Alternative Treatments
October 27, 2011 - 11:58am
Considering laser therapy
I am considering laser therapy offered by a local chiropractor and am interested in hearing if anyone else has had experiences with it that they could share. I have a L5S1 herniated disc (abutment against a nerve) as well as a 8mm annular tear. Steroid shots and physical therapy haven't worked so I am currently (barely) managing pain with medication and looking for alternatives to major surgery.
I had an initial consultation with the chiropractor yesterday and the therapy seems pretty simple, they use a machine to do decompression and then treat the area of the disc with a cold laser for about 10 minutes. This would go on for about 3 session a week for 10 weeks. I am waiting to find out if my insurance will cover it and of course my major concern is will it be worth paying for myself if they won't. I was a little skeptical when they said it could heal the disc entirely and cure all of my back pain, because I had not heard such optimistic statements like that before. Even surgeons that I've talked with have said I will be in pain for the rest of my life with best results only reducing my current state by about 50%.
I would very much appreciate any advice anyone can offer. Thank you!
- Mac
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This post did not have any replies, but I saw that it had a lot of views, so I thought I would post a followup.
I received two free sessions of the mechanical decompression followed by a treatment from a LiteCure LCT-1000 laser. The laser treatment took about 15 minutes and I just sat in a massage chair while they moved it around my L5S1 area. It was pretty warm, although they said it is a cold laser and that the heat was actually being caused by the cells in my back becoming energized by the laser. I did feel some pain relief for a couple of hours following the session, but I could honestly not tell if was just from the decompression.
Now for the bad news, the doctor recommended 24 sessions to treat my condition and I could either pay a up-front discounted fee of approximately $5k or I could pay at each visit for a total of about $8k. They did advertise that they accept most insurance, but when I asked if my insurance would cover it, I was told that I was responsible for making the payment at each visit and then I would have to file the claim to be reimbursed by my insurance company myself. This sounded really odd to me, especially because I had already found that this doctor was in my insurance network. When I called my insurance company, I could not get a straight answer as to if this service was covered or not. When I told them this was a chiropractor in their network, they told me to be aware that massage was not covered. I told them this was laser therapy , and they just said that any treatment would be covered as long as it was medically necessary. I asked them if there was any way that I could pre-certify, and they told me that they couldn't do that for me. Since I cannot afford to pay for this completely out of my pocket, then I do not think that I will be able to get this therapy from this doctor. I may look for other doctors who offer this and who might be easier to work with through my insurance.
I hope someone might find this information helpful. I will probably post more info if I can find another place to receive cold laser therapy treatment.
laser therapy treatments are painless and very effective. There's a new company profile out there. Looks interesting:
EDITED
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Post Edited by Moderator Numbskull