Soft Laser Treatment for Heel Pain
A common cause of heel pain is inflammation that develops where the heel bone meets the plantar fascia or the Achilles tendon. It can torment a person for months, sometimes years, and is difficult to get rid of. Every step is very painful, as if you were stepping on a pin cushion. The first step is especially unpleasant; later it “warms up” a bit and the pain eases. For home treatment, the more anti-inflammatory methods you use, the greater the chance of success. Cold–heat, therapeutic ultrasound, microcurrent, magnet therapy and soft laser all help, but in different ways. They therefore reinforce each other's effects. Here I will describe only the soft laser, specifically the home use of the B-Cure device.
Application and effects of the soft laser
During soft laser treatment, place the device on the painful area and direct the laser beam at the source of pain. The light penetrates the treated tissues. Cells "absorb" the energy, which restarts ATP (energy) production and protein synthesis that had been suppressed by inflammation. In other words, the soft laser effectively stimulates your body's self-healing processes and also releases pain-relieving substances.
Time is needed for the soft laser treatment to take effect, because the regenerative processes — while your body is "fixing the damage" — take time. Think about how long it takes for a bone fracture to heal! Eliminating heel pain that has lasted for months, plantar fasciitis or overload inflammation of the Achilles tendon cannot be done in minutes either.
However, soft laser treatment does bring about real changes, meaning the laser is not merely symptomatic but a healing procedure even in heel inflammation.
Soft laser treatment for heel pain
You can choose from three B-Cure devices (Classic / Pro / Sport Pro models). Each of them emits the same wavelength laser beam, so they have the same healing effect. The difference is in the devices' energy output, which means they deliver the same amount of energy over different lengths of time.
For the 3.75 Joule Classic device you need 6 minutes per point, the Sport (4.5 Joule) requires 5 minutes, while the Pro takes 4.5 minutes. This is how long you need to hold the device on a given point to deliver the energy required for healing.
Turn on the device and use the plus button to set the recommended treatment time.
Place the device on the painful area directly on the skin. Laser light does not pass through clothing or bandages, so the treatment will be ineffective!
Treatment points for heel pain (heel spur): the plantar surface of the heel, the medial edge of the foot, both edges of the calcaneus (heel bone), and the posterior part of the heel. For Achilles tendon inflammation, injury, or after surgery: the posterior part of the heel and the point above it, and the right and left sides of the heel bone.
Keep the device still on that spot until the set time has elapsed. The device will notify you. Then repeat the same procedure on the next treatment point.
Soft laser treatment is not felt. The absorbed energy warms the area, but this is measurable at most in tenths of a degree Celsius.
In the first sessions you may experience an increase in pain. Do not be alarmed! This is a natural process and indicates that healing processes have started. Toxins are released from the inflamed tissues in response to the treatment, and your body signals this as pain. This stops after 1–2 treatments.
It takes several days, minimally 10–12, for the inflammation to subside. If you feel symptom relief, do not interrupt the treatment. Only stop after you have achieved full healing.
IMPORTANT! Doubling the treatment time does not increase the effect; in fact, too much energy stops the healing!!! Therefore, hold the device on a point only for the recommended duration and not longer.
What results can you expect?
Soft laser treatment is not "all-powerful" — just like no other medical treatment. You cannot always expect a definitive cure from it! Whether you can successfully heal yourself depends on how long your heel pain has been present.
If no more than 1–2 months have passed since the onset of the pain, the soft laser will eliminate the inflammation and at the same time prevent the formation of a bone spur. Heel spurs develop because mineral deposits accumulate in the inflammatory exudate and form a growing buildup. It's like a stalactite! With every drop of water the stalactite grows — every minute of inflammation increases the spur. If the dripping stops, the stalactite no longer grows. If you eliminate the inflammation, the spur will stop growing.
If an X-ray has already shown a bone spur at your heel — that is, due to chronic inflammation an abnormal bony prominence has formed at the tendon–bone junction — then it's too late for complete non-surgical cure. Although the soft laser can still eliminate pain and inflammation, the excess bone will repeatedly irritate the tendon with every step and obstruct movement of the tendon, so inflammation will flare up again and again. If the X-ray already shows extra bone, unfortunately only surgery can permanently eliminate your complaints; in such cases the soft laser only provides temporary pain relief.
Therefore, start using the soft laser as early as possible after pain appears to eliminate the inflammation and prevent bone buildup.
