Chronic recurring ankle sprains

Dr Tom Scott, a chiropractor from Prestatyn, North Wales, has spent many years developing his own healing techniques with a combination of applied kinesiology, chiropractic and cold laser.

Here is one of his case studies so typical of sports injuries.

A young male football player with a history of chronic ankle sprains. He was told that the ligaments have stretched and surgery was the only option. As this patient had previously been under chiropractic care with me and heard that I now had a cold laser he asked if there was any hope of improvement from this approach.

Examination showed pain and tenderness around the lateral ankle especially inferior and anterior to the lateral malleolus, dorsi flexion and eversion was restricted. Past experience working with Australian Rules football I knew that often recurring eversion sprains of the ankle results in a chronic weakness of the tibialis anterior leading to or allowing an anterior-medial displacement of the talus bone. Testing the muscles indeed showed a weakness of tibialis anterior. This required a correction of the position of the talus bone. Strengthening of the tibialis anterior with the laser applied to the origin and insertion resulted in a slight improvement. This was followed by applying the laser to the belly of the muscle along it’s whole length along the lateral shin as it was tender and tight. Retesting produced full strengthening of muscle. Finally the laser was then applied around the joint itself for bio-stimulation of the structures of the ankle.

The patient returns for chiropractic care monthly as a maintenance programme but he is back in sport, feeling more stable and with no recurrence of his ankle sprain.

Dr Tom Scott has written several papers on correcting chronic joint conditions using AK and LLLT. These papers are available to members of UKITL.

Canine Cruciate Injury helped with LLLT

I’ve always been fascinated with the way cold laser works so effectively on animals. In some instances much better and faster than in humans. More than likely it’s down to their diet, exercise and the lack of stress in their lives.

Anyway, here’s an encouraging case study about a 6 ½ year old Doberman, Dexter.

Mary Chase Hopkins, a laser therapist from London was approached by a colleague requesting treatment for her dog. Here she picks up the story.

Their 6 ½ year old Doberman, Dexter, had just been diagnosed with a cruciate ligament injury and was in pain and unable to put any weight on his right rear leg. The vet had suggested surgery to insert a plate and pins which after 5 months recuperation should give him back around 80% of his mobility. They weren’t happy with that and in searching for other options discovered cold laser and contacted me.

After the first session, Dexter had an immediate healing reaction, with some increased swelling, heat and tenderness. This ‘inflammatory response’ is a normal reaction when stimulating the body’s healing processes. A week later I saw Dexter for his second treatment and observed that his gait was noticeably easier and his owner said that he had been sleeping easier, too.

Yolanda, Dexter’s owner, is also a health professional and decided to invest in a cold laser herself. She continued his treatment periodically and is happy to report that after 5 months Dexter is fully recovered, with 100% mobility. He’s back playing and chasing squirrels and is himself again.

Yolanda says: "I’m certain that the cold laser treatment made a significant contribution to his recovery and am very grateful to Mary for introducing us to this life-saving therapy."

There are a number of veterinary surgeries who now regularly use cold laser to treat animals. It is particularly widely used within the equine community. However, many remain sceptical or ignorant of this modality. The UK Institute for Therapeutic Laser exists to raise awareness of the benefits of cold laser both in the human and animal healing fields.