Tulsa Spine and Rehab

When you think laser do you think superhero or danger or something? Well guess what? Lasers are a great way to get rid of pain. And to learn more about that, we’re going to talk with Dr. Riley from Tulsa Spine and Rehab. They’re a team of specialists under one roof with one mission: to help get you moving. Dr. Riley, I understand you have added a more high intensity laser to your arsenal of tools.

I have. God, my son loves superheroes too, so I’d hate to disappoint him on this, but-

This is one laser he can’t put on a shark, so this is not sharks with laser time. Okay.

We’ve always discussed at Tulsa Spine and Rehab, we’re providing conservative treatment options. And obviously conservative treatment options are nonsurgical options for different types of conditions, whether it’s lower back pain, elbow pain, neck pain, just different orthopedic conditions throughout. And this past year we added a CureWave Laser, which is a high intensity, low level laser as one of our treatment modalities or just another treatment option. There’s different forms of laser, like you had mentioned. Obviously we think laser hot, very hot. A lot of surgeons use lasers to cut. That is exactly opposite of this thing. Obviously it’s noninvasive, meaning there is no cutting obviously, but the technology is very similar.

It’s using energy. Okay. It’s like a wand that the technician will hold probably six inches away from the affected site. Treatment times may vary from anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. There’s certain protocols for different types of conditions, whether it’s tennis elbow or plantar fasciitis. We get into that here in a little bit, but great news, like with most of the things that we do here at Tulsa Spine and ,Rehab, there’s zero side effects of this thing. You’re going to feel the thing heat up a little bit, but secondary to that you do not feel much at all. It’s not like with medications or surgeries. As patients, we need to ask questions. What are the effects of this? You’re obviously going to fix this one thing. Am I going to … Is it going to reproduce problems, whether it’s a medication or some type of a surgery.

That’s what’s great about this service is that it doesn’t create any side effects. We’re able to administer the treatment in a relatively efficient time, like I said, 15 to 25 minutes.

When you get the treatment with the CureWave Laser, what does it feel like? Am I going to feel like a warmth? Is it going to be a more pinpoint kind of feeling? What does it feel like?

Yeah, exactly. You’re just going to fill that area of your skin warm up a little bit. There might be a little bit of redness to that area of your skin, but it just feels warm. What’s going on, the goal of the therapy is to simply reduce inflammation and promote healing. And this is done at the cellular level. Each cell, taking your way back to biology class where there’s the nucleus, which is where all the DNA and so forth is contained in the cell.

You have something called a mitochondria. The mitochondria is kind of like the powerhouse of the cell. That’s where all the ATP synthesis, all the energy is produced. This laser has the ability to affect the mitochondria so it increases ATP synthesis and reproduces more energy in the cell. A lot of fancy science, but essentially what’s happening is it’s promoting and speeding up the healing process, so reduction of inflammation, promoting that healing process and ultimately you’re going to feel better.

Many times there may be soft tissue or muscle adhesions, trigger points, areas that are very tender, very effective to reduce that tenderness to that effected area as well.

Time wise, each session lasts anywhere from 15 to 25 minutes. Depending on the condition, we’re going to recommend an initial four to six treatments. Typically after the sixth treatment, there’s going to be some response. All in, I would say we’re able to manage most conditions within eight to 12 sessions. Like most chronic conditions, there might be maintenance type things that you’re able to do moving forward just to help manage it. Some types of acute situations are managed and a little bit easier.

We just frame it initially is that we’re going to recommend four to six and then we’ll have a reevaluation at six and make the appropriate recommendations from there. I’m excited about this thing because, once again, there’s zero side effects and for some of the conditions this treats we’re somewhat limited. For example, plantar fasciitis, inflammation of the soft tissue on the bottom of your foot, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, acute sprains, strains, I’ve had fantastic response with the laser related to those types of conditions. And many patients, let’s be frank, chronic lower back pain affects most of us and with chronic lower back pain there’s some form of inflammation in the lumbar spine, whether it’s in the facet joint or the disc, and if we’re able to provide a therapy to that area to reduce the inflammation, it’s going to make the patient feel better.

We will typically, it’ll be part of our treatment plan, Charlie. We might do some chiropractic, we might do some physical therapy and then make the recommendation of the laser. And that’s why I’m so proud of what our model hear at that Tulsa Spine and Rehab is that we’re all about integrated care. We’re going to do whatever we can to get that patient feeling better as quickly as we possibly can.

No one wants a process that’s going to go on and on and on. There is a finite amount of time you’re going to do this to achieve the result of healing a tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow or your plantar fasciitis. Right?

Absolutely. And as we start to reduce the inflammation and as the patient starts to feel better, I think it’s important that we start making additional recommendations on how to manage and maintain it. It’s not an open ended treatment plan. You know how I feel about those things. Like I said, make that initial recommendation of four to six. And this needs to be said, Charlie, if the patient’s not responding accordingly, then we need, as providers, to make the appropriate change. Do we need to go a different route? Do they need to see an orthopedist? Is this thing potentially torn? Do we need to get imaging?

I think there’s a lot of value, and it’s understated as a provider, we need at those times to recognize when maybe the therapy’s not working. But I will tell you this, me as an athlete and as active as I am, if I’ve got a tennis elbow or golfer’s elbow and it’s interfering with what I’m able to do, okay, I’m going to check every conservative box that I possibly can. And what I mean by that is I’m going to try to do everything I can that’s noninvasive, but if the response isn’t achieved and it’s still interfering with daily activity, okay, maybe I need to get imaging, maybe I need to consult an orthopedist and we need to move on from there.

Maybe I need medication or injection potentially, but I just think that it needs to be stated that if the response isn’t achieved in the appropriate amount of time, we need to at that point call an audible and make the appropriate changes needed.

You go step-by-step and the noninvasive is a way to start and then you move up from that. And a great example is my father. He recently injured his shoulder and he was told, listen, we can do this with physical therapy and it’s can take so much time or we can do surgery and we’ll fix it much quicker. And the fact is the surgery wound up taking much longer at his age to recuperate. Whereas if he had done something noninvasive, he could have then stepped up to surgery if that didn’t work.

Absolutely. Obviously if we’re cut on, there’s no turning back there. And I’m a proponent of surgeries, don’t get me wrong.

Right.

There’s times when we need those.

Right. We’re not saying surgery is bad, but surgery is, if we’re starting with a noninvasive approach first and then and moving up step-by-step, surgery isn’t the first step.

Correct. And that’s my advice to the majority of my patients. Obviously, depending on the case is let’s check the conservative boxes. Let’s exhaust all conservative options first. That response isn’t achieved, then we can go from there.

It’s just a matter of being careful. The CureWave Laser now is available at Tulsa Spine and Rehab. It’s noninvasive pain relief. It helps your muscles recover at a cellular level, and it’s a great starting point for some of the common injuries that you’ll experience and pains you’ll experience. Dr. Reilly and the team at Tulsa Spine and Rehab can guide you through that process as well as tapping into all the other specialists that are available there at Tulsa Spine and Rehab. If you’d like to learn more, there’s more information about the CureWave Laser here on our website at Tulsa Spine and Rehab. Dr. Reilly, thanks for visiting with us.

Thanks, Charlie.

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