Equine Laser Therapy Applications: Myofascial Pain, Back Pain, Acupuncture, Wounds and More

Bart Halsberghe, DVM describes how he uses Multi Radiance Veterinary Laser Therapy in his practice.
More on Multi Radiance Super Pulsed Laser Therapy: www.multiradiance.com/veterina...
Video Transcript:
So they see a lot of eventers, jumpers, other disciplines as well. Any other ropers, cutters what else do you see there?
Yeah, we do a lot of reining, majority of hunter-jumpers but also eventers obviously and dressage.
So very active elite athletes?
That's right.
And these are top level athletes?
Yes.
So you see a wide variety of different injuries but typically induced by hard competition. Especially these eventers, it's like a triathlon.
That's right.
So just give us an example, if you will, of some of the injuries you see on a regular basis with these horses.
Well, obviously common injuries in those sport horses are always suspensory injuries. I think that's one of the biggest ones. And in eventers, we see a superficial digital flexor tendon injuries, and then obviously joint issues a lot. But also a lot of back problems with secondary and myofascial, all the tension that we have to deal with. So those are applications and areas where we can use the laser a lot I think.
So today, Dr. Halsberghe is going to just bring some context to this and why he's using this laser, what he likes about it, how he's using it, to help you out there understand better about the applications for this laser and how you might be using it for yourself in your practice. So take it away and thank you very much.
All right, thank you. First of all, I like Multi Radiance laser because of a couple things but first of all, it's a very safe laser to use. Safety is one aspect and I think always rule number one is do no harm, so that's why I think it's very important.
But with that safety, despite the safety, it's quite a powerful laser as well because it's a pulsed laser. We have quite a high maximum power output but still keeping the mean or the average power quite low, and that gives us the benefit of a little bit better penetration which is important in those bigger animals to get to certain areas that we want to treat.
And the other aspect I like about it is that it's very portable and very user-friendly so it's ideal to take it in your vehicle and use it in an ambulatory practice, use it on the spot while you're treating patients and use it with other modalities as well.
I think I use the laser the most in my practice for horses that have a lot of myofascial pain or back pain, a lot of muscle trigger points, and I use the laser then in combination with acupuncture a lot.
And then other applications I always use it for is wound therapy. Whenever I have a laceration that I need to suture, after I clean it and before I suture it, I will laser the area and get the benefit of starting the healing process and also the antibacterial effects of the blue light.
And then edema or cellulitis is an application I like to use laser for a lot as well. Especially in those horses in a subacute or a chronic stage that don't seem to be responsive to medicine. I've seen good results with applying the laser to those cases.
And then as we work with sport horses, we have a lot of tendon and ligament issues and the laser definitely has its applications for that.