Pain Relief is Available without Needles
posted: Mar. 18, 2016.
If the sight or mere thought of needles has you quaking at the knees, take solace in the fact that you are not alone. According to healthline.com, as many as 10 per cent of people suffer from a fear of needles or injections, known as trypanaphobia. And, at least 20 per cent of sufferers avoid medical treatment as a result of their fear.
Laser Therapy, not Injections
However, trypanaphobics do not have to suffer in silence because a therapeutic form of laser treatment will reduce pain and inflammation in a number of different foot conditions: arthritis, tendinitis, bursitis, plantar fasciitis, periostitis, metatarsalgia, arch pain and heel pain. Successful laser pain treatment also reduces the need for anti-inflammatory medications.
Professionals like Toronto podiatrist, Sheldon H. Nadal D.P.M., use super-pulsed laser treatment combined with a sound modality called radial wave, pressure wave or radial shock wave to stimulate cell function without heating the tissue. Numerous research papers have been written about laser therapy and pain relief and evidence suggests that low-energy light speeds up healing by accelerating tissue repair.
Pain Relief for Arthritis Sufferers
Laser treatment is not new; in fact, laser therapy has been used in Canada and many other countries for over 40 years. A 2014 study by British scientists, reported in an express.co.uk article, found low-level laser therapy significantly reduced arthritis pain and improved quality of life for these individuals. Much like acupuncture needles, it is thought that the beams of light stimulate receptors that trigger the release of endorphins (happy hormones). However, comparable studies showed acupuncture to be less effective at reducing pain.
Everyone in the study, which was carried out at Dundee University, had to commit to a regular exercise regime and laser therapy was given to half of the study participants. The others were given placebo treatment with a zero-energy laser. Not only did the pain levels of the participants receiving laser pain therapy reduce after the six week study, their pain scores were seen to have dropped even further when followed up six months later.
The study concluded that a combination of exercise and low-level laser therapy reduced pain associated with osteoarthritis.
Resources:
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/health/456276/Laser-acupuncture-cure-for-arthritis-pain
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0011361/
http://www.healthline.com/health/big-shots-trypanophobia-facts#.Vud0vvkrKM8