smART Laser Therapy

Laser Therapy can sometimes look and feel like a magic artform.  What is it supposed to do? How does it work?  Why does it work?  How can you actually tell if it works?

If you ask these questions of many promoters of Laser Therapy, you might get confused by the responses.  Anyone who launches into a speech about “laser” standing for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation is probably not trying to explain anything other than their knowledge of acronyms and abbreviations.

Laser Therapy is the use of lasers, and recently also high power LEDs, to illuminate biological tissue with high intensity light that interacts with the tissue.  The absorption of the light by tissue stimulates a reaction, generally adding energy to the site specifically and changing how localized biology reacts.  Of course it is more complex than that.  But unless it is known how much energy, of what wavelength (or color), for how long and at what irradiance, and for what type of treatment, how do you know?

If you treat a horse with high intensity red LED or laser light, firstly how do you know where to treat the horse, and secondly how do you know that it has been effective without some form of diagnostic?  Does the horse tell you where the issue is, how long to treat it and when the treatment has been effective?  Not likely, although horses are really smart.