Laser therapy is a medical treatment that uses low-level lasers or light-emitting diodes to alter cellular function. Laser has primarily been shown useful in the short-term treatment of acute pain caused by rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, tendinopathy, strains and sprains and chronic joint disorders.
The experienced physiotherapists at Focus Physiotherapy are skilled and available to perform laser therapy services to assist your recovery.
Many clinics will try and sell laser therapy as a panacea that can cure everything. This is not the case!
Laser is a treatment modality that is most effective when combined with other interventions such as exercise, education, ultrasound, electrotherapy and most importantly common sense.
Your Registered Physiotherapist at Focus Physiotherapy will help you cut through all the hype and guide your care in the most appropriate manner possible. Our goal is to help you reach your maximum possible recovery. We want you to participate in your rehabilitation and never have to deal with the problem again.
Over the years people always ask about laser therapy which is why we devoted a few words to it on our website. The expectation is that people will get better because the laser is associated with a futuristic gadget like they saw on television. Unfortunately those machines don’t exist yet. We have lasers, just not the ones like we saw on television.
So while we do have lasers, they are just another piece of expensive equipment we invest in to help you get better.
Ultrasound
Ultrasound is widely used as a therapeutic modality in physiotherapy clinics. The ultrasound used at Focus Physiotherapy is different from the traditional ultrasound used for diagnostic purposes you may be familiar with.
Traditional ultrasound is used to scan areas of the body and is used as a diagnostic tool to visualize areas below the skin suck as organs, babies, organs muscles and tendons. It uses sound waves of an ultrasonic frequency to create images.
The ultrasounds used in physiotherapy clinics by registered physiotherapists also use ultrasonic sound wave ( >20000 hertz) that are not audible to human ears but promote therapeutic changes to areas that have been injured. The use of therapeutic ultrasound requires training to appreciate the appropriate frequency and pulse duration to deliver the correct dosage and intervention at the correct phase in your healing. Registered Physiotherapists at Focus Physiotherapy are trained in determining the correct dosage and settings to ensure your treatment is effective and safe.
Electrical Modalities:
There are many types of electrical modalities that are available at Focus Physiotherapy. They can be broken down into three categories.
- Those that only support pain relief such as TENS which are mostly used in home care settings due to their very portable nature. While available in the clinic TENS machines have been mostly replaced by our more sophisticated equipment.
- Electrical Modalities that promote the healing process as well as decrease pain resultant from injury. Our clinic offers many options in this regard: Interferential current, premodulated current, biphasic and microcurrent are the most common choices for our Registered Physiotherapists. These treatment interventions are designed to be very comfortable. While you may initially feel a slight tingling after a minute or so you will not feel the machine. These machines are designed to deliver energy that stimulates healing, deeper and safer than previously thought possible without any secondary electrical sensations.
- Electrical Modalities that stimulate a muscle to relearn and function normally. Called Electrical Stimulation, E-Stim, Functional Electrical Stimulation, and Russian Current. These electrical modalities serve a purpose to assist in the re-education of an injured muscle that has atrophied as a result of injury and is not operating optimally in a neurological sense. The stimulation is felt and it causes a contraction of the muscle it tries to initiate, which is typically a trigger for a patient to try and assist a contraction on their own.
It’s important to appreciate that the training a registered physiotherapist undertakes to ensure they select the correct modality requires significant amounts of training and education. Registered Physiotherapists make the job look easy due to years of experience and education. Many clinics do not have registered physiotherapists working in their clinics on a full time basis or at all. Yet they advertise they deliver “physiotherapy”. As a clinic owned by registered physiotherapists we find that shameful and are concerned it can compromise the delivery of services.
All aspects of your treatment requires thoughtfulness and a duty of care. The choices made in your physiotherapy treatment requires thought to ensure it helps you recover. Improper choices of modalities may not only be inappropriate in addressing your recovery needs, they can actually harm you.
As a clinic owned by Registered Physiotherapists we take our duty of care for your well being to heart, we really care about your recovery and our choices in what your treatment plan consists of is based in our physiotherapy education, experience, and our desire to help you achieve you maximum possible physiotherapy recovery.
We are passionate about our profession and we are passionate about getting you better.
Contact us today to book your appointment. It’s the first step on your road to recovery.
Mississauga: 416-961-2001
Brampton: 416-961-2001
Etobicoke Kingsway: 416-961-2001
Bolton: 416-961-2001
North York: 416-961-2001
York: 416-961-2001
The road to recovery starts with one step, and that step starts with contacting us at Focus Physiotherapy.