In the late 1960's, researchers introduced the concept of laser biostimulation using low-powered laser beams to produce non-thermal effects in human tissue. The first experimental applications of low-level energy laser therapy were reported in 1968, when researchers used ruby and argon lasers on non-healing or slow-to-heal ulcers. Later research substantiated the efficacy of laser treatment to accelerate the healing of wounds, attenuate pain, and reduce tissue inflammation in both humans and animals.

To treat chronic pain with laser biostimulation, one must reach deep into tissue to irradiate the affected area. Laser wavelengths between 820 nanometers to 840 nanometers have an extremely low absorption rate in human tissue, thus allowing deep penetration of laser light. The 830 nm laser beam is also well absorbed in subcellular organelles, causing them to function normally. The laser's low level of power output also affects the depth of the beam's penetration, and has been shown to be effective in treating human tissue. The 830 nm laser with a power output between 60 milliwatts (mW) and 90 mW is reported by experimenting clinicians to be optimal for treating chronic pain.

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Damaged cells, on examination, show that a dysfunctional nerve network, lymphatic system, or circulatory system, or possibly all three, produce an imbalance or abnormal condition. Low-level energy laser therapy is effective in large part because it focuses on the interdependent relationship between the nerve network, lymphatic and circulatory systems. Although it is possible for damaged cells to normalize without low-level energy laser therapy, the use of low-level energy laser therapy may speed up the normalization process.

A good example of how low-level energy laser therapy speeds up the normalization process can be demonstrated with acute soft tissue trauma. An injury of this type consists of damage to several elements involving the deep, sensitive layers beneath the epidermis; including muscular, neural, lymphatic and vascular tissue. The human body's natural reaction to acute soft tissue trauma is to "splint" the injury with edema, an accumulation of thin or watery fluid in tissue spaces or cell interstices, causing a swelling. This swelling prevents excessive movement of the damaged tissue and results in two types of pain. The first type is actual trauma pain from the injured tissue, while secondary pain comes from the swelling itself.

Low-level energy laser therapy first targets the lymphatic system, because it maintains the fluid balance in the body; and the infrared laser light also improves reabsorption of the edema. With low-level energy laser therapy, swelling is reduced, allowing movement to return to the treated area.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), the most common repetitive-stress injury, is a manifestation of nerve and tissue damage from fast, forceful and seemingly harmless repetitive wrist and hand motions. Repetitive movements can cause inflammation of the tendons that pass through a narrow tunnel in the wrist called the Carpal Tunnel. Those tendons enable the hand to open and close. The median nerve that also passes through the Carpal Tunnel carries impulses from the brain to the fingers. Inflamed tissue in the Carpal Tunnel can squeeze the median nerve, cause significant swelling and debilitating pain.

Injury often occurs in production and manufacturing workplaces. Common repetitive activities include cutting meat, dressing poultry and assembling automobiles. People developed CTS from using IBM computer keyboards. They sued the company. (Computer manufacturers now use warning labels to alert consumers that keyboard use may increase the risk of CTS.)

At the onset of CTS, an affected person feels a shooting pain in the shoulders, and tenderness, swelling, tingling and burning in the fingers and hands. As CTS progresses, these sensations may become so acute and persistent that an afflicted person no longer can perform the simplest of tasks, such as grasping objects. The longer the swelling compresses or pinches the median nerve, the greater the chance that some of the nerve cells will die. When enough nerve cells die, hand muscles deteriorate and lose their ability to grip. CTS sufferers may become permanently disabled if they ignore the symptoms.

Non-surgical treatments for CTS include immobilization, cold and hot therapy, aspirin, cortisone, infrared heat ultrasound, electrical stimulation, paraffin baths, various types of physical therapy, and anti-inflammatory drugs. In the most severe cases, surgery is performed to enlarge the Carpal Tunnel and repair ligaments. Statistics from the National Center for Health indicate that 2.4 million visits were made to physicians in 1999 because of CTS, of which 1 million were made to orthopedic surgeons.

According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS), approximately 366,000 CTS surgeries were performed in 1999, a 300% increase from 1991. However, both surgical and non-surgical treatments generally have not enabled CTS sufferers to return to work. At General Motors, about 1% of workers who undergo invasive CTS surgery permanently return to their previous jobs. As a result, CTS costs GM an estimated $250 million per year, including worker compensation payments.

Because current therapies produce limited success, CTS frequently causes temporary or permanent disability, imposing substantial costs on employers. In 1984, the AAOS estimated that the economic costs of repetitive-stress injuries to American industry amounted to more than $27 billion per year, principally in the form of wages, workers' compensation, medical expenses and decreased productivity, not to mention higher insurance premiums.

Although the rate of repetitive stress injury varies significantly by industry, it generally has increased over the years. The incidence of repetitive stress disorders grew in many ways over the last decade as a result of many factors, including informed reporting and better diagnosis. In 1981, 18% of all workforce illness was from repetitive stress injuries, and by 1989 they accounted for 52% of all work-related injuries. In November 1990, Secretary of Labor Dole announced OSHA's settlement with General Motors in the combat of repetitive stress injury. She called that injury "one of the nation's greatest worker health and safety concerns in the decade of the 1990s." Little has changed since that time.

MicroLight Corporation of America expects that its ML 830® will make significant contributions toward worker welfare as well as in reducing the financial burden on American industry, both in terms of medical costs, lost time and productivity.

ML 830® Laser

In a rapidly developing technological workplace, the human body has a hard time keeping pace with the demands of modern machines and repetitive motions. The cumulative daily effect of fast, forceful and seemingly harmless movements of one's shoulders, elbows, wrists and hands while operating computers, cutting meat, assembling automobiles, or handling packages, adversely affects workers and industries worldwide.

As demands for productivity increase, so do physical demands on the individual. These demands lead to stressed muscles and tendons pushed far beyond their limits, resulting in disorders commonly known as Repetitive Stress Injury or "RSI." A very common RSI problem is Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, or "CTS." CTS has a major financial impact on industry worldwide, resulting in millions of lost dollars each year.

MicroLight Corporation of America, a leader in non-toxic laser therapy, is working toward an effective solution to RSI, employing the process of photobiostimulation. The ML 830® was designed by a team of doctors and leading medical engineers to harness the therapeutic application of advanced low-energy laser technology.

Virtually all light has some penetration properties. However, when applied to the human body, the outer skin layers absorb some light. Traditional thermal (hot) laser light can penetrate skin, but often destroys tissue. Because damaged cells benefit from light, researchers looked for a way to develop a non-thermal and non-destructive method for delivering light to deep tissue.

The ML 830® is a non-thermal laser capable of penetrating deep into tissue. Once delivered, light energy promotes the process of photobiostimulation. The positive effect of photobiostimulation on animal cells is analogous to photosynthesis in plant cells, where a chain of chemical reactions is set in motion. In human tissue, the resulting photochemical reaction produces an increase in the cellular metabolism rate, which expedites cell repair and stimulation of the immune, lymphatic and vascular systems. The net result, observed in clinical trials to date, is an apparent reduction in pain, inflammation, edema and an overall reduction in healing time.

In cooperation with General Motors and several other clinical investigators throughout the United States, it was proved that the ML 830® is effective in the low-level laser therapeutic treatment of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Future clinical trials will determine the efficacy of ML 830® low-energy laser therapy in other repetitive-stress disorders, pain management, soft tissue trauma, and dental applications.

Reprinted from MicroLightCorp.com

For more information also see www.laserhealing.com