Laser Treatments for Smoking Addiction

I’ve had several inquiries lately from people who are interested in using cold-laser therapy to quit smoking.  I say that yes, there is a well conducted study showing that cold-laser treatments can help.

That study can be found here:

http://www.jcm.co.uk/media/cms/File/JCM86_46.pdf.

The laser treatment is designed to use cold-lasers to stimulate acupuncture points similar to what acupuncture needles would do.  Cold-laser therapy is a wonderful tool and very effective for treating a large number of health problems, including mental/emotional issues including depression and addiction.

In my opinion, however, I’d prefer to use acupuncture needles over my cold-lasers for addiction.  Why?  Unless you have several lasers and several hands at your disposal, laser treatments are done one acupuncture point at a time.  With acupuncture, I can treat all points simultaneously and get the true synergistic effect of all the points together.   What about the laser therapy clinics that only use lasers to treat problems like addiction?  In general, it is because they are not qualified to practice acupuncture.  Stimulating acupuncture points, whether it is with needles or lasers, relies on a thorough understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  In the United States, a Masters in Acupuncture or Chinese Medicine typically involves a 3-4 year education.

A final word on smoking cessation:  There is no “silver-bullet” to quit smoking.  Acupuncture, with needles OR lasers, will not make you WANT to quit.  We cannot inject willpower through our treatments, regardless of some of the wild claims made by laser treatment centers.  Our treatments can lower the anxiety, irritability, and depression that come with trying to quit.  In some cases, our treatments can lead to changing the taste of cigarettes.  We do this by altering the levels of nor-epinephrine, dopamine, and seratonin in the brain.  All of these neurotransmitters  are involved in the addiction and “feeling-good” sensations in the brain.  The first step, however, is to decide that you really want to quit.

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