Author Archives: James Carroll

About James Carroll

Founder and CEO at THOR Photomedicine Ltd. About THOR

LLLT / Low level laser therapy and the rise and fall of modern medicine

I have been reading The rise and fall of modern medicine by James Le Fanu, I’m just 30% in and am encouraged by how hard it is to introduce a radically new drug / medical procedure. Why encouraged? because LLLT has been a long time coming and occasionally I wonder if perhaps it will never gain universal clinical acceptance. Le Fanus book reminds us that penicillin, cortisone, open-heart surgery, kidney transplants and hip joint replacements (to name just a few) all took decades of refinement, practice and persuasion to achieve mainstream use just like LLLT

Posted in Books and Journals, Rants | 9 Comments

Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT / Cold Laser Literature watch for Sept 2011

15 new research papers for you this month including LLLT treatments for: osteonecrosis of the jaw in cancer patients, laser vs ultrasound for shoulder myofascial pain syndrome, radiation-induced mucositis in head and neck cancer patients, persistent idiopathic facial pain and a negative study for subacromial impingement syndrome. This negative result is hardly a surprise as the laser was only 6mW. It is a shame the authors did not come on our training course before embarking on this study. There are ten more papers to review including Alzheimer’s disease, TMJ, respiratory diseases in children and a a MUST READ editorial on the effect of LLLT on suppression of activity of peripheral nerve endings by Dr Roberta Chow MD PhD.

Association of laser phototherapy with PRP improves healing of bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaws in cancer patients: A preliminary study.

Martins MA, Martins MD, Lascala CA, Curi MM, Migliorati CA, Tenis CA, Marques MM

School of Dentistry, Universidade de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil; Department of Oral Pathology, School of Dentistry, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande … Continue reading

Posted in Research | 3 Comments

Oncologist Rene Jean Bensadoun interview

An video interview with Oncologist Rene Jean Bensadoun explaining why LLLT is not contraindicated when treating oral mucositis.

Posted in Interviews, Video of the Week | on Oncologist Rene Jean Bensadoun interview

Dr Mary Dyson interview 2010

Former editor of Grays Anatomy Dr Mary Dyson PhD,  a popular speaker at LLLT conferences, describes how she got involved with low level laser / light therapy research when she was head of tissue repair research at Guys Hospital London UK.

Posted in Interviews, Video of the Week | on Dr Mary Dyson interview 2010

Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT / Cold Laser Literature watch for August 2011

43 LLLT papers for your review, including reduced muscle fatigue when training, improved nerve conduction in diabetic polyneuropathy, improved bold flow in patients with vertebrobasilar insufficiency, improved hair density and hair thickness in women, improved healing of dry sockets after tooth extraction, a paper I co-authored showing how LLLT reduces cognitive deficits and inhibits microglial activation after TBI in mice, and many many more.

Effects of low-level laser therapy (808 nm) on isokinetic muscle performance of young women submitted to endurance training: a randomized controlled clinical trial.

de Brito Vieira WH, Ferraresi C, de Andrade Perez SE, Baldissera V, Parizotto NA

Department of Physical Therapy, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (Campus Universitario Lagoa Nova), Av. Senador Salgado Filho, 3000, 59072-970, Natal, RN, Brazil, hericksonfisio@yahoo.com.br.

Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) has shown efficacy in muscle bioenergetic activation and its effects could influence the mechanical performance of this tissue during physical exercise. This study tested whether endurance training associated with LLLT could increase human muscle performance in isokinetic dynamometry when compared to the same … Continue reading

Posted in Research | 2 Comments

Interview with Prof. Harry Whelan

Dr Robin Falkov interviews Prof. Harry Whelan MD yesterday 26th August 2011 on Rayedio Lounge. Listen here: Harry Whalen Interview LLLT LED 26 Aug 2011

In case you are new to LLLT, Harry Whelan is best known for his association with the NASA related research into LLLT with LEDs

Posted in Interviews | on Interview with Prof. Harry Whelan

Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT / Cold Laser Literature watch for July 2011

Thirty-Three new LLLT papers for you this month including; pretreatment of untrained runners in which LLLT increased performance and reduced oxidative damage, yet another trial on oral mucositis (that is now 14 RCTs according to my calculations), this time using LED extra-orally to cheeks and throat tissues on children undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, a paper published on LED treatment of cellulite applied during treadmill training claims reduced saddlebag and thigh circumference (controlled, but not a randomised or blinded study).

There is also an in-vitro study on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation with 810nm laser and its effect on NF-kB (from Harvard). This is important – we all need to learn more about NF-kB, because it governs many cellular functions (including inflammation and cell death); and they found that NF-kB can be stimulated by light induced ROS to protect healthy cells. You may also have heard that oxidative stress (caused by ROS) can also be reversed by treatment with LLLT, how weird is that! This is easily explained but I’m not going … Continue reading

Posted in Research | on Low Level Laser Therapy LLLT / Cold Laser Literature watch for July 2011