Whether from injury, surgery, acute illness, or a chronic disease such as diabetes, do you, a loved one, or a patient have a wound that requires extensive tissue repair? Nutrition is a key factor in maintaining all phases of wound healing. Laser Therapy is a safe and effective therapeutic modality that significantly helps induce and accelerate cell growth and the repair of damaged tissues for faster healing in simple acute wounds and even in complex non-healing wounds. So by combining Laser Therapy with good nutrition, you have the perfect protocol for optimum wound healing!
Nutrition and Wound Healing
“At least 20 vitamin type substances and at least 16 mineral and trace elements are required for normal health and physiologic functions.”[1] So in general, maintaining good levels of nutrients in the body is important for well being, but most especially for healing any type of wound. “Wound healing and its corresponding intimate relationship to overall nutrition has long been recognized by physicians…Poor nutritional intake or lack of certain essential nutrients significantly alter the body’s ability to heal wounds.”[2] This is because, “Nutrition deficiencies impede the normal processes that allow progression through stages of wound healing.”[3]
Malnutrition Causes Chronic Wounds
Malnutrition may result in a decrease in wound tensile strength, an increase in infections, pressure ulcers, and “delayed wound healing that result in chronic nonhealing wounds.”[4] And once wounds become chronic, they can pose a serious danger: “Chronic wounds are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality for many patients and therefore constitute a serious clinical concern.”[5] So it is highly important to maintain good nutrition so that wounds go through all phases of the wound healing process without delay.
Good Nutrition and Laser Therapy
Good nutrition combined with Laser Therapy can support wound healing. Science has known for some time that therapeutic lasers can induce and accelerate the body’s natural ability to repair and regenerate tissue. The photons of light that lasers produce are readily absorbed through the skin, penetrating deeply into tissue and converting light into signals that induce a wide range of beneficial biochemical changes in cells that stimulate and aid the body’s innate healing processes.
Laser Therapy Benefits Wound Healing
Science agrees that “Low level laser (LLL) therapy has been an important method to induce tissue repair….”[6] Laser Therapy has “…analgesic, vasodilating and anti-inflammatory properties.”[7] that benefit key elements of the tissue repair/wound healing process. In damaged tissue, Laser Therapy increases production of ATP, collagen, and antioxidants; reduces inflammation; intensifies white blood cell activity; and helps form new capillaries. Veins and arteries around the wound are widened, allowing more blood flow to the injured area so that nutrients and oxygen can be increased and cellular debris can be removed. In addition, the formation of scar tissue is reduced. These important tissue repair processes are aided and accelerated by Laser Therapy, so that wounds are closed and burns are healed more rapidly. Secondary infection is also controlled.
In Conclusion
Good nutrition is a requirement for wound healing because, “The energy for the building of new cells is usually released from body energy stores and protein reserves. This can be very challenging for undernourished and malnourished patients.”[8] So if you, a loved one, or a patient need wound healing, try a treatment plan of good nutrition combined with Laser Therapy to repair and regenerate tissues, accelerate the healing process, and achieve a quick and successful outcome!
And if you are a chiropractor, physical therapist, acupuncturist, or podiatrist, consider adding Laser Therapy to your treatment menu. In addition to accelerating tissue repair and cell growth for wound healing, Lasers can be used to treat acute and chronic pain, reduce inflammation, increase metabolic activity, and improve nerve function and vascular activity — providing a better quality of life for all your patients. For more information on therapeutic lasers, contact Rob Berman at Berman Partners at 860-707-4220.
[1] Brown KL, Phillips TJ. Nutrition and wound healing. Clin Dermatol. 2010 Jul-Aug;28(4):432-9. doi: 10.1016/j.clindermatol.2010.03.028. PMID: 20620761, p. 4.
[2] Jeremy Z. Williams, Adrian Barbul, Nutrition and wound healing, Surgical Clinics of North America, Volume 83, Issue 3, 2003,Pages 571-596,ISSN 0039-6109,https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-6109(02)00193-7, p. 571.
(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039610902001937)
[3] Stechmiller JK. Understanding the role of nutrition and wound healing. Nutr Clin Pract. 2010 Feb;25(1):61-8. doi: 10.1177/0884533609358997. PMID: 20130158, Abstract.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] Da Ré Guerra F, Vieira CP, Marques PP, Oliveira LP, Pimentel ER. Low level laser therapy accelerates the extracellular matrix reorganization of inflamed tendon. Tissue Cell. 2017 Aug;49(4):483-488. doi: 10.1016/j.tice.2017.05.006. Epub 2017 Jun 3. PMID: 28606650. Abstract.
[7] Rashidi S, Yadollahpour A, Mirzaiyan M. Low Level Laser Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Wound: Clinical Considerations. Biomed Pharmacol J 2015;8(2), p. 1124.
[8] Wild T, Rahbarnia A, Kellner M, Sobotka L, Eberlein T. Basics in nutrition and wound healing. Nutrition. 2010 Sep;26(9):862-6. doi: 10.1016/j.nut.2010.05.008. PMID: 20692599, Abstract.
Image Credit: <ahref=”https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/buddha-bowl-dish-with-vegetables-legumes-top-view_13807905.htm#query=nutrition&from_query=nutrititon&position=0&from_view=search&track=sph“>Image by jcomp</a> on Freepik
