Light therapy for Chronic Pain
Light therapy is the non-thermal delivery of waves of light energy with a therapeutic benefit. SYMBYX’s medical-grade PhysioCare laser is easy to use at home and ARTG/CE listed for reduction in chronic pain.
Research
There are currently 5,000 + peer-reviewed scientific studies reporting on the incident-free, protective and restorative properties of light therapy for a number of health conditions.
Home Use
SYMBYX’s medical-grade PhysioCare laser is flexible, compact and easy to use at home device.
A non-surgical and non-thermal treatment.
Benefits
Positive changes include motor improvements, better sleep, lightened mood, reduced muscle pain and even returned sense of smell.
History of Light Therapy
In 1903, the Nobel Prize in medicine was awarded to Danish Physician, Niels Ryberg Finsen, for his work in treating Smallpox and Tuberculosis with light.
Further interest in the field was pioneered by Professor Endre Mester, a Hungarian physician and scientist, who in 1967 successfully used light to heal wounds and regrow hair in mice and people.
NASA also experimented frequently with light in the 1970's and 1980's and successfully used LED light to grow flowers in space.Today, light is used to pre-prime patients prior to surgery (including cardiovascular surgery) as well as for several neurodegenerative disorders.
How does light therapy work?
Light therapy, or Photobiomodulation (PMB), is the non-thermal delivery of waves of light energy with a therapeutic benefit.
At an optimal wavelength, intensity and exposure time, light aimed at human tissue sets off a series of biochemical events that can result in chronic pain relief, reduced inflammation, and even increased dopamine and serotonin production in the colon.
By treating the gut with laser light, SYMBYX is able to effect change in a patient’s microbiome which ultimately leads to improved brain function.
How does it help with Chronic Pain?
PBM influences healthier nerve function by:
- acting as a nerve block, thus leading to an inhibited translation of pain;
- disrupting and affecting the physiological organisation of neurons (ie, cells within the nervous system) and how they work;
- increasing neuronal latency (this is the delay before the transfer of data begins following an instruction or painful stimulus);
- toning down the parts of a nerve fibre responsible for the fastest transmission of painful stimulus (think of narrowing the bandwidth of a pain fibre so not as much information gets through as before)
SYMBYX’s therapies increase the nervous system’s capacity to tolerate increased painful (noxious) stimulus, which have become artificially lowered in a human chronic pain model.
Research Supporting Light Therapy for Chronic Pain
Michael R Hamblin, 19 May 2017, Mechanisms and Applications of the Anti-inflammatory effects of Photobiomodulation, AIMS Biophysics Journal
Strong evidence identifying inhibition of nerve function as a mechanism for the clinical application of PBM in pain and anesthesia.