Facts About Laser Treatment For Arthritis In Knees

By Richard Morris


The term arthritis is used to mean joint inflammation. The term may not refer to a specific medical condition since it is used in reference to over 200 different conditions. These conditions affect joints and tissues that appear around the joints. Besides affecting tissues that appear around joints, it may also affect other connective tissues. Generally, arthritis is a rheumatic condition, which means that it tends to involve swelling, stiffness, aching, and pain around joints. Here are facts about laser treatment for arthritis in knees.

Several types of arthritis exist even though the most common one is osteoarthritis. Additional types are fibromyalgia, gout, and rheumatoid arthritis. The symptoms that are associated with this condition may occur suddenly or they may develop over a period of time. Some rheumatic conditions may also involve several internal organs as well as the immune system. Such a condition is lupus and rheumatoid, which cause several symptoms because they affect various organs.

In the United States, the CDC has it that an excess of 54.4 million adult citizens have some form of arthritis. The condition limits the activities that 23.7 million people can take in. When comparing the young against the adults, individuals exceeding 65 years of age have higher chances of developing the condition than younger people. This however, does not rule out the fact that even young people risk developing this health problem.

Due to the research that has been going on concerning the most suitable treatment methods, the use of laser has emerged as one of the best options that people have. In this technique, either class IV or Class III of lasers can be used in treatment. Normally, Class III lasers are grouped as cold lasers. This is due to the fact that they have insufficient ability to go through the skin. They can only penetrate the skin to a few millimeters before they are stopped by body tissues.

In light of the demerits that Class III lasers have, Class IV lasers were introduced. The latter presents over 50 times more energy of the lasers of Class III category. It is for this reason that they are able to penetrate deeper into the skin without being stopped by body tissues. The greater penetration also allows Class IV to produce improved results in treatment of arthritis.

Class IV lasers are effective against the treatment of osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia. Class III lasers were used for some time before it was realized that they were not effective. This was due to the limited capacity they had in skin penetration. Despite Class IV lasers being efficient in osteoarthritis and fibromyalgia treatment, their capacity to cure rheumatoid arthritis is still unknown.

When used to treat osteoarthritis, Class IV lasers work by improving the underlying cytochemistry of the affected area. The improvement in cytochemistry usually results in an increase in the flow of blood and it also relieves pain. This improves symptoms that the patient initially experienced.

More research is required in this field in order to come up with better methods of treatment. The research and treatment methods that are currently available are limited. Private and public research institutions are committed to findings better treatments. Most research today is leaning towards laser treatment because of its promising ability to treat this condition.




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