Ease Aches and Pains With High-Intensity Laser Therapy
Julian Whitaker, MD
Pierre Veres has been a patient at Whitaker Wellness for over seven years, and it shows. Extremely active and fit, he credits the clinic with helping him stay “on the road.” Three years ago, Pierre decided to run his first marathon—at the age of 64! He has since completed four 26.2-mile races including the 2011 San Francisco Marathon, which he ran with his 18-year-old grandson. Pierre is also a serious hiker and stays in shape by trekking at least 10 miles on weekends in the hills near his home.
Actually, Pierre is being modest by calling himself a hiker. He summited 19,340-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro last year; he and his grandson climbed Mt. Whitney (the highest peak in the continental US) and Yosemite’s Half Dome this past summer; and he’s planning on tackling the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu this fall.
How can a man who is 67 do all this? He eats a good diet, maintains his optimal weight, takes nutritional supplements, and when he has flare-ups of knee pain, comes to the Whitaker Wellness Institute for laser therapy. As you can imagine, all that activity, not to mention nearly seven decades of the usual wear and tear, takes a toll, and Pierre’s problems usually crop up in his knees. When he mentioned this to his physician at Whitaker Wellness, she suggested a course of high-intensity laser therapy.
High-intensity laser produces a particular wavelength of light that penetrates deep into affected tissues, where it increases blood flow, boosts cellular metabolism, reduces inflammation, and has an analgesic effect on nerve endings. We use it at the clinic to treat acute sprains and strains, degenerative joint disease in the neck and back, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, osteoarthritis, and tendonitis and other repetitive and overuse injuries.
Pierre received six treatments in February 2012 and had such tremendous improvements that he was able to run the Los Angeles Marathon in mid-March.
