If you’ve ever had a dog go through IVDD or other musculoskeletal issues, you’re probably familiar low level/cold laser therapy, which is a non-invasive technique that promotes healing of tissues through photobiomodulation.
This is a service offered by most vets and rehabilitation clinics, often using class 3B or 4 lasers and administered by a vet tech or rehab specialist. Clinics often offer packages, but prices per session might range from $50-85. And generally, laser therapy would ideally be applied every 2-4 days, often for months, depending on the injury and acuteness. That can add up pretty quick.
Here's Crusoe getting laser therapy at the vet some years ago.
Even though we’re fortunate enough to afford whatever therapy Crusoe needs (he earned it), no doubt it still gets expensive!
Which is also why we built this at-home hydrotherapy pool below instead of spending $85 per session at a rehab clinic, which has already saved us a TON of money and worked just as well, if not better to be honest.
You can find our DIY tutorial for this "manual water treadmill" in my other blog post here.
But what about laser therapy? Well, a “true” vet-standard laser device costs at least $8,000, so that’s not exactly affordable. And yes, you can buy dinky little “red light therapy” devices from Amazon and such for a couple hundred dollars or so, but these are little more than glorified flashlights.
One of the original and most reputable brands of vet-standard laser devices is called Respond Systems. Any vet will know them. But what's not very well known, is that you can in fact RENT a class 3B laser device from them for a 3 month term.
Which is exactly what we did!
We now can offer Crusoe a vet-standard level of therapy in the comfort of our own home, as often as needed, without breaking the bank, and without needing to coordinate multiple visits to the vet per week!
Now you might be wondering... "I'm not sure I'm comfortable to do that...", or, "I wouldn't know what I'm doing...".
Well, when you rent the device, you get a one-on-one video consultation with one of their specialists who will walk you through the device operation, and will also develop and instruct you on the proper protocol for you to follow specific to your dog's condition. Alternatively, you could also consult your own vet for the protocol.
For instance, for Crusoe's case, where we're dealing with disc herniation and nerve damage/regeneration, we follow a protocol of 4 joules per cm2, administered every 2-3 days.
The device makes a beep after every joule. So it's really very simple. You just hold the laser in one spot for 4 beeps, then move up to the next spot, until you've covered the desired area.
Like any laser device, proper eye protection is needed for the dog and yourself, but other than that, it's very safe.
So, instead of breaking the bank at the vet - or doing less sessions than would be ideal because of the cost or just the inconvenience of going to the vet - look into a rental device from Respond Systems, where you can use it as often as is needed for a very reasonable cost.
Respond Systems also sells PEMF beds (pulsed electromagnetic field therapy) which are shown to alleviate different aches and pains especially in arthritis, disc disease, etc. Ourselves, we own this PEMF mat from them.
Keep healin',
~ Crusoe
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