ADVERTISING: Advertorial — Is there a difference between LED and laser therapy?

I often get asked if cold laser therapy is the same as red therapy. There are similarities, but they are very different. There are many light emitting products on the market today claiming to be lasers, but they do not meet scientifically defined attributes for being a true laser. For example, some products that use Light Emitting Diodes or LEDs as they are more commonly known, do in fact produce light, however the light is not intense, producing very little energy and is non-coherent, similar to light produced by common household light bulbs.

Most people have no idea what a cold laser actually is or does. Everything from professional sports teams to private practices and even home use, these technologies have started to be used on a daily basis to treat injured tissue. Both lasers and LEDs light therapy can be used to treat pain and inflammation, but what is the difference between them? Let’s look at the similarities and differences between the two.

Both of them rely on being able to deliver enough energy to the injured tissue in order to create a photochemical process known as photobiomodulation (PBM). PBM creates a photochemical reaction, not a photothermal reaction, so no heat is produced. The photochemical reaction starts a cascade of biological processes within the cell. Some of these processes that are beneficial include, decrease in inflammation, decrease in pain, wound healing, and tissue regeneration, to name a few.

When used in therapeutic settings, both emit similar wavelengths and both have been shown to reduce pain and inflammation. But significant differences between the two do exist, including the power generated, the specificity of wavelength, and the physical characteristics of the beam generated from the diode.

Light emitted from a laser is unique in that it is monochromatic, coherent, and collimated. These make it well-suited for many medical applications. The monochromatic, or single wavelength, beam is ideal for stimulating cells in our tissue that only respond to specific wavelengths. Coherent photons are organized where non-coherent photons are not. And since injured tissue is often deep in the body, the laser's collimated beam helps focus energy in a direct path which is ideal for treating those injured tissues.

LEDs usually emit light in a small band of wavelengths, but cannot emit a single specified wavelength. This impacts their ability to treat the desired tissue. Additionally, the beam is neither a collimated nor coherent beam, which makes it harder to treat deeper tissues. Also, LEDs operate at significantly lower power than most lasers, which affects their ability to reach deeper tissues.

When targeting deeper tissues, wavelength is a crucial variable that can play a significant role in the ability to penetrate tissue. But it is not the only determining factor in therapeutic effectiveness.

For superficial injuries, such as cuts, therapeutic benefit can be achieved with a minimal amount of energy, for which LEDs are well suited. For deeper conditions, such as chronic low back pain, a greater amount of energy must be delivered for a sufficient therapeutic effect to be achieved. But you have to be careful what class laser you use. Lasers that create too much energy can create heat and heat can degrade tissue.

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Dr. Wayne M. Fichter Jr. is a chiropractor at Natural Spine Solutions. The business is located at 3913 Schreiber Way in Coeur d’Alene. For more information, please contact us at 208-966-4425.