Often people are apprehensive that it will be really hot. Probably because we see lasers in popular culture being used to cut things or burn holes in things! This is absolutely NOT the case with our lasers!
All you will feel – if you feel anything at all – is a very mild warmth. There is a lot of energy going into your tissues so some warming can occur, but the action of the laser is much more than just a heat treatment. If you do feel anything more than a comfortable warmth, we will ask that you tell us.
If you are seeing us for your initial consultation, we will take some time to listen to you, assess you and make a treatment plan, which will take around 20min. Then the actual treatment time is usually less than 15min, and some time at the end to ensure we all understand what happens next and how you can help your recovery at home, with specific exercises or other actions. We generally book an initial consultation for 40min.
If we are seeing you for a standard consultation, where we follow through with the treatment plan, we will not require as long. A standard consult will usually only require 20min.
Some people may require a long consultation, possibly to include some manual therapy or exercise instruction and supervision, in which case we will vary appointment times to suit your needs. We also use long consults to review your plan to make decisions about what we do next to ensure your complete recovery. Long consults are generally booked for 40min.
Typically, the specific dosing applied to a specific body part will take only a few minutes. This is the beauty of Class 4 lasers: they don’t take 30min or more to deliver the dose you need.
If swelling is involved, we may precede the treatment of a specific body part by applying a protocol over the tissues further “upstream” to aid in returning fluid from the problem area back into the bloodstream via the lymphatic system, a one-way network of tubes that helps return plasma back into the circulatory system via lymph nodes, where the nasties are filtered out and gotten rid of.
With larger joints, like knees, we may treat one side of the joint then the other.
We might also treat from the nerve roots where they leave the spine before moving down to the problem area.
Generally speaking we can treat most problem areas in under 15min. We tend to make bookings for 20min to allow for arranging clothing and getting you on and off the plinth if that is required.
For acute problems we expect to see marked improvements in pain after as few as three sessions, which would normally be scheduled for the first week or two. Many people actually do feel a large reduction in pain very soon after the first session; others can have a short term increase in pain, but this will usually settle the next day and usually feel better than prior to the laser session. In our experience. The degree of change in pain and swelling will generally occur much faster than with traditional treatment or simply waiting for it to go away. If getting better faster is important to you, we believe this treatment will assist in making your recovery a speedy one.
Most soft tissue injuries will only require around 6 treatments, however more severe injuries may require over 12 treatments. We tailor courses of treatment to variations in lots of factors. And we may at times withdraw treatment to see if your body is holding its own.
For chronic conditions – osteoarthritis, neuropathies, chronic tendon conditions – we would expect you to notice a significant change within a few sessions but generally require 6 to 12 sessions to achieve larger changes. You may also need occasional ‘booster’ sessions to keep your condition in check. We can’t cure osteoarthritis, but the evidence for pain reduction is strong: laser can help to manage it, but we can help to effectively manage it, such that your ability to move improves greatly.
We can never promise laser will work every time. We can usually give you an idea if laser is not going to help, based on occasional previous experience with certain cases. We can explain these to you when we meet.
Where laser won’t help or is unlikely to help, we will propose alternative treatment either with our therapists – using manual therapy and/or exercise to improve your problem – or with external providers. If we can’t help you, we will not charge for the consultation.
