Gundog Training Forum

I was just wondering if anyone had any experience of Cold Laser Therapy?

I was planning on taking Radar now he has had a couple of weeks of rest after a busy few months, apparently it helps with aches and pains etc. I don't think he is in any pain, but a little tlc wouldn't go a miss.

Why not just give him a massage yourself?

Rascal

He does enjoy a massage, but what I liked about this was, the lady who does it has some kind of thingy (I don't know the correct terms) which shows if there is hot spots on the dog indicating injury or soreness. I don't know how yet but she can also tell if the dog is compensating in other areas from old injuries.

Hi Mandymoo,

I have a Setter who is now eleven years old and have recently had Cold Laser treatment on his 'knees'. He has been diagnosed as having a little osteo arthritis in his legs which isn't, at the moment, causing him too many problems.
However, he started licking his knee, one in particular, and has stained this with his saliva. I asked the Vet, who is fully qualified but also who performs alternative medicine such as Acupuncture, Cold Laser Therapy, McTimoney Chiropractor treatment, Homeopathy, if she would give my Setter Acupuncture because I thought he may have pain in his knees from the arthritis and, thus, licking one knee in particular. (Initially I had called her in to perform the excellent McTimoney Chiro treatment for a shoulder injury.......he had agravated an old injury to his shoulder). Instead of the Acupuncture for his knees the Vet said that she had been getting much better success with giving the Cold Laser therapy instead.
She has given my boy two cold laser treatments and we have to wait to see if there is an improvement. Probably it will take more than just the two treatments before noticing any difference.
I do believe 'alternative' medicines used by Professionals work.

fieldlady.

Cold laser is a good therapy but there are times when it is not appropriate ( there are contraindicators)

I would suggest that if you want a post season check than see a qualified and registered Physiotherapist or Myotherapist . BOTH will ask you for Veterinary consent which is a sign of a GOOD practitioner and is a requirement under the 1966 Veterinary act.

To find lists of qualified physios I would suggest you check out IAAT or ASSVAP or IRVAP websites which are animal specialists or ACPAT which are the human physios that have an interest in working with animals.

It is definitely worth while doing a post season check , catching problems early can make the difference between an easy fix of a minor problem or a difficut fix of something which has become chronic.

Hope that helps

Holmes wrote:Cold laser is a good therapy but there are times when it is not appropriate ( there are contraindicators)

I would suggest that if you want a post season check than see a qualified and registered Physiotherapist or Myotherapist . BOTH will ask you for Veterinary consent which is a sign of a GOOD practitioner and is a requirement under the 1966 Veterinary act.

To find lists of qualified physios I would suggest you check out IAAT or ASSVAP or IRVAP websites which are animal specialists or ACPAT which are the human physios that have an interest in working with animals.

It is definitely worth while doing a post season check , catching problems early can make the difference between an easy fix of a minor problem or a difficut fix of something which has become chronic.

Hope that helps

There are many therapies which benefit canine althletes like our gundogs but you need to see the right people

Thank you for your replies. I will look into this a bit further. You just want do what you can for them especially when they have worked hard for you.

Cold laser, that’s a new one on me? As a laser engineer (now retired) I worked for an offshoot of the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton for twelve years and I have never heard of a cold laser, all lasers produce light and when it hits an object it produces heat even the smallest of lasers produce some heat so what is a cold laser?

Colder than most laser! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Low_level_laser_therapy

Thanks Vicky very interesting, 19 Joules would be more than enough to do permanent damage your eye sight; the only cold laser is one that is switched off. This reminds me of the fiber lasers we supplied for veterinary research for use in laser surgery; we had to put labels on them with the wording not for use on humans.