What Cold Laser Therapy Is — And How It Actually Works
Cold laser therapy (also called low-level laser therapy, or LLLT, and increasingly known as photobiomodulation) uses specific wavelengths of light to penetrate skin and reach the cells in damaged tissue. The mechanism is well-described: light energy is absorbed by the mitochondria in your cells, which increases ATP production and supports the body's natural healing response. Unlike surgical or hot lasers, cold laser does not cut, burn, or generate heat — hence the name. You feel nothing during a session because the work is happening at a cellular level.
Cold laser is best known for chronic pain, slow-healing injuries, and inflammation. It is often used when standard treatments have plateaued, or when patients want a drug-free alternative to anti-inflammatory medications and cortisone injections. Common applications include rotator cuff issues, tennis elbow, Achilles tendinopathy, plantar fasciitis, knee pain from osteoarthritis, jaw pain, and post-surgical soft-tissue recovery. The strongest evidence is for tendinopathies and chronic soft-tissue injuries — the conditions where cellular repair is the rate-limiting step in healing.
Who Offers Cold Laser at OCC
Dr. Maia Pidperyhora is the chiropractor at Okanagan Chiropractic Center who offers cold laser therapy. She has specific training and dedicated equipment for it. If you are interested in cold laser as part of your treatment, you will want to book your visits with Dr. Maia — she'll assess whether cold laser is a fit for your condition, explain what to expect, and integrate it with the other treatment you may need (chiropractic adjustment, soft-tissue work, rehabilitation exercises). Cold laser is rarely used in isolation — it is usually one piece of a broader plan.
What a Cold Laser Visit Looks Like
Each visit starts with assessment. Dr. Maia will want to know what the injury is, how long it has been there, what you have tried, what activities it interferes with, and where the pain is most concentrated. Cold laser works best when it is targeted to the right anatomy and combined with the right home care, so this assessment matters — we don't simply point the device at a sore spot and hope.
During treatment, you're comfortably positioned (sitting or lying down depending on the area) and the laser handpiece is applied directly to the skin over the injury site. You feel nothing during the treatment — no heat, no buzzing, no vibration, no sensation. Session length varies by what's being treated — a small area like a tendon may take just a few minutes; a larger region takes longer. Most patients describe the experience as remarkably unremarkable.
Most patients need a series of sessions to see meaningful change. Acute injuries often respond in a few sessions; chronic tendinopathies and long-standing soft-tissue conditions usually need a longer course of care, spread over several weeks. Cold laser is almost always combined with chiropractic adjustment, soft-tissue work, and home exercises — the combination tends to do more than any single piece. Dr. Maia will give you a realistic estimate of what your specific case needs after the initial assessment.
Conditions Where Cold Laser Tends to Help Most
Tendinopathies are the strongest application. Rotator cuff irritation, tennis and golfer's elbow, Achilles tendinopathy, patellar tendon issues, and similar conditions all involve tendons that are notoriously slow to heal because of poor blood supply. Cold laser accelerates cellular activity in exactly the way these tissues need.
Chronic soft-tissue pain that hasn't resolved despite weeks of rest, ice, and stretching is another common use case. Old injury sites, lingering muscle strains, and stubborn scar tissue often respond when nothing else has. Plantar fasciitis combined with manual therapy and custom orthotics is a particularly effective combination — see our plantar fasciitis page for more on that protocol.
Post-surgical recovery can be supported by cold laser, with your surgeon's clearance. The mechanism (accelerated cellular repair, reduced inflammation) is well-suited to orthopedic surgery and soft-tissue repair recovery. It is drug-free and will not interact with your medications. TMJ pain and jaw tension also commonly respond — cold laser is a comfortable, non-invasive way to address an area that is uncomfortable to treat manually.
When Cold Laser Isn't Right
Cold laser is safe and well-tolerated, but it isn't appropriate in every situation. We avoid treatment directly over an active cancer site, over the abdomen during pregnancy, over the open growth plates of young children, and over areas where there is acute infection. We also screen for medications that increase photosensitivity. If cold laser isn't right for your case, Dr. Maia will say so and offer an alternative plan.