K-Laser Therapy

Are you suffering from pain? Have you sprained a joint? Got an osteoarthritic knee? Then K-Laser therapy might be able to help!

Back in 2016, the team at Woodfield Physiotherapy Centre had the opportunity to trial a K-Laser, and we were so impressed with our patients’ outcomes, we decided to adopt the treatment into the clinic. We have since had numerous patients who have benefitted from laser treatment and take pride in being one of the very few practices that offer K-Laser within a physiotherapy setting in the Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Hertfordshire area.

The K-Laser has been used extensively within many settings, including private practice, veterinary medicine, professional football teams, personally by Rafael Nadal and is even used at Guy’s & St. Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust within their hand clinic. The K-Laser is also the only therapeutic laser system to have received National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) approval [1]. Whilst this is for oral mucositis management, which is something we don’t see within our clinical environment, it’s indicative of the efficacy of this modality in treating inflammatory conditions. Peer-reviewed studies have also demonstrated the efficacy of therapeutic laser in treating lower back pain, arthritic joints, skin lesions, carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinopathies, amongst other conditions [2]. Recent and timely articles have also exhibited the efficacy of laser in treating COVID-19 patients [3].

What is laser therapy and how does it work?

Sometimes referred to as ‘photobiomodulation therapy’, the treatment involves the application of red and infra-red light through either light-emitting diode (LED) or laser emitters. Laser and other light-based therapies have been used widely for decades since itsphysiologically beneficialproperties were initially discovered in 1967 by Dr. Endre Mester [4]. Since that time, extensive research has been carried out, testing the effects of light within in vitro(i.e.cells in petri dishes), animal and human models on their biological reactions to directed light.

A question we often are posed when treating a patient with the K-Laser is ‘how does it work?’. We often truncate our responses, as there’s a significant amount of scientific jargon, physics and biology in how laser light interacts with our bodies! Essentially, the laser interacts with our cells, increasing their metabolism, leading to greater cellular activity and reproduction. This is how we may see favourable outcomes when you have injured tissues, but it also helps to optimise your body’s inflammatory process which it naturally goes through when healing, preventing excessive inflammation and limiting free radical activity [5].This reduction in inflammation, alongside altered nerve activity from exposure to laser, leads to a potentially reduced pain experience [6].

What can it treat and what does it involve?

Laser therapy was historically used for wound management, but is applied for a far wider array of musculoskeletal conditions in modern practice. We regularly treat patients in the clinic with muscle strains, joint sprains, tendinopathies, nerve-related pain and healing skin, but has also proven to be beneficial for many osteoarthritic patients.

During the treatment, your physiotherapist will check for any contraindications to the treatment, then will offer you some protective goggles to protect your eyes. Once the treatment starts you will feel, at most, a pleasant warmth and you will feel no pain or discomfort throughout the process. We do advise our patients about a phenomenon we call the ‘rebound’ effect; this is where the area we treated may experience some irritation a short while after, but generally clears within a day at most. This is where we have essentially stimulated the area and it’s simply your body’s response to treatment, so we look at this favourably.

Will it help me?

If you are wondering whether K-Laser treatment may help with your current injury or pain, please get in touch with the clinic to book an assessment with a physiotherapist, and we will be more than happy to advise you on suitability. One question we also regularly get asked is ‘how many sessions do I need?’. This varies depending on the condition, how long you’ve been experiencing your injury/pain, and most importantly, your body. Some people react well to laser therapy, requiring only one to two sessions, but in some cases, we advise up to six sessions in a short period of time to maximise outcomes.

Please be aware that due to the nature of the treatment, we cannot treat you with laser over your abdomen if you are pregnant, if you had a steroid injection in the 48 hours leading to the treatment, are immunosuppressed, recently had radiotherapy, and over an active implants (i.e. pacemaker) or any tumour sites. Provided none of these apply to you, then laser therapy may be recommended by your therapist as part of your treatment.

Call us on 01234 378996, or email us at info@woodfieldphysio.co.uk to book an appointment. If you are interested in what the K-Laser can do for you, give us a call and one of our physiotherapists should be able to call you back to have a chat with you.

Further Information

For further information on theK-Laser, the manufacturer’s UK website has an extensive collection of information for patients that goes into greater depth about the conditions we can treat with K-Laser and the science behind how it works: Patient’s Portal | K•Laser (klaseruk.co.uk)

The British Medical Laser Association (BMLA) also has information about therapeutic laser standards within the United Kingdom and what you will expect from us whilst delivering this treatment modality: Home – BMLA

References

1. NICE. Low-level laser therapy for preventing or treating oral mucositis caused by radiotherapy or chemotherapy https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ipg615/chapter/2-The-condition-current-treatments-and-procedure: NICE; 2018 [

2.  Dompe C, Moncrieff L, Matys J, Grzech-Leśniak K, Kocherova I, Bryja A, et al. Photobiomodulation — Underlying Mechanism and Clinical Applications. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2020;9(6):1724.

3. Vetrici MA, Mokmeli S, Bohm AR, Monici M, Sigman SA. Evaluation of Adjunctive Photobiomodulation (PBMT) for COVID-19 Pneumonia via Clinical Status and Pulmonary Severity Indices in a Preliminary Trial. J Inflamm Res. 2021;14:965-79.

4. Hamblin MR. Photobiomodulation or low-level laser therapy. J Biophotonics. 2016;9(11-12):1122-4.

5. Hamblin MR. Mechanisms and applications of the anti-inflammatory effects of photobiomodulation. AIMS Biophys. 2017;4(3):337-61.

6. Lipko NB. Photobiomodulation: Evolution and Adaptation. Photobiomodul Photomed Laser Surg. 2022;40(4):213-33.