I expect most of us have experienced sprains and strains of some kind in our lives, writes Reading Chiropractor Beccy Norman. We certainly know how painful, and sometimes debilitating, they can be. Sprains and strains stop us from getting on with our lives and prevent us doing activities we enjoy. A sprain is an injury to a ligament in the body. The most common areas are ankles, knees , shoulders and wrists. Sprains are mostly caused by unexpected stress put on a ligament. Poor stretching and warm up before exercise can increase the risk of this occurring.
A ligament’s job is to support and stabilise a joint. Spraining a ligament results in pain, swelling , crepitus and loss of motion. If sprains are not treated correctly they can lead to long term chronic issues. Ligament sprains are graded due to severity. The grading depends on whether there is a partial or full tear within the ligament. Grading will help to distinguish the prognosis, a.k.a how long it will take you to recover.
Check out our video about K-Laser therapy here:
The K-Laser is a fantastic, state-of-the-art, piece of equipment that can accelerate the treatment of your 
sprain / strain injury. Once your practitioner is happy that fracture has been ruled out (this can commonly be missed as they don’t always show up on x-rays when the injury is new) they can start using the K-Laser therapy as part of your treatment protocol. Laser therapy works by decreasing inflammation and speeding up the healing process. The K-Laser targets the damaged tissue with specific wavelengths of light to stimulate the cells in the tissue. The laser is painless and has no side effects when used to treat sprains. There is also great research demonstrating the benefits of laser therapy for the treatment of sprains and strains and other musculoskeletal conditions.
The treatment has an accumulative effect. You can often see a quick improvement in the swelling, an increase in the range of motion and a reduction in pain. The K-Laser is also a great tool for the fact that it can reduce the risk of scar tissue formation following an Injury. All in all we recommend using the K-Laser as part of your sprain treatment. It can speed up healing and also ensure complete healing and reduce the risk of re-injury!
