A laser therapy session at the Padda Institute in St. Louis takes about ten minutes: a technician moves a handheld Class 3B or Class 4 laser over the sore area while you both wear safety goggles. Injured tissue soaks up the light, which helps quiet pain and swelling.
This is one station in our physician-directed physiotherapy program. It runs only on your physician’s written order, at the strength your physician sets.
Your physician orders either a Class 3B or a Class 4 laser. The session happens behind a closed door marked with a laser warning sign, with the technician guiding the handpiece over the sore spot. This page covers the session itself; our cold laser therapy page explains what it treats.
Cells in the injured tissue absorb the light, and that helps settle pain and swelling.
Mild warmth, or nothing at all. Both of you wear protective goggles rated for that exact laser. The handpiece keeps gliding, and once a minute you are asked whether it feels too warm.
One-on-one. A technician stays with you from start to finish and writes down the exact clock times it began and ended.
Each visit opens with spoken safety questions. If something has changed since last time, such as a new medicine, a new symptom or a procedure this week, the physician decides before anything starts. Say stop at any moment and it stops.
About five minutes per area, around ten minutes in all.
Show us you have it: Tell us the moment you would ask us to stop. If any part is unclear, ask, and we will walk through it again at your next visit.
Related reading: chronic tendinitis.
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