HOW LASER THERAPY IS CHANGING PAIN

About 15 years ago, when I first started using laser therapy clinically, I honestly was not convinced it was going to make much of a difference.

At the time, the technology was much more limited than what we have available now, and I remember feeling somewhat skeptical about how impactful it could really be. After using it a handful of times, I eventually stopped pulling it out very often.

Then I had a patient come in who kept specifically asking for laser treatment during his visits. I remember asking him one day if he actually felt like it was helping, and he immediately started showing me the changes in his knee. His swelling had improved, his motion had improved, and he had gone several weeks without another meniscus flare-up.

That was one of the first moments where I realized there was probably much more happening physiologically than I initially understood.

A lot has changed since then.

The technology has improved dramatically over the last decade. Treatment depth has improved. The research has improved. And our understanding of how light interacts with human physiology has changed significantly as well.

That is one of the reasons I wanted to sit down with Dr. Rob Hanopole for this conversation.

You can CLICK HERE to watch the conversation

Laser Therapy Is Very Different Than Most People Think

One of the biggest misconceptions around laser therapy is that people tend to lump everything into the same category.

Red light therapy, infrared therapy, LED panels, and medical laser systems all get grouped together online, but they are not all operating at the same therapeutic level.

Some lower-powered devices can absolutely still provide benefits. People often notice improvements in circulation, skin health, inflammation, and recovery with them.

But high-powered medical laser systems are designed to deliver energy much deeper into tissue, which creates a very different therapeutic effect when you are talking about healing injured tissue, improving recovery, or supporting regeneration.

That distinction matters because healing is an energy-dependent process.

Healing Starts At The Cellular Level

One of the things we discussed heavily in this episode is mitochondria.

Mitochondria are the energy-producing structures inside our cells. They help generate ATP, which is essentially the fuel cells use to do their jobs properly.

When tissue becomes injured, inflamed, or chronically dysfunctional, energy production inside those cells often becomes impaired as well.

That is part of what makes chronic injuries so frustrating. The tissue is trying to heal, but the environment surrounding that tissue is often working against recovery at the same time.

Photobiomodulation, or laser therapy, appears to stimulate receptors inside cells that improve energy production. And when cells produce energy more efficiently, they tend to function more efficiently too.

If cells are involved in tissue repair, they repair tissue more effectively.
If they are regulating inflammation, they regulate inflammation more effectively.
If they are helping build tendon, muscle, or connective tissue, those processes improve as well.

That is one of the reasons laser therapy has become so interesting clinically over the last several years.

Chronic Pain Often Involves Poor Recovery Capacity

One of the things I think healthcare is beginning to understand more clearly is that chronic pain is not always simply a structural problem.

Sometimes tissue never fully heals.
Sometimes inflammation stays elevated longer than it should.
Sometimes circulation is poor.
Sometimes the nervous system stays locked into a protective response long after the initial injury occurred.

And sometimes the body simply does not have enough cellular energy available to recover efficiently.

This is where therapies that support healing at the cellular level become very interesting.

Because instead of only asking how we reduce pain temporarily, the conversation starts shifting toward improving the environment that allows healing to happen in the first place.

That is a very different approach to healthcare.

The Conversation Around Disc Injuries Is Changing

We also spent time talking about chronic spine and disc injuries because this is one of the areas where regenerative therapies and laser therapy are generating a lot of interest right now.

Disc injuries can be incredibly frustrating for patients. Discs have relatively poor blood supply compared to many other tissues, which limits healing capacity. Once inflammation and nerve irritation become chronic, people often end up cycling through medications, injections, and sometimes surgery without ever feeling like the underlying issue fully resolved.

That does not mean surgery is never appropriate because there are certainly situations where it is necessary.

But more patients are beginning to ask whether there are ways to support healing before immediately moving toward more invasive interventions.

That is one of the reasons regenerative medicine, photobiomodulation, biologics, peptides, and recovery-based therapies are growing so rapidly right now. People are becoming much more interested in helping the body repair itself more effectively instead of simply masking symptoms.

Medicine Is Starting To Think About Healing Differently

For a long time, healthcare focused heavily on chemistry and structure:
medications, surgery, biomechanics, structural damage.

And all of those things still matter tremendously.

But we are also beginning to better understand the electrical and energetic side of human physiology. Cells communicate electrically. The nervous system functions electrically. Healing itself requires enormous amounts of energy.

That is opening the door to therapies designed to support recovery and healing through cellular signaling and energy transfer instead of only chemical intervention.

I think we are still very early in understanding where this field is ultimately going.

Recovery Affects Much More Than Pain

One of the reasons I find these conversations so interesting is because recovery affects nearly every aspect of long-term health.

Recovery affects inflammation.
It affects movement quality.
It affects energy production.
It affects nervous system regulation.
It affects resilience and aging.

The better the body recovers, the better it tends to function overall.

That is why therapies focused on improving circulation, mitochondrial function, tissue healing, and recovery capacity are becoming increasingly important not only for injuries, but also for longevity, performance, and healthy aging.

And I suspect we are only scratching the surface of what these therapies may eventually become capable of doing.

Derrick Hines, D.P.T., MS O.M.T.
Acadiana Pain & Performance Rehab

P.S. You can watch a wonderful conversation I had with Rob Hanopole about Laser Therapy. Click HERE