2005 Volume 14 Issue 3 Pages 103-114
Phototherapy, (combining laser therapy and therapy with other light sources, such as light-emitting diodes, LEDs) is now applied in Sports Medicine with the objectives of not only the diagnosis of and treatment for sports related diseases and disorders, but also improvement of physical strength and the autoimmunological system, leading to an enhancement of each individual athlete’s ability, skill, and capacity in their own particular field. As the rise of interest in sports increases dramatically, so have the injuries, and so has the number of occasions that we reconstructive surgeons find ourselves treating such injuries. The area of sports injuries which we cover extends from facial soft tissue trauma, facial bone fractures, and hand surgery to post-contusion skin necrosis, ulcers, skin soft tissue deficiency and bone deficiency. Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has areas in which its efficacy is already well-documented, like pain attenuation, promotion of wound healing, activation of blood flow and so on. From my own research and clinical applications, some of which are précised here, I have shown that LLLT stimulates local blood flow in flaps, can rescue failing grafts and flaps, heal a large variety of recalcitrant ulcers and remove pain in temporomandibular joint injury. Furthermore, the actions and reactions associated with laser therapy have been proved to promote the living body to use its inherent powers of healing and recuperation to bring itself back to a normal condition, the theory of laser homeostasis. Recent spin-offs from the NASA space medicine program have included a new generation of LEDs, vastly more powerful, stable and with quasimonochromatic outputs that have enables their clinical application in almost every field where laser therapy has proved effective, but at a fraction of the cost of laser diodes. My hope is that active therapeutic application of light, either from laser systems, LED systems or a combination of both of them, will enable everybody including sports professionals and amateurs to lead healthy lives, with a higher quality of life, and to enjoy sports throughout their lifespan.
