Laser therapy could be a relief for animals

one animal hospital on the eastern shore of virginia is looking to try this new procedure on its furry patients. 47 abc’s lissette nunez has more. natural sound beeping noise from laser machine track1 chessy is a 12 year old lab who has been suffering with arthritis. but local veterinarians say a new pain relieving alternative – called laser therapy – can help alleviate symptoms. dr emily humphries, veterinarian “21:52:34 so, it uses basically a specific wavelength of light, which then increases cellular activity, it increases blood flow to an injured area 21:52:44” track 2 dr. emily humphries – from the eastern shore animal hospital -took 47 abc through what a typical laser therapy session would look like. here she takes the laser and targets chessy’s most pained areas such as her hips and joints. she says this service is mainly used to treat long term chronic conditions, but can also allow injuries or wounds to heal quicker too. dr emily humphries, veterinarian “21:53:16 broken bones, lacerations, bite wounds, even post operatively on things like your routine spays and castration 21:53:24” track 3 dr. humphries says as of right now it is unknown if there are any long term side effects. but one side-effect she does notice after a dog has undergone a session is soreness. dr emily humphries, veterinarian “21:54:08 sometimes there can be a little bit of discomfort the following day just because of that increased activity at the cellular level”21:54:16 track 4 although dr. humphries admits this type of therapy is still in its early stages, she hopes this will eventually replace or can work in conjunction with medication. dr emily humphries, veterinarian 21:58:06 before we were having to reach for things like tramitol which is kind of in the opioid type family it’s a really nasty tasting pill so it’s difficult to get it in your animal so i’m hoping that you know that along with things like glucosamine it’s just going be a multi-modal approach to this chronic pain 21:58:23 track 6 lissette nunez 47 abc. and to reiterate – this is still a fairly new type of therapy and not much research has been done yet. folks at eastern shore animal hospital tell us a session can cost about 15 dollars. today the playstation v-r system was released nationwide.