A hamstring injury can knock you off your feet. Like many other common sports injuries, hamstring injuries can lead to pain, inflammation, instability, reduced range of motion, and a general feeling that you’re unable to operate at peak performance. Laser therapy has emerged as an incredible treatment for hamstring injuries. This effective, noninvasive option helps to stimulate healing to help you avoid chronic pain and dysfunction following a hamstring injury. Here are some benefits of using laser therapy to heal a sports injury:

• Laser therapy has an analgesic effect. That means that it triggers your body’s natural pain-relief mechanisms. That’s great news if you’re trying to manage pain without the use of pain medication.
• If you’ve been told that you need surgery to correct an injury, laser therapy can be a nonsurgical alternative that generates healing without the need to go under the knife.
• If you’ve already had surgery to heal an injury, research shows that laser therapy may
• offer many benefits for both stimulation of the healing process and control of the inflammatory process by reducing swelling and pain.

Laser light stimulates blood flow, circulation, and cellular activity to trigger tissue regrowth in scarred areas. There are several different types of laser therapies used to encourage the healing of tissue injuries. In one study, low-level laser treatments were found to be especially effective for a wide range of common sports injuries. If you’re exploring alternative treatments for hamstring injuries, it’s time to learn more about laser treatments. Take a look at the benefits of laser treatments for hamstrings.

Pain Relief

Damaged, scarred tissue is often tight and tender. For many people seeking laser therapies for hamstring injuries, pain relief is the priority. The pain that generally accompanies hamstring injuries is caused by inflammation. Lasers therapy helps to reduce inflammation.

Regenerative Healing

As laser light energy passes through the injured tissue, it creates a “disruption” that causes cells to work faster on their natural repair mechanisms. In many cases, people suffering from chronic pain due to cells that had previously abandoned any attempts to repair a pain source enjoy “restarted” healing following laser intervention. This is great news for anyone suffering from chronic pain stemming from an injury that occurred a long time ago. While laser therapy is also ideal for fresh injuries, it can be effective when used for older injuries that never fully allowed the tissue to heal correctly.

Increased Blood Flow

Why is increased blood flow important for healing? The truth is that healing can’t happen unless there’s proper blood flow. Think of blood flow as the river that provides the nutrients tissue needs to survive. Blood is full of oxygen, growth factors, and other components that nourish cells. When scarring and blockages prevent proper blood flow to an area of the body, the tissue is essentially “starved” of nutrients. This means that it doesn’t have the building blocks needed for healing.

Relief From Swelling

Swelling is a common problem that accompanies hamstring injuries. In addition to creating pain, swelling can be a visible reminder of an injury. Laser therapy helps to reduce swelling following sports injuries due to the way increased blood actually helps to carry more excess fluid away from the injury site. In fact, the anti-swelling benefits of laser therapy can be pivotal for helping to restore proper circulation and detoxification. Removing pain, inflammation, and swelling helps to improve the body’s natural recovery efforts.

Improved Nerve Function

In addition to facilitating faster tissue growth and repair, laser treatments can actually help to improve nerve function. The same characteristics that make laser treatments so effective for triggering tissue healing also trigger nerve regeneration. While many people with hamstring injuries are focused on rehabilitating the hamstring, they often overlook the importance of nerve function when treating their injuries. Slower recovery of nerve function in injured tissue can actually create long-term consequences for limb impairments and numbness.

Faster Recovery for Getting Back on “the Field”

If you’ve suffered from a hamstring injury that’s taken you out of the game for a bit, you may be looking for a way to recover as quickly as possible. The truth is that you don’t have to be a professional athlete to enjoy the accelerated recovery that is often enjoyed when laser treatments are used. In fact, you don’t have to be an athlete at all. Even people who simply want to recover quickly to resume their normal pace of life can benefit from laser treatments. Laser therapy is commonly used by:

• People who need to heal quickly to return to jobs that require them to stay on their feet.
• People who like to run, jog, or play sports for enjoyment.
• People who enjoy working out at the gym.
• People who take care of family members.
• People who like to lead active lives.
• People with unhealed sports or workplace injuries.

Laser therapy first became popular among professional athletes seeking faster recovery for a good reason! This treatment can help speed up the “course of nature” by providing your body with what it needs to stimulate its healing response. However, the accessibility of laser treatments today means there’s simply no need to be a professional athlete to enjoy this cutting-edge treatment.

What to Expect From Laser Therapy for Hamstring Injuries

Laser therapy is nothing new. However, this treatment has finally become a mainstream treatment that is used in wellness clinics around the world. Laser therapy first became “big” 40 years ago due to its popularity among elite athletes. It is used today by office workers, parents, teachers, old people, young people, and many more to provide relief from pain and dysfunction.

One of the big benefits of laser therapy is that it’s a targeted treatment. That means that the laser only comes into contact with the part of the body that is being treated. Laser therapy for any type of sports injury begins with an evaluation to confirm that you’re an ideal candidate. Generally, laser therapy is considered to be a noninvasive, well-tolerated treatment that is both ideal and optimal for nearly everyone. Any considerations in your health history that could make you a poor candidate for laser therapy will be discussed during your consultation.

Each laser treatment lasts anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes. Laser therapy is not painful. The lasers used are not strong enough to cause pain or burning. However, some patients do experience some slight warmth in the area where the laser is placed during treatment. It’s typically to book several sessions over the course of several weeks. Both laser intensity and frequency will be determined based on the severity of your hamstring injury.

Laser therapy does not require downtime. While you may be advised to avoid strenuous activity involving your hamstring following treatments, there is no need to restrict your daily activity. Many patients report positive results after just one session. However, laser therapy is designed to offer cumulative benefits that cause you to experience improved function, pain relief, and healing over time. In fact, it may take weeks to months to see the full results of laser therapy due to the fact that full healing requires cellular turnaround.

Laser therapy doesn’t have to be the only option used to heal pain and dysfunction following a hamstring injury. In fact, one of the best avenues for recovery is to incorporate laser therapy into a larger rehabilitation plan that can include manual adjustments, stretching, flexibility training, massage, and more. Don’t spend another day suffering from lingering hamstring pain. Get on the road to recovery by booking a consultation to learn more about using effective, safe laser therapy for hamstring pain!