Laser therapy in animal medicine?

Doctor H,
I Googled the class 4 laser and a whole bunch of stuff about animals comes up. That seems strange to me. Why is that?

Nita W.


Dear Nita,
That does seem strange perhaps but if you know why it makes perfect sense. Vets are not usually limited by insurance reimbursement schedules and vet tools do not have to meet FDA guidelines, generally. Plus, Veterinarians tend to be very smart people so, that all adds up to mean that they are often early adapters to new technology.(A fact to consider...there are 4 medical schools in NC(Duke,UNC, Wake Forest, ECU) but only one vet school (NCSU).....which do you think is harder to gain admission to?)

Because of their willingness and ability to explore new technologies we have great data about the effectiveness of Laser Therapy. This data has the added advantage of being free from arguments about the placebo effect. I recently read "Laser Therapy for the Equine Athlete" and I can assure you the equestrian world is using Class IV technology, like the Litecure we use, and getting amazing results. I have seen x-rays of non-union fractures which, judging from the reaction of the experts reviewing the case, are very tricky to heal.

Also, rest assured that the Litecure laser is very safe and remarkably effective in treating a wide range of pain types. The FDA has cleared the technology for human use and for that we should all thank our four legged friends and the amazing docs that keep them healthy.

Doc Hightower
Raleigh