“LASER” Therapy for Knee Arthritis

laser knee treatment

Is there a Laser knee treatment? The use of LASER treatments in various pain conditions has grown greatly this past decade. We’ve never used them because it didn’t make sense to me how it would work. Having said that, there is some published lab data showing that shining a LASER on stem cells can help them become more active in bone and cartilage healing. Two studies over the past month now point in two different directions on whether this interesting “space age” modality works for real patients with knee arthritis. In one study, a certain type of LASER (890 nm) was used to treat patients with moderate to severe knee osteoarthritis. The study found no differences between the placebo and the LASER therapy at one month after 6 forty minute treatments. Might other wavelengths work or other protocols? Perhaps, a recent study just went the opposite direction, finding that low level LASER light combined with exercises helped patients more than placebo treatments. The upshot? Maybe certain types of LASERS help patients with arthritis. I’ve certainly talked to some patients that swear by them while others have told me the therapy didn’t help. We’ll see where the rest of the data falls…

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Chris Centeno, MD is a specialist in regenerative medicine and the new field of Interventional Orthopedics. Centeno pioneered orthopedic stem cell procedures in 2005 and is responsible for a large amount of the published research on stem cell use for orthopedic applications. View Profile

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