”
There are many different nerve cells in your skin, which make you feel specific sensations like vibration, cold, heat, or normal pain. These cells are not affected by the light treatment at all. The skin is only desensitized to the gentlest touch, like a breeze, tickling, or an insect crawling across your skin.
Illumination vs. Drugs
Previous attempts to develop drugs to treat neuropathic pain have mostly focused on targeting single molecules. “We think, however, that there’s not one single molecule responsible. There are many,” Heppenstall explains. “You might be able to succeed in blocking one or a couple, but others would take over the same function eventually. With our new illumination method, we avoid this problem altogether.”
Touch and pain were assessed by measuring reflexes in mice affected by neuropathic pain in their limbs. Affected mice will normally quickly withdraw their paw when it is gently touched. After the light therapy, however, they exhibited normal reflexes upon gentle touch. The therapy's effect lasts for a few weeks, after which the nerve endings grow back, and gentle touch causes pain again.
The team also investigated human skin tissue. The tissue's overall makeup and the specifics of the neurons of interest appear to be similar, indicating that the method might be effective in managing neuropathic pain in humans. “In the end, we aim to solve the problem of pain in both humans and animals,” says Heppenstall. “Of course, a lot of work needs to be done before we can do a similar study in people with neuropathic pain. That’s why we’re now actively looking for partners and are open for new collaborations to develop this method further, with the hope of one day using it in the clinic.”
When it comes to pain, we could hardly avert it! Especially the muscle pain. Given that the human body has over 600 muscles, it is tough to avoid muscle pain. Evidently, one out of three Americans is affected by muscle pain annually.
Not only this, Musculoskeletal pain affects around 116 million Americans, which results in poor productivity, missed work or school, fatigue, and lost interest in work.
But doesn’t we treatments for this chronic pain? Of course, we do have several options. Currently, therapies available consist of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroid injections, pain medications, and surgery. Each of these has its own specific risk profiles.
What we need now is an effective solution that is less time-consuming, low risk, safe and non-invasive, and yet cost-effective. All these features are available in treatment; we call Low Laser Light Therapy (LLLT). Light therapy has been in the medical field over the past forty years. Light therapy has been demonstrated to lessen inflammation and edema, promote healing in a range of musculoskeletal pathologies. LLLT is being accepted around the globe. This is an advanced, cost-effective, non-invasive therapy for pain that could elevate the quality of life while reducing your financial strains. The causes of muscular pain are numerous. Hence, LLLT helps people from all fields like sports, fitness, medical, and even old age.
In this process, light with a wavelength in the red to the near-infrared region of the spectrum (660nm–905nm) is employed on the skin surface. The reason for using these wavelengths is that they have the ability to penetrate the skin and soft/hard tissues. From various conducted clinical trials, this treatment is proven to have a good effect on pain, inflammation, and repairing of the tissues. The therapy goes from 30 to 120 seconds or more a week, depending upon the pain's severity.
Based on the tissue condition, the therapy can go on for weeks or months. LLLT has resulted in relief and reduction of inflammation, pain relief, and accelerated tissue regeneration.
But how does the light actually work?
Do you know that many acute orthopedic conditions such as strains, sprains, muscular back pain, frozen shoulder, neck and back pain, etc., are amenable to Low Laser Light Therapy (LLLT)?
The Infra-Red light relieves pain in a different section of the body and increases relaxation sensation while also comforting the muscles. LLLT has been shown to enhance the multiplication of cells like fibroblasts, keratinocytes, endothelial cells, and lymphocytes. Fibroblasts and keratinocytes are two major cell types that respond to the inflammatory phase in the repair/regeneration process.
LLLT can enhance neovascularization, promote angiogenesis, and increase collagen synthesis to succor in the healing of acute and chronic wounds. The LED light sessions have shown the ability to heal skin, nerves, tendons, cartilage, and bones. Low-intensity LLLT stimulates mitochondria and also enhances the mitochondrial membrane potential.
The peripheral nerve endings of nociceptors (also known as the pain receptors), consisting of the thinly myelinated and unmyelinated, slow-conducting C fibers, lie within the epidermis. This complex network converts harmful stimuli into action potentials. Moreover, these nerve endings lie on the surface or superficial in nature, making the LLLT wavelength penetration work easy.
Hence, with the rise of chronic pain in different countries, it is imperative to validate cost-effective and safe techniques for managing painful conditions, allowing people to live active and productive lives. Light therapy is constantly evolving in relieving muscular pain. It improves the muscle's endurance, reduces muscle soreness, joint pain, and inflammation.
It’s time to let go of the pain!!
Experience the difference with light therapy from Kaiyan Medical.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12605431/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27472858/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4743666/
When it comes to muscle and joint stiffness, osteoarthritis, and arthritis, the one thing in common is pain and inflammation. When suffering from joint and muscular conditions, a person’s range of motion decreases, and swelling and skin redness increase, making everyday tasks a struggle.
Many young to middle-aged people are unaware of these conditions as they’ve been labeled as conditions mainly for the elderly; however, things have changed.
Though these conditions are common within the elderly community, we’re seeing an increase among young adults. In the United States alone, 23% of adults — over 53 million people — have arthritis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In other words, joint pain isn’t just for old age, as we once thought.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) appears in every 8 in 100,000 people between 18 and 34 years old. Of course, no one — young or old — wants to wake up feeling joint stiffness, swelling, or pain every morning.
However, the old myth that arthritis is untreatable is about to be debunked with light therapy.
Naturally, a medical professional will have to make a conclusive arthritis diagnosis. However, once diagnosed, many people find home treatments to deal with the pain — like light therapy. And the people who are undergoing light therapy are receiving incredible pain relief from their treatment. For example, a study published in the Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation found that infrared light treatment on inflammatory arthritis of the spine (spondylitis) encouraged increased function and improved quality of life for participants.
But what’s the science behind red light therapy treating joint conditions? Red light therapy uses low levels of red light to stimulate a natural response to cell performance. The light penetrates through the layers of the dermis, entering the muscles and nerves. As the cells absorb the energy, they become more active, with increased blood flow to the treated area, promoting cell regrowth and regeneration. Through this combination of increased blood flow and cellular activity, it rapidly reduces inflammation and pain.
With the recent advancements in modern technology, those who have arthritis or other joint conditions no longer need to opt for nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or corticosteroids. These forms of the medication come with serious side effects such as edema, heartburn, stomach ulcers, cataracts, bone loss, and elevated blood clots. This alternative non-invasive treatment allows people to choose a drug-free treatment that reduces swelling, inflammation, and pain through red light therapy.
A study published in the National Library of Medicine found that elderly patients who underwent red and infrared therapy treatment had reduced their pain by 50%. Besides, they found participants who underwent red and infrared light therapy had a significant improvement in function. Another study from 2016 saw a substantial reduction in pain and an increased range of motion after five to seven red light therapy treatments for Bouchard’s and Heberden’s osteoarthritis. These studies are only a few examples of how red light therapy shows results as an effective treatment.
A little red light can go a long way for your body, mind, and soul. More and more people recognize the benefits of red light therapy as a natural home treatment. For people suffering from any joint condition, red light therapy will reduce inflammation, eliminating joint and muscle pain.
But there’s more to red light therapy than this. It’s important to be reminded that light therapy also heals other ailments in the body. Red light therapy is effective for injuries, muscle recovery, cancer side effects, skincare, and depression.
With an FDA-approved and MDA-certified Lunas red light therapy device, users can achieve optimal therapeutic results by merely exposing their bare skin to the light for a few minutes per day. Healing yourself doesn’t need a lot of time or money; you need the right tools. Lunas light therapy devices have the power to heal bodies and minds all around the world.
