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Athletes should be in peak condition at all times in order to achieve their goals. Otherwise, they should be spending their time trying to achieve this peak condition. Maintaining their physical and emotional well-being is very important in their craft.
If you are an athlete yourself, you understand how devastating it can be to suffer from a sports injury. Beyond the physical pain and damage it causes, it also hinders you from training entirely. It keeps you from becoming better. Some of the worst injuries don’t just end training sessions—they end careers.
When it comes to sports injuries, rehabilitation is vital. It’s all about helping the patient recover more quickly so that they can get back in the game as soon as possible. Their optimal health must be restored. Could laser therapy for sports be the answer?
Low-level laser therapy is one of the newest, most effective types of therapy for sports injuries.
Labeled as a “no-pill pain buster,” laser therapy is a new tool for the treatment of sports injuries. It focuses on the damage to the cells that make up soft tissues. These injured cells release chemicals in the body that produce a natural inflammatory response. This leads to redness, muscle fatigue, swelling, pain in the injured areas, and a wide range of damage on specific body parts.
This inflammation is what usually prevents athletes from recovering more quickly. And this condition can affect anyone—even regular weekend warriors, and everyone else who is not involved in sports. Truth is, everyone can suffer from things like shoulder pain, neck pain, ankle sprains, et al. But athletes are far more susceptible to them because of the way they training goes in the professional athletics industry. The good news is that deep tissue laser is great for tissue repair, pain relief, chronic pain management, and improving recovery times.
Furthermore, persistent inflammation can lead to early-onset arthritis or certain degenerative changes in the joints. This can severely affect the athlete’s performance, should they be able to get back in the field.
How Does Laser Therapy Help?
Low-level laser therapy, also known as LLLT, helps reduce short term inflammation. It also lowers the risk of arthritis significantly. Professional sports teams take advantage of this treatment so that their athletes can shrug off some minor sports injuries that would’ve hindered them had they not undergone treatment.
LLLT works by stimulating the chemically damaged cells via specific wavelengths of light. The light photons move in a certain specific direction and amplitude, targeting the inflamed areas of the body. What deep tissue laser does is it triggers a biological response, urging the body to heal itself naturally and more quickly.
It’s important to note that even though it uses laser, it does not cause heat damage to the tissues because the process is photochemical in nature, rather than photothermal.
Laser treatment also works as a form of deep-tissue therapy. It helps relieve pain in order to minimize an athlete’s downtime. This accelerates recovery, and eases the mental burden of being in pain.
It’s safe to say laser therapy has revolutionized the treatment process in the world of professional sports. That includes the NBA, the NFL, and the NHL. Athletes of all types can benefit from this treatment.
Laser therapy reduces pain similar to how chiropractic care can help a patient with a knee injury, as well as other musculoskeletal injuries. Simply put, laser therapy helps the athletes get out of pain faster while simultaneously healing.
What are the Benefits of Laser Therapy for Athletes?
Aside from quickly healing an athlete’s injuries, laser therapy also comes with a handful of other benefits. For example, the low level laser therapy can improve the flexibility of a person’s muscles and tendons, aiding in many physical feats. It improves a person’s range of motion—something that is always helpful in this industry.
It also promotes better blood circulation, helping in oxygen distribution throughout the body. More oxygen means more energy, better stamina, endurance, and overall wellbeing.
Athlete care and sports medicine are prioritized by professional athletics companies. The healing process is just as vital as a regular day at the gym or on the court. Treating athletic injuries sooner rather than later can prevent a career ending accident in the future.
Laser therapy is a safe treatment procedure that can help an athlete get back on their feet. It is similar to massage therapy, as they are both effective treatment methods. Both can be used as treatment for sports injuries. For these types of treatment, it is important to evaluate the efficacy before trying them out. That is why they are studied in randomized controlled environments. Now that we’ve proven that they don’t cause pain after treatment, and now that they are proven as effective treatment for sports injuries, they can be used to their full potential.
Talk to your doctor today and ask about their personal recommendation.