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Based on the American Journal of Case Reports e-ISSN 1941–5923, © Am J Case Rep, 2020; 21: e926779 DOI: 10.12659/AJCR.926779.
Authors: Scott A. Sigman, Soheila Mokmeli, Monica Monici, Mariana A. Vetrici
Team Physician, UMASS Lowell, Fellow of the World Society of Sports and Exercise Medicine, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Chelmsford, MA, USA
See the full-text PDF here.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The presentation of COVID-19 includes dyspnea, lung edema, and pneumonia. Morbidity and mortality are associated with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and cytokine storm. Hospitalized COVID-19 patients are classified as severe if they require intensive care unit (ICU) admission [1,2]. Here, we report the first case of the use of supportive or adjunctive photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) in a patient with severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT) is the best technical term for Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT). It is a light therapy using lasers or LEDs to improve tissue repair, reduce pain and inflammation wherever the beam is applied.
PBMT is an emerging alternative modality with demonstrated anti-inflammatory effects in pain management, lymphedema, wound healing, and musculoskeletal injuries. Additional terms for PBMT include low-level laser (or light) therapy (LLLT), cold laser, and photobiostimulation. The effects of PBMT differ from the thermal effects produced by the high-power lasers used in cosmetic and surgical procedures to destroy the tissue. PBMT is non-invasive, cost-effective, and has no known adverse effects.
Empirical use of PBMT in children, adults, and elderly patients with pneumonia, asthma, chronic bronchitis, or pulmonary fibrosis resulted in reduced chest pain and heaviness, normalization of respiratory function, shortened recovery times, and improved immunological and radiological parameters.
A 57-year-old African American man with a history of hypertension and asthma presented with shortness of breath, severe dehydration ´ renal failure. A physical examination revealed labored breathing, weakness, and fatigue. Chest X-rays demonstrated worsening bilateral lung infiltrates. The patient had been in the ICU for respiratory depression.
The diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 was confirmed for this patient by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction by the nasopharyngeal swab. Patient consent was obtained for an FDA-guided and International Review Board-approved trial of laser treatment for COVID-19 (Lowell General Hospital Federal-wide Assurance number 0001427).
The patient was treated with an FDA-cleared Multiwave Locked System (MLS) Therapy Laser (ASA Laser, Italy.) The MLS laser utilizes a mobile scanner with 2 synchronized laser diodes, one in pulse mode (adjustable to 1–2000 Hz), emitting at 905 nm, and another in pulsed mode emitting at 808 nm. The 2 laser beams work simultaneously and synchronously. This laser is used in pain centers for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and inflammation.
The patient tolerated all 4 daily treatments and noted significant improvement in breathing immediately after each treatment. Paroxysmal coughing spells resolved after the third treatment. Upon completion of the fourth treatment, the patient was able to ambulate in the room with physical therapy. On the day following his final treatment, the patient was discharged to an acute rehabilitation facility on 1 L/min oxygen. On the day after arrival to the acute rehabilitation facility, the patient was able to complete 2 trials of stair climbing with physical therapy and was in the process of weaning to room air.
The patient’s response to PBMT was evaluated by comparing different scoring tools before and after laser therapy. The patient showed improvement in all evaluation criteria.
This report has presented a patient with severe COVID-19 pneumonia associated with ARDS who was given a supportive treatment with PBMT. Based on this case report, as well as clinical experience of PBMT in respiratory tract diseases in humans, professionals consider PBMT to be a feasible adjunct modality for the treatment of COVID-19. There are published experimental work demonstrating the anti-inflammatory effect of PBMT on lung tissue. Professionals suggest that the use of adjunct PBMT in the early stages of severe ARDS seen in COVID-19 patients can enhance healing and reduce the need for prolonged ventilator support and ICU stay.
Getting the Covid-19 vaccination shouldn’t change any of your typical health, fitness, or wellness routines, or at least not for more than a day or two. Still, it’s reasonable to have questions about whether you should hold off on certain things, such as working out, drinking alcohol, or taking certain medications. Below are some of the common questions people have about what they should or shouldn’t do after vaccination related to their own health.
A common circulating question is whether it’s okay to take painkillers and fever reducers, such as acetaminophen (Tylenol) or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen or aspirin. In the big Covid-19 vaccine FAQ on Elemental, the CDC does not recommend taking any of these medications before vaccination for the sake of preventing fever, headache, or other aches. Physicians advise against it because limited evidence suggests it could blunt your body’s immune response.
Basically, wait until you get the vaccine, see what happens and how you feel, and if you experience fever, headache, or other pains, take your preferred painkiller/fever reducer then. There is no evidence to suggest taking acetaminophen or an NSAID after vaccination will negatively affect your immune response.
If you take any immunosuppressive medications, such as biologics for autoimmune diseases, or you’re receiving treatments for cancer, it’s best to check with your specialist (your oncologist, immunologist, rheumatologist, etc.) to find out if you need to skip any doses or wait to get vaccinated between cycles of medications or treatments. Not much data exists on the vaccine and immunosuppressive medication so far, so you’ll need to rely on your physician’s clinical expertise and what we know about other types of vaccines.
No specific recommendations exist related to exercise after getting the Covid-19 vaccine. It’s all going to depend on how you feel. If you’re feeling tired from the vaccine, especially if you have muscle cramps or aches, skip the workout until they subside. Your body is telling you that you need rest, and your immune system probably needs the rest to do its job. If you have the stronger side effects of fever, chills, or fatigue, you should definitely wait until they pass before going for a run or doing a set of deadlifts. If you exercise at a class, it’s probably best not to schedule one in the first two days after each vaccine dose until you know how you’re feeling.
However, if you’re feeling fine, you can try physical activity in a day or two afterward as long as you start slowly and pay attention to your body. You might not have immediately felt any side effects, but once you start exerting yourself, you might find you tire more quickly or easily in the first few days after vaccination. Some physicians advise against any exercise in the first 24 hours after the vaccine, but that’s based more on a “take it easy and see how it goes” approach rather than any data showing that exercise could harm you or the vaccine response.
Yes, you can, but it’s still not the best idea to consume alcohol in the first 24 to 48 hours after vaccination. First, you’re likely to feel tired or achy from the vaccine already, especially if it’s your second dose of one of the mRNA vaccines, so adding a toxin like alcohol to your body when it’s in the process of learning to fight off a specific pathogen could make you feel worse. Alcohol also contributes to dehydration, leading to headaches and muscle or joint pain.
Of course, use red light therapy to improve your circadian rhythm to boost your recovery process. You can use red and infrared light if you feel your body sore and tired.
Most of the vaccines require two doses. You aren’t automatically immune the day after you get your second dose of an mRNA vaccine. Your body needs time to detect the foreign substance in your body, identify it as an intruder, and build up antibodies to fight it. That takes about two weeks, so consider yourself truly, fully immunized two weeks after your second dose.
When it comes to staying healthy, there’s always been an emphasis on boosting and maintaining a healthy immune system. With Covid-19, we now have a magnifying glass on the matter of immunity.
So, what can people do to protect themselves? Naturally, we’ve all become aware of the importance of maintaining our hygiene by washing our hands frequently, using an alcohol sanitizer, and wearing a mask. But we undervalue the importance of boosting our immune system.
As we age, our immune system defenses decrease. This is why you witness young adults and children with no underlying conditions feel Covid-19 as a minor cold rather than a full-fledged illness. So, what can we do to boost our immunity now that we’re being challenged with the Delta variant? Apart from wearing a mask, here are some helpful measures you can take to improve your immunity.
Start with your diet
The food you consume has a direct correlation to your body’s immunity. If you’re receiving sufficient nutrients in your daily diet, your body will not have the power or support to fight off viruses.
Focus on eating plenty of nutrient-rich, colorful fruits and vegetables, as that will provide you with the right vitamins and minerals to bolster your immunity. You can also increase intake of foods like yogurt or kimchi, which include probiotics to maintain healthy gut bacteria. Turmeric and ginger have also proven to be fantastic for bolstering immunity.
Tap into the power of light therapy
There are many factors needed to help you boost your immune system. However, one method works tremendously well, especially if you consume a healthy diet, stay hydrated, and sleep well.
Red light therapy and your immune system go hand-in-hand. Red light therapy works to biohack your body’s system, healing it from the inside out. By stimulating the cells, your body produces more ATP, which works to regenerate damaged cells and create new ones. Thus, your body has the support and strength to fight off harmful viruses like Covid-19 and heal from any ailments you currently have.
Get a good night’s sleep
While you may love going out at night or staying up playing video games, a good night’s sleep is crucial in helping your body build immunity. The average adult should sleep between 7-8 hours. The less sleep you have, the less time your body has to repair itself, negatively affecting your immune system. If you struggle with sleep conditions, a light therapy product can help settle your sleep-wake cycle, helping you get a deep and restful sleep.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate
Water is life. Without it, your body isn’t able to flush out toxins in your system. It’s important that you drink between 8 to 10 glasses of water every day. Staying hydrated also comes with other benefits such as aiding digestion, normalizing blood pressure, protecting organs and tissues, and carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells. Carry a 1.5-liter water bottle with you, and make sure you drink it all by the end of the day.
Focus on stress management
While you can eat the healthiest of foods and stay hydrated, if you’re stressed, you will not receive the benefits of the steps you’re taking to boost your immune system. Long periods of isolation and social distancing have a major impact on our mental health and well-being. This uncertainty can feel overwhelming and add more stress to our lives.
It’s important to monitor and minimize your stress levels, so your immune system isn’t compromised. To reduce stress levels, try the following:
Take the right supplements
Everything we listed above will undoubtedly help you improve your immune system. However, you may need a quick boost, especially if you’re sick or not feeling your best. In that case, we recommend you support your body with the right supplements. Consult with your doctor and ask if the following supplements are right for you: vitamin C, zinc, vitamin D, elderberry, and even garlic.
It’s clear that during these times, our immune systems need even more support. Luckily at Kaiyan, we’re one step ahead and developed a series of MDA-certified and FDA-approved red light therapy products and devices that are designed to support your immune system. Whether you’re looking for a private label of your own light therapy products or for home use, contact our team, as we would love to help you through your light therapy journey.
We all know what COVID-19 is, and many of us have had to deal with it ourselves. As much as the pandemic has slowed in many places, the world is far from going back normal. The struggle is not only in the disease, but the massive shift that it’s brought in the world.
And there is such variance on the effect the virus can have if you do catch it – some people experience no symptoms, while others could fall into a critical state; though the general consensus is that most COVID patients experience a string of similar symptoms, ranging from mild to extreme. Fever and coughing are some of the first symptoms patients experience, next to the infamous loss of smell and taste. While in some way, it presents itself much like a common cold, in many other ways, the symptoms can be stronger, long-lasting, and more intense.
We’ve even accepted that it’s normal to not fully recover immediately. Like with any virus, recovery often depends on a person’s immune system. It’s not a surprise that some people take much longer to get back to their optimal health once the COVID-19 virus sets it back for them. Many people have stated that even weeks or months after getting over the virus, they don’t feel fully recovered.
As much as it is a unique experience for each person, certain symptoms and effects can linger after contracting COVID-19. Primarily what could remain affected are lungs, and studies suggest even the brain. Next to that, obviously, your immune system and overall health are affected.
Among the post-COVID symptoms reported are fatigue, brain fog, joint pain. chest pain, heart palpitations, headaches, dizziness, and insomnia — and these are all after people have technically “recovered” from the primary infection.
While recovering from COVID takes time, there are some things you can do to improve the healing process – taking immune supplements such as vitamin C and echinacea, getting ample rest, and, yes, with light therapy.
The benefits of light therapy are vast, and the treatment has been proven to help improve overall well-being by amplifying cell turnover rate. Working deep at the cellular level, light therapy gives people the chance to rejuvenate their cells into healthier and stronger ones that can ultimately lead to overall better health.
Light therapy creates and accelerates the release of ATP; this is what fuels our body, so it’s not surprising athletes use this form of therapy to not only heal their wounds and bodies but also refuel their muscles.
So how can light therapy exactly help with COVID symptoms? Well, there have been studies to show that progress is accelerated with the aid of light therapy. What’s even better is that light-based technologies are currently cost-effective and widely available in the market. So, investing in a light therapy device can significantly improve your health without breaking the bank.
Photons can also be used to deactivate SARS-CoV-2 in air, liquids, and on surfaces. Phototherapy can be used as an aid to control virus infection and to modulate the host immune system. Light-based solutions can significantly contribute to mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic.
Light therapy use has been used for decades, so it’s no surprise that doctors are implementing it now during these conditions. Light therapy essentials include using different lights to help with different problems, red light being the most commonly used. Light therapy can help improve the immune system by increasing the health and production rate of cells overall. It also helps with circadian rhythm, shifting us into the best schedule and sleep state and allowing our bodies to rest and recover better. Brain fog and chronic fatigue are some of the COVID symptoms that can be improved via light therapy treatment as it aids with restoring sleep patterns, and reduces inflammation in the body.
Studies show that through light therapy, your general wellness and overall health improves which can result in deep body healing, and accelerated recovery from symptoms caused by COVID-19.
Thankfully, Kaiyan Medical produces MDA-certified and FDA-approved light therapy devices perfect for your own at-home treatment, or even for your patients. We’re honored to be able to provide solutions for both patients and healthcare practitioners for this virus that we’ve all been affected by in one way or another – and we’re confident that light therapy will continue to show incredible results for those affected by people across the globe.
Even though we’ve been in the pandemic for over a year now, we are still collecting knowledge on the disease. No one could’ve prepared us for the impact of this virus, and COVID-19 has changed our lives forever.
It is a disease caused by the coronavirus, and the symptoms are similar, but people react differently. It isn’t a virus that gives the same outcome, which is why we have to be so cautious with it. Most common symptoms include fever and dry cough, and extreme fatigue. Apart from those, the other major symptoms are a loss of smell and taste, joint pain, diarrhea, conjunctivitis, and headaches.
Scientists and doctors have learned that respiratory problems are the biggest issue while having the disease. The downfall of our immune system during COVID-19 is what gives a chance for pneumonia to develop. Apart from those symptoms and the dangers of getting pneumonia, there’s also potential long-term effects.
So far, only one peer-reviewed study has reported results on the long-term symptoms of COVID-19 infection: a single group of 143 survivors from Rome. Most of them did not need hospitalization and were assessed at least 60 days after infection. They reported a worsened quality of life in 44.1% of cases, including symptoms of persistent fatigue (53.1%), breathlessness (43.4%), joint pain (27.3%), and chest pain (21.7%).
Treatment has evolved within this short period, and now with the vaccine in power, it poses a question: is it the only solution? It's still necessary to nourish our immune system no matter what; intake of vitamins and supplements is still highly advised. But naturally, aside from the vaccine, you would want a non-invasive alternative as well, which is where light therapy comes into play.
Red light therapy is a non-invasive and non-pharmaceutical method of treatment. It works with light that emits at a close, safe distance, penetrating into the cells. Once it reaches cell level, it helps reproduce ATP, which gives a higher and better cell turnout.
Our cells rejuvenate and reproduce themselves; light therapy only aids in this natural process. With light therapy, we get a better and higher count of cells that are genetically improved over time with treatment.
The ways in which light therapy can help with COVID-19 have been studied for a while now, and we shared some information on early clinical trials with you previously.
Light therapy can help with COVID-19 in reducing severity and prominence of symptoms; it works so that light therapy generates the activation of mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein (MAVS), thus resulting in the reduced expression of viral spike protein and restores the proliferation of infected cells.
Your cells are healing your body by using light therapy––similar to how UV light therapy aids wound healing––and it is there to provide you with more vital cells for your system. A significant reduction of viral infection in the trachea was noticed, the spots where we notice symptoms first, such as our nose and our throats. This means that light therapy helps regulate and decrease the possibility of getting a respiratory disease like pneumonia.
A significantly smaller level of C-reactive protein was observed within seven days of UVA therapy regarding biochemical parameters. It proves that light therapy helps with the deconstruction of damaging proteins in our cells.
Photo-disinfection is used to get rid of harmful bacteria from surgical patients; this is only another form of that. There's also a method where a non-toxic dye is inserted into the nose. It is one that is triggered by light, and then it is measured whether or not the light therapy device has successfully inactivated the virus. This method is used in the early stages of COVID-19.
The one used in the beforehand mentioned study included a light therapy device equipped with a multi-LED UVA light catheter connected to the nasal tube to deliver UVA light to the patients. Our devices are created with multi-LED, so the type of light therapy is your choice, depending on your needs.
The UVA therapy was administered for 20 minutes to all patients once daily for 5 consecutive days. Before the treatment, all patients received oxygen supplementation for 30 minutes. The regimen varies however light therapy should be done consecutively and 10 to 15 minutes.
The coronavirus is still here, but you’re not defenseless. Kaiyan Medical works to develop the best high-quality light therapy devices, with FDA-approved and MDASAP-certified light therapy devices perfect for at-home treatments.
Whether you’re looking to bolster your immune system or wish to provide non-invasive treatment to patients with COVID-19, light therapy is an incredibly powerful and effective tool in fighting the serious symptoms of this virus. Contact our team for more information.
