Page 120 - Veterinary Laser Therapy in Small Animal Practice

CHAPTER 9

Pointing light at musculoskeletal and neurological

conditions: clinical applications

The good physician treats the disease; the great physician And all these benefits come with no side effects or
treats the patient who has the disease. positive results in doping tests. Next, we will review
— William Osler the parameters and particular considerations for
treating musculoskeletal conditions, the actions of
Together with wound healing, musculoskeletal pain LT in these tissues, and their most common ailments,
and inflammation are the most common applications followed by sections on outcome improvement and
of laser therapy (LT), not only in veterinary practice, assessment and clinical tips for treating different areas
but also in human physiotherapy and sports medicine. of the body.
The reasons can be summarized as follows. But first, the following are examples of the wide
range of LT applications in musculoskeletal problems:
• Enhanced healing of the affected tissues: LT
can stimulate osteoblasts, fibroblasts, and muscle • muscle tears
cells to replicate more and be more metabolically • myositis
active. These cells will not do something they • ligament rupture
are not supposed to do; they will just work more • tendinitis
efficiently. • postoperative treatment of fractures and orthope-
• Modulation of the inflammatory response in dic procedures such as tibial tuberosity advance-
all tissues involved: even in fractures, arthritis, or ment (TTA) and tibial plateau leveling osteotomy
tendinitis there are usually several types of tissue (TPLO)
involved, whether this is due to nearby trauma, • partial fractures
overloading, or other causes. For instance, osteoar- • delayed healing fractures
thritis affects the bone/cartilage articular surfaces, • osteoarthritis
the synovial membrane, surrounding ligaments, • general pain management
etc. • trigger point treatment.
• Pain reduction: although LT can also reduce soft-
tissue and skin pain, its analgesic properties have 9.1 General treatment considerations
been studied more in the field of musculoskeletal
pain; the World Health Organization included LT A major practical difference when treating wounds or
among the recognized therapies with proven effi- skin vs. musculoskeletal conditions is that in the first
cacy for the relief of non-specific low back pain and case we avoid contacting the surface of the patient,
osteoarthritic pain. [271, 272] while treating in contact is usually preferred in mus-
• Improvement of functionality: this is a direct con- culoskeletal problems. Actually, not just in contact but
sequence of the above effects, with a great impact on with a variable degree of pressure. There are several
quality of life and sports performance. reasons for this.

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