Laser Therapy for Neuropathic Pain: Safe and Natural Alternative.
Doctor Bernard Filner describes in this article his recent
experiences regarding the use of the Low Power Laser in the treatment of
patients with neuropathic pain, particularly after oncologic radiation
therapy.
The first group includes breast cancer patients, where therapy has
included lumpectomy and/or chemotherapy/radiation therapy. Their primary
complaints have been pain in the anterior/posterior chest, neck, or arm
(on the surgical side); shoulder pain and/or dysfunction, including
“frozen shoulder”, on the operated side; edema of the arm and anterior
chest on the operated side; and soft tissue muscular dysfunction on one
or both sides attributed to post‐radiation scarring and fibrosis. These
patients have suffered for as long as ten‐plus years, and usually assume
that the problem is an “unavoidable” part of having cancer and surgery.
I have discovered that this is rarely true, and the symptoms can be
significantly ameliorated or resolved if treated properly. The use of
the low power laser has dramatically improved the results, given that
the lack of pain and risk of the LLLT makes the best and most effective
treatments possible. In these cases, the pain of Myofascial Trigger
Points and their referred pains can easily be treated with the low power
laser. Additionally, these tight muscles can create a “noose” around
particular nerves, causing entrapment neuropathies, which usually go
unrecognized by clinicians untrained in this area. Inactivation of the
appropriate trigger point relieves the “nerve” pain (e.g. greater
occipital nerves, Brachial Plexus – TOS, long thoracic nerve, median
nerve, ulnar nerve, sciatic nerve, ilioinguinal nerve, common peroneal
nerve, and pudendal nerve). Additionally, tight muscles from active
trigger points can prevent normal lymphatic drainage of almost any area
of the body. And finally, positioning pre‐, intra‐, and post operative
and radiation therapy can create new trigger points and cause
significant soft tissue pain and dysfunction.
Lastly, a patient was seen recently who clearly illustrates the benefits
and limitations of this analysis and approach to therapy. He is a 52
year old man complaining of bilateral knee pain. His history began in
1975 when he discovered a testicular lump, was diagnosed with testicular
cancer, had a single orchiectomy, and underwent significant pelvic,
lower back, and groin radiation therapy. He does not recall how much of
his body was shielded during the treatment. For the next fifteen years,
he was active, played tennis , jogged, etc. In the early 1990’s he began
to complain of subpatellar knee pain bilaterally, was seen at Johns
Hopkins Neurology Dept., and diagnosed with bilateral foot drop and
“Radiation Neuropathy”. He was also noted to have “patchy” abnormalities
of the EMG related to the common peroneal nerve on the left. He had
dysesthetic sensations on both feet (L>R), that the patient
felt was “numb” but were not objectively so. To make a long story short,
Using the low power laser (ml830), trigger points were inactivated in
both piriformis, Left semimembranosis, both vastus medialis and both
vastus lateralis, both medial gastrocnemius, both soleus, both peroneus
longus, and both tibialis posterior muscles. The result was elimination
of 95% of the patient’s pain, but a significant decrease (pt’s estimate
was 50%) in his foot drop bilaterally. His feet felt completely normal
when walking in the exam room. The overall impression was that most of
his residual “foot drop” was from significant disuse atrophy of the
involved musculature, and could be improved significantly.
In summary, using the ML830® laser, could result in significant
benefits, in terms of decreased morbidity, to patient receiving various
treatments for cancerous tumors.
Dr. Bernard Filner, MD
Learn more about Laser Therapy for Neuropathic Pain at http://www.myml830.com
