Who Invented Laser and How Does It Work?
First theorized by Albert Einstein in 1916, and invented by Theodore Maiman in 1960, the laser has become one of the most beneficial inventions used in modern society. In 1967, Dr. Endre Mester, a professor of surgery in Hungary, performed a revolutionary series of experiments that first documented the healing effect of lasers. Therapy lasers have been used and researched in Europe for over 30 years. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first low level Class III laser (LLLT) in 2002 and the first Class IV therapy laser in 2003. The most significant clinical and therapeutic difference between Class IV lasers and Class III is the Class IV can produce a primary biostimulative effect on deeper tissues while also producing substantial secondary and tertiary effects.
Laser therapy aims to photo-biostimulate chemically damaged cells. This therapy actually excites the kinetic energy within cells by transmitting healing energy known as photons. The skin absorbs these photons via a photo-chemical effect, not photo-thermal; therefore it does not cause heat damage to the tissues. Once photons reach the cells of the body, they promote a cascade of cellular activities. It can ignite the production of enzymes, stimulate mitochondria, increase vasodilation and lymphatic drainage, ATP synthesis, and elevate collagen formation substances to prevent the formation of scar tissues. This is a critical step in reducing long term disabling chronic myofascial pain syndromes and joint hypermobility. Other formative cells are also positively influenced. One of the laser therapy’s many immune enhancing effects is an increase in the number of macrophages.
Dr. Perry Nickelston, DC