Laser therapy treatments work well for a variety of conditions, including swelling, arthritic pain, fibromyalgia, herniated disc, spinal stenosis, diabetic neuropathies, shingles, sciatic pain, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritics, gout, back, leg and neck problems.

Dr. Melissa Ritter, D.C., based in Newport Beach, CA, has recently found in her own clinical trials that laser treatments show potential for significant improvement.

Laser therapy technology treats an assortment of physical pain in a revolutionary way. This highly specialized pain treatment combines a high-powered, dual wavelength infrared laser in a single beam. It is aimed directly at the origin of the pain, reducing and often completely eliminating it.

There is little or no sensation during treatment. Occasionally, one feels mild, soothing warmth or tingling. Areas of pain from inflammation may be briefly sensitive before pain reductions.

Conditions respond better when treatments received 2 to 3 times a week, tapering to once a week and then once every other week, when improvement occurs.

During more than 20 years of use by healthcare providers all over the world, very few side effects have ever been reported.

The typical course of treatment is 5 to 10 minutes depending on the size of the area being treated. How many treatments a patient may need depends on the nature of the condition being treated. For some acute condition 1-5 treatments may be sufficient. Those of a more chronic nature may require more.

You may feel improvement in your condition (usually pain reduction) after the very first treatment. Sometimes you will not feel improvement until after a number of treatments. Each treatment is cumulative and results are often felt after 3 or 4 sessions.

Laser therapy is often used with other forms of therapy, including physical therapy modalities, chiropractic adjustments, massage, soft tissue mobilization, and electrotherapy and following surgery. Other healing modalities are complementary and can be used with the laser to increase the effectiveness of the treatment.

Dr. Ritter can incorporate these other modalities in the treatment at her office in Newport Beach, California.