Cold laser therapy may offer chronic pain relief

Meadow Vista resident Cherelyn Lindbloom has always been an active person. The former Placer County Clerk and mother of two grown sons enjoys physical activity, whether it be jogging, hiking, playing tennis or her lifelong passion, snorkeling in exotic locations. But with a family that has a long history of knee problems that pop up in middle age, Lindbloom was wary of her ability to continue her active lifestyle.Sure enough, about 10 years ago, the 64-year-old whirling dervish began to experience occasional pain in her knee after physical activity. "My mother has really bad knees and unfortunately, it appears that I inherited her knees," said Lindbloom. Although she remained active, Lindbloom had to walk instead of jog and found it difficult to play tennis. "Any activity that required me to change direction quickly was very hard on my knees," she explained, "and although I forced myself to continue walking, even that became painful."Lindbloom's thrice weekly four-mile walks with her husband always ended in severe knee pain and she sometimes had to cut those walks short. Then Lindbloom got fitted for a knee brace and received some relief. And she believed any long-term solution for her knee pain involved surgery. While getting a routine chiropractic adjustment from her chiropractor, Lindbloom found out about a low-level laser light (also known as a cold laser) technology to treat her chronic knee pain. "When Cherelyn first came to see us, she had some significant knee swelling and complained of chronic pain. We recommended that she do some gentle chiropractic adjustments, but we also thought she would benefit significantly from low-level laser light therapy," said Dr. Gary Riffey, who has a practice in Rocklin.According to Dr. Riffey, low-level laser light therapy, or LLLT, is widely used to treat a variety of chronic and acute pain syndromes, including arthritis, back pain, carpal tunnel, tennis elbow and plantar fasciitis.LLLT is also used to promote wound-healing and reduce inflammation. While the exact mechanism of action for LLLT is unknown, the use of laser technology in the medical field is certainly nothing new. LLLT itself has been used for more than 40 years to treat various pain syndromes. Over the past two months, Lindbloom has received laser therapy about once per week and just completed her prescribed course of 12 treatments. What started out as a fairly consistent level of pain has diminished to almost no pain at all. Most remarkably, Lindbloom can now walk those four miles with her husband without any significant pain. "I didn't think I would ever be able to live without significant pain again. My younger sister is having knee problems and her doctor wants to schedule her for surgery. I told her to get LLLT first to see if it helps," says Lindbloom. Lindbloom is so excited about her journey back to health, she recently booked a Hawaiian vacation so she can again snorkel to her heart's content.Riffey Chiropractic is located at 6630 Sierra College Boulevard, Suite 300 in Rocklin. Doctors Gary and Cleo Riffey have been practicing healing and wellness for more than 15 years — 10 of those in Rocklin.________Know and GoWhat: Advances in natural pain relief clinicWhen: 6:30 to 8 p.m., Wednesday, July 27Where: Riffey Chiropractic, 6630 Sierra College Blvd., Ste 300Cost: $20 (may be applied to a future new patient visit) Reservations requested; call (916) 783-9470