help me pick a laser

July 20, 2010 7:24 PM

My sister is a chiropractor and I am enquiring on her behalf if anyone can advise about brands of low power therapeutic lasers for soft tissue treatment that you can recommend or warn against.
posted by grizzled to Health & Fitness (3 answers total)

Best answer: Um... I don't mean to be snippy at all, and I am neither a doctor nor a chiropractor, but as a layperson, I'd advise against ALL of them. There has been very little proven clinical benefit thus far.
posted by julthumbscrew at 7:56 PM on July 20, 2010 [7 favorites]

One that's weak enough that it won't do any harm, i.e class I. You're probably only getting placebo effect, so just be safe.

I mean, you don't even specify what wavelength you want or how it's meant to be effective...
posted by polyglot at 5:26 AM on July 21, 2010

Hmm, you've added the "resolved" tag but just in case …

I wouldn't dismiss low-level light therapy based on insurance charges; it may not be proven but neither is it disproven. A quick Google found some positive systematic reviews like this one: "Conclusion: LLLT can modulate inflammatory processes in a dose-dependent manner and can be titrated to significantly reduce acute inflammatory pain in clinical settings." from here.

I have used several 830nm set-ups, primarily the Solaris machines which have ultrasound and electrical stim as well as laser. I've seen good results on frozen shoulder and trigger points with infrared laser as one of the treatments.
posted by olecranon at 10:42 PM on July 21, 2010