Q & A about AcuLaser Therapy

AcuLaser Therapy

What is AcuLaser?

AcuLaser therapy, as practiced by Hongzhen Chen, LAc, synergistically blends traditional acupuncture with modern laser therapy, resulting in focused treatments that are fast, efficient, and highly effective. There are two treatment options for AcuLaser therapy in this practice. The first is adding laser therapy to your traditional acupuncture treatment as a powerful adjunct modality. Alternatively, laser therapy can be your primary treatment method, enhanced by the addition of carefully selected acupuncture points, involving minimal needling. For patients looking to maximize the pain relief of every treatment, or for patients who do not like needles, AcuLaser therapy is an ideal way to experience the combined benefits of acupuncture and phototherapy.

What is laser therapy?

Laser therapy (also referred to as low level laser therapy (LLLT), cold laser therapy, or therapeutic laser) is the use of specific wavelengths of light to stimulate therapeutic effects on a cellular level. This process is known as phototherapy, or photobiomodulation: the process by which exposure to light triggers a chain of chemical reactions. If you harken back to high school physics, you’ll remember that photons are the units of energy of light that are both wave-like and particle-like. Laser therapy delivers a concentrated amount of photons into the tissue, where the cells absorb them and convert them from light energy into biochemical energy. The photons interact with cells at the level of the mitochondria (the power house of the cell), stimulating increased production of ATP (the energy unit of the cell) by up to 500%. What’s amazing is that one photon activates one enzyme molecule… but that one enzyme molecule, in turn, can process thousands of other substrate molecules. This is the mechanism by which a relatively small amount of energy produces significant biological effects. Through initiating a variety of biochemical processes, laser therapy optimizes cells’ ability to naturally heal themselves. The end result is:

- Pain reduction