LLLT (Low Level Laser Therapy) and other modalities used in Medical Quant’s products
Medical Quant’s products incorporate the following most effective models of electromagnetic radiation, which were selected due to the strong scientific evidence and long-term studies supporting their use and benefits:
- Pulsating soft laser
- Pulse & wide-band infrared radiation
- Visible red light
- Static magnetic field
Low Level Laser Therapy involves applying a "low" energy or "low level" laser to tissue in order to stimulate cellular processes and enhance biochemical reactions. Low Level Lasers are safe, non-toxic and non-invasive.
Laser is a focused light with various wavelengths. There are many different types of medical lasers. The two main groups are:
- High Power (Heat) Lasers are used in many surgical procedures to cut, coagulate and evaporate tissues. These lasers are often called surgical lasers because they are used in surgery instead of a scalpel.
- Low Level (Therapeutic) Lasers can be used for the stimulation of cell function. Their biological effect is not thermal, as is the case with surgical lasers. A therapeutic laser is commonly defined as a laser using energy densities below the threshold where irreversible changes in cells occur.
Whereas high power lasers generate heat and are usually used in surgery, low intensity lasers are safe, and have a positive effect on body tissues. In over 30 years of research and clinical practice, there have not been any adverse reactions published as a result of LLLT.
How Does LLLT Work?
Low level laser therapy has been shown to treat a wide range of disorders which, at first glance, have nothing or very little in common. To list a few examples, LLLT can accelerate wound and burn healing, reduce pain in different limbs all over the body, improve the condition of patients after a stroke, help in treatment of diabetic angiopathy, and reduce stiffness and inflammation.
The physiological effects of laser light at low intensity are not completely understood, but what is known from a biochemical model is often summarized in terms of three main effects:
- biostimulation/tissue regeneration
- anti-inflammatory
- analgesic
LLLT and ATP
One of the most important effects of LLLT is that it accelerates Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production, by increasing metabolism at the cellular level, and enabling the ischemic cells in the damaged tissue to heal and to attain their normal functions.
ATP is an organic compound composed of adenine, the sugar ribose, and three phosphate groups. It captures chemical energy obtained from the breakdown of food molecules and releases it to fuel other cellular processes, serving as the major energy source within the cell to drive a number of important biological processes. ATP is present in every cell, and essentially all the physiological mechanisms that require energy for operation obtain it directly from stored ATP.
Cells require chemical energy for three general types of tasks: to drive metabolic reactions that would not occur automatically; to transport needed substances across membranes; and to do mechanical work, such as moving muscles. When energy is needed by the cell, it is converted from storage molecules into ATP. ATP then serves as a shuttle, delivering energy to places within the cell where energy-consuming activities are taking place.
Extracellularly, ATP has been found to act as a neurotransmitter. ATP receptors are widespread through the body. On its own it is known to have effects in the arteries, intestines, lungs, and bladder. It is also often released in tandem with other neurotransmitters, perhaps to add chemical stability.
Additional Beneficial Effects of LLLT
Aside from increasing ATP production, LLLT has been shown to have a number of other important effects. At the tissue level, blood microcirculation increases during and after the administration of LLLT, new blood and lymphatic vessels are formed, and collagen synthesis is enhanced. Improvement of blood microcirculation facilitates the recovery of oxygen levels in damaged cells, as well as normalization of the delivery of pharmacological preparations employed to treat a given disease . Reduced microcirculation leads directly to inflammation of cell tissue, which changes the quantity of blood supply to the cells, resulting in ischemic injury. Any influence that can shorten the duration of the ischemic state will have a beneficial effect on the course of the disease and the accompanying pain.
LLLT has shown to have a positive effect at both the cellular and tissue level for the treatment of disorders resulting from:
- inhibited blood supply, leading to the development of acute or chronic tissue hypoxia
- destruction of tissue at different levels
- decreased regenerative abilities of cells
- altered cell metabolism.
Therapeutic and Synergestic Benefits of Additional Modalities
One of the key features which differentiates Medical Quant’s products from other LLLT devices is that they combines low level laser with additional modalities to achieve synergic therapeutic effects.
Low-intensity radiation in the red and infrared spectral ranges induces prolonged photochemical processes, which play an important role in the achieving the clinical therapeutic effects of quantum therapy. The most prominent of these effects is improved blood microcirculation , which further enhances the therapeutic effect of the LLLT. The biological effect is due to the vasodilatation of small blood vessels, a decrease in the adhesive ability of blood cells, and formation of new microvessels.
In addition, low-intensity radiation via red light has a positive influence on the quantity and quality of endogenous photosensitizers in blood plasma, leading to increased cell bactericidal activity. This is thought to assist in healing wounds and trophic ulcers, when normal, not excessive level of bactericidal activity helps to keep wounds and ulcers clean, thus speeding up the healing process.
Static magnetic therapy has been shown to have a beneficial effect on the body, although the mechanism by which this is achieved is not yet fully understood. Possible explanations for the beneficial effect of static magnetic therapy include:
- Decreasing the firing rate of chronic pain neurons.
- Changing the rate of enzyme mediated reactions, which may play a role in inflammatory cascades and free radical generation.
- Modulating intracellular signaling by affecting the functioning of calcium channels in cell membranes.
- Causing changes in blood flow.