Low level light therapy - report from a guinea pig

[HeronNS]

I have now had two low level light therapy treatments. The first one was just over twenty minutes with LED light applied to my lower spine. I felt pretty well after that and noticed an unexpected effect - I've long had a tender area where my two vertebrae are that are affected by OA , and that area is not tender to the touch at all, just like the rest of my spine (that I can reach) and has remained that way for over a week. Yesterday I had a second treatment, full length (about 45-50 minutes) part of the time with an infrared light which penetrates deeper. I have to say I felt exhausted afterwards and as I had a long walk home and a few chores to do I was happy to completely veg out for several hours afterwards. Today I feel really well and as the day wore on I seemed to regain some energy and tackled a few tasks I'd been avoiding. I will be attempting to reduce to 7 mg pred next week and am hoping that this particular type of therapy has some effect in helping reduce inflammation. So far, no negative effects and I'll have to wait to find out if it has the hoped for effect of assisting me in a successful reduction, and minimizing side effects of pred.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Where do you have it done? What sort of therapist offers it in Canada?

[HeronNS in reply to PMRpro]

It is a specific product called BioFlex. You can get more information about it from the Meditech website (torontopainrelief.com). The Bioflex website has a listing of the therapists worldwide. The parent clinic is located in Toronto but they train medical people all over the place. In my community some therapists offering it are chiropractors, some physiotherapists. I will not, for a number of reasons, go to a chiropractor. The therapy was developed by a surgeon, Fred Kahn, who experienced the healing effects of light therapy himself for a very longstanding chronic injury he had sustained. Research was done at Ryerson University in Ontario. It is quite intense, not like the little handheld gizmos I think are being sold all over the place these days. I go to the the physio clinic and she does it there. After next week - she's away for a few days, taking her baby to meet the grandparents - I will be getting the therapy about twice a week. I figure I have nothing to lose and maybe something to gain. So far, so good!