HEALING WITH LIGHT

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http://www.redflagsweekly.com/features/2003_feb11.html

 

 

February 11, 2003

 

HEALING WITH LIGHT

 

By Len Saputo, MD

 

Personal experience is a powerful teacher. In March of 2001, I was preparing to

take a trip to Australia to represent the United States in Senior Davis Cup

competition. In the over-60 division, playing with pain is more the rule than

the exception. But a couple of weeks before leaving, I developed a severe elbow

injury that I was sure would take me out of the competition. It’s an injury that

generally takes six weeks to 18 months to heal. So I decided to try my own

therapy on myself, and was amazed at the results. After five days of twice daily

treatments with a near infrared light therapy known as photonic stimulation, the

pain was totally gone. I was back on the courts. I even went on to win the world

singles title!

 

I no longer take tennis trips without bringing the photonic stimulator along. In

fact, it’s become the " secret weapon " of our U.S. Senior Davis Cup Team.

However, while photonic stimulation may sound like something out of " Star Trek, "

it’s a reality that is poised to become an essential part of medical practice

for years to come. It is particularly effective for soft tissue injuries such as

muscle pulls, contusions, hematomas, and plantar fasciitis, but it has many

other very impressive applications as well. Since I started using this

technology at the Health Medicine Institute (HMI), in Lafayette, California,

we’ve treated patients suffering from pain, many neurological disorders, and a

wide variety of musculoskeletal and soft tissue maladies.

 

The idea isn’t brand new. Infrared scanning has been used as a diagnostic tool

for more than 40 years, but the application of infrared light as an actual

treatment is more recent. It started about five years ago with a man named

Maurice Bales.

 

Bales was using infrared technology to identify stress fractures in turbine

engine blades for NASA. He also knew that medical doctors had been studying

infrared light emission patterns of the human body, and that many diseases could

be diagnosed using this information. He became fascinated by this, but because

there were few practical therapies resulting from this technology to help people

get better, Bales became preoccupied with applying his knowledge of infrared

light to find a way to treat their pain and dysfunction.

 

Working with a neurologist and chiropractor, Bales eventually designed a machine

that produced high energy, one micron wavelength, infrared light that did more

than he ever imagined–it not only dramatically accelerated healing but also

relieved pain and helped restore function in diseased tissues.

 

No one knows exactly how photon therapy works, but we’ve got some good guesses.

When you have an injury, blood vessels nourishing it, which are regulated by the

sympathetic nervous system, go into spasm and diminish blood flow to the site.

When you apply the portable hand held photonic stimulator to the overlying skin

for a period of time ranging from few seconds to minutes, the unique and

powerful effect of its deeply penetrating infrared light dilates blood vessels

so blood can flow more freely and promote healing, relieve pain, and restore

function.

 

Because increased blood flow brings more heat into the tissues of the body,

changes in blood flow can be measured with heat measuring devices. Thermography

is the study of heat patterns at the body surface. As blood flow patterns change

in treated tissues, these changes in temperature can be measured in real time

with a slightly modified version of the infrared scanner that Bales had used to

detect defects in turbine engine blades.

 

Photon therapy also has a direct beneficial effect on individual cells. Heat

from its high energy near infrared light is believed to increase their

production of ATP–the primary chemical energy manufactured by the mitochondria

of our cells. This chemical energy stimulates the return of normal cellular

physiology.

 

There is good solid scientific research supporting photonic stimulation as an

effective therapy. NASA published a study on the Navy Seals in the Journal of

Clinical Laser Medicine and Surgery in November of 2001 showing that photon

therapy not only relieves pain but also accelerates the healing process by 50

percent or more. There’s also evidence that photonic stimulation may be

effective in treating some visual disorders. A soon to be published article in

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences will report that photonic

stimulation prevents blindness induced by methyl alcohol poisoning in mice. And

according to New Science Magazine, September of 1999, NASA has shown that

photonic stimulation can be used to treat eye injuries caused by laser burns.

 

This therapy is also easy on both the practitioner and the patient. The hand

held portable photonic stimulator is applied directly against the skin from a

few seconds to several minutes, depending on the situation. Patients often feel

no sensations during a treatment, but typically they feel warmth as blood flow

improves, and sometimes a prickly sensation is perceived as nerves are once

again awakened and begin functioning. In people with fibromyalgia, those with a

light complexion, or who have neuropathic pain, it is important to titrate the

dose of infrared light slowly and under the guidance of an experienced

practitioner who is using an infrared scanner. Although it is unusual to

exacerbate symptoms, it is possible, so it is particularly important in these

settings to both monitor the patients’ clinical response as well as their real

time image changes seen during infrared scanning.

 

At the HMI, we often add one or more of a wide range of services in conjunction

with photon therapy that include acupuncture, bodywork, chiropractic, movement

therapies, psychology, nutrition, and guided imagery. Our style of practice

typically integrates the services of several healthcare disciplines

simultaneously in order to synergize recovery. Even in the most severely

disabled patients, it is rarely necessary to use medication to manage pain,

reduce inflammation, or restore function.

 

In the more than thirty years I’ve been in medical practice, no technology has

had a more profound affect on my practice–and on the lives of my patients.

Ideally, as more people learn about this technology, photonic stimulation may

well become a first choice in managing pain rather than a last resort.

 

A VERSION OF THIS STORY FIRST APPEARED IN THE JANUARY ISSUE OF ALTERNATIVE

MEDICINE MAGAZINE

 

Len Saputo, MD, is a graduate of Duke University Medical School and is board

certified in Internal Medicine. He has been in private practice in affiliation

with John Muir Medical Center in the San Francisco Bay Area for more than 30

years. His approach to healing is based on an integrative style of mainstream

medicine, nutritional therapies and prevention.

 

Over the past seven years, Len has guided the development of an integrative,

holistic model of healthcare that is focused on wellness and prevention. In

order to accomplish this mission, in 1995 Len founded the Health Medicine Forum,

which he continues to direct. " The Forum " is a non-profit educational foundation

that has sponsored more than 100 public and professional events, including

monthly presentations, workshops, and conferences. In 2001 Len co-founded the

Health Medicine Institute, an integrative medicine center in Lafayette,

California that is bringing the model of Health Medicine into clinical practice.

Further information on Health Medicine, the Forum, and the Health Medicine

Institute are available on the Web at http://www.healthmedicine.org

 

 

 

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