Interstitial Laser Therapy

Interstitial laser therapy is an advanced laser treatment for many different forms of back and orthopedic pain. The first laser treatment of its kind, this laser therapy eases your symptoms within 20 minutes in your doctor’s office. This laser procedure can successfully treat osteoarthritis of the joints and degenerative spine diseases.

Interstitial laser therapy is one of the most advanced treatments for osteoarthritis, degenerative disk disease and slipped discs. The latest laser technology has the ability to penetrate your skin surface to reach deep into your muscles to reduce back pain so that you can continue participating in your active Brooklyn lifestyle. This laser treatment complements stem cell therapy for back pain.

Armed with the latest medical laser technology that’s both safe and highly efficient, a Brooklyn NYC pain management specialist like Dr. Leon Reyfman achieves greater therapeutic results because of the depth of penetration he can achieve with the interstitial laser. Because injury or degeneration can occur in more than one area, this high-definition laser can treat multiple points of pain in the same session.

Conditions That Interstitial Lasers Address

Your specially trained Manhattan pain management specialist uses interstitial laser therapy to treat conditions such as:

• Chronic shoulder pain
• Degenerative arthritis of the ankles or knees
• Arthritis of your hips
• Scar tissue buildup after surgery
• Tendonitis
• Neural lesions
• Pain from lumbar or cervical spinal stenosis
• Herniated disc

Symptoms vary, depending on your condition. You may feel a dull, burning pain or numbness, tingling and weakness in your muscles. Your sense of discomfort can start mildly and worsen over time, or in the case of injury, your symptoms can be sudden and sharp. If untreated, you may suffer additional muscular degeneration and eventual loss of mobility.

Laser Treatment Advances

There’s no reason to wait for treatment. Lasers used to offer only hype when it came to treating pain. But the interstitial laser is the first that’s truly able to penetrate the skin, stimulate your body’s anti-inflammatory response systems and continually promote long-term joint and tissue healing.

Interstitial laser therapy actually reaches those areas of your body that create so much discomfort and pain, such as your joints and spinal discs. In the past, lasers could only treat surface damage, or at most, conditions that were very near the surface. Older lasers couldn’t penetrate your skin more than just a couple millimeters. That’s all changed now.

How It Works to Promote Healing

Interstitial laser therapy relies on fiber-optics to go deep enough into your outer layers of skin to reach your damaged joints and discs. Between the increased depth of penetration and the varying laser wavelengths, your odds of successful results are now dramatically improved.

The procedure steps include:

1. You doctor makes a puncture or small incision, usually shorter than one inch, at the site of your injury or nerve pain.
2. Your treatment may be combined with injections of hyaluronic acid or platelet rich plasma (PRP) for their growth-stimulating factors.
3. Depending on your condition and symptoms, your specialist may employ one or more colors of lasers directly at the site of your pain:
   • Red lasers increase cell activity and microcirculation and to regenerate damaged tissue structures. Red lasers are most often used for chronic pain or spine conditions.
   • Green lasers are effective for anti-inflammatory needs and for treating the pain associated with inflammation and swelling.
   • Blue lasers also have strong anti-inflammatory effects, but they also help wounds heal and cause an immediate reduction in pain.

The entire procedure is performed in your Manhattan pain management doctor’s office. It typically lasts about 20 minutes with no risks or side effects. You can leave immediately afterward.

PRP for Richer Results

Intra-articular therapy also relies on the same laser technology to reach hard-to-treat arterial problems. Your NYC specialist often uses PRP in conjunction with intra-articular laser therapy to stimulate tissue recovery and encourage cell production in the formation of connective tissue. Platelet rich plasma is easily extracted and safe, as it comes from your own blood supply.

Your platelet rich blood contains thrombocytes, which supply your tissue with regenerating effects. When you receive Injections of PRP with your interstitial laser therapy, your tissue responds with:

• Stimulated cell production
• Connective tissue formation
• Stem cell proliferation
• Induced leucocytes and fibroblasts
• Analgesic effects
• Anti-inflammatory properties
• Accelerated wound healing

PRP combined with interstitial laser therapy is versatile. When it’s conducted with the most advance pain treatment procedures in Manhattan, it can be used effectively to treat:

• Bone regeneration
• Osteoarthritis
• Tendinopathies
• Fractures
• Skin rejuvenation
• Hair loss

The Benefits of Laser Treatment

The benefits of interstitial laser treatments include:

• The tiny incision is less invasive than spinal surgery.
• The procedure does minimal damage to surrounding bone, muscle and soft tissue.
• It’s an outpatient treatment that requires no general anesthesia.
• Using lasers drastically reduces the risks of complications — like infection or failed back surgery syndrome — that can occur with traditional open-back surgeries.

Interstitial laser therapy is virtually painless. A high-energy dosage is directed at the exact site of injury or pain, causing metabolic reactions in the cells. You also reap the rewards of increased blood flow and circulation. It has a strong anti-inflammatory effect and promotes robust healing. Some patients even see total pain relief. Finally, there are no known side effects.

Intra-articular laser therapy is equally effective. In addition to alleviating your pain, your Manhattan physician can use it for:

• Increased energy
• Optimized metabolic functions
• Immunostaining
• An alternative to more invasive treatments