Awesome Feather is a horse that was purchased by Stronach Stables after she won a Breeder’s Cup Stakes Race last fall. After the race, she went lame and was found to have a defect in a major tendon (bowed tendon).

The horse was treated with the BioFlex Laser Therapy System and over 40 treatments were
applied, over a 3 month period. After the lesion had healed, rehabilitation began in the form of a training schedule.

Today was the filly’s first race since her Breeder’s Cup win and the facts speak for themselves.

Without Laser Therapy, this horse’s future as a racehorse was questionable, at best. With Laser, it is obvious that she has made a complete recovery.

Once again, the efficacy of Laser Therapy has been validated.

F Kahn, MD

BELMONT, N.Y. – Awesome Feather, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly, made a successful return to the races Wednesday at Belmont Park, beating a modest group of challengers by two lengths in the $60,000 Le Slew Stakes.

The victory kept Awesome Feather undefeated in seven career starts and rewarded the patience of her new owner, Frank Stronach, and trainer Chad Brown.

Stronach purchased Awesome Feather for $2.3 million at auction last Nov. 7, two days after Awesome Feather won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies for owner/breeder Fred Brei and trainer Stanley Gold at Churchill Downs.

Awesome Feather was found to have a bowed tendon shortly thereafter and needed ample time to heal.

Brown said he only had Awesome Feather about “75 percent” fit for her return, but that’s all she needed to be to defeat the New York-bred Sentimental Lass.

Under regular rider Jeffrey Sanchez, Awesome Feather stalked the pacesetting Flying Train through a quarter-mile of 22.60 seconds and a half-mile in 45.30. Awesome Feather confronted Flying Train turning for home, made the lead in upper stretch, and held Sentimental Lass at bay.

Awesome Feather, a daughter of Awesome of Course, covered seven furlongs in 1:22.76 and returned $2.50 as the overwhelming choice.

“When I saw 22 and 45 and change and she’s only a length off it – for a horse off a layoff that’s a demanding pace to chase and still have finish, so I was a little worried down the backside as far as for a victory,” Brown said. “She dug in, she has the heart to a champion. It might not have been a stellar group, but she got the job done and I think she’ll be better off for it in the long run fitness-wise.

Brown said he would wait to see how Awesome Feather came out of the race before discussing what might be next for Awesome Feather.

Adam Coglianese/NYRA

Dr. Charles Burton recently visited our Laser Clinic in Toronto and subsequently sent an excerpt from the Burton Report.

Dr. Burton is a noted authority on conditions relating to the spine and has written many articles on appropriate therapeutic procedures for problems relating to this section of the anatomy.

Spine care, specifically surgical spine care, and more specifically surgical fusion spine care in the United States has been, for much too long a period of time, the “Poster Boy” for continuing remarkably poor clinical judgment in some localities. The February 11, 2011 Wall Street Journal article titled: “Whether You Get Back Surgery May Hinge on Your ZIP Code” has pointed out this phenomenon.

It is therefore a refreshing task for Burton Report to present information on something which is safe and makes sense for the relief of spinal and joint pain as well as wound healing. Just about everyone is familiar with high intensity lasers as used in space, industry, and medicine but few know much about the world of low intensity laser therapy (LILT).

General credibility in regard to the healing powers of LILT have suffered from all too familiar “snake oil” stigma related to overkill in the enthusiastic healing claims made for these sorts of phenomena. A classic example of this was the early application of electricity in the treatment of patients It has taken the dedicated effort of pioneers such as Canadian physician Fred Kahn to clearly point out that there are appropriate and safe uses of LILT in effectively treating patient disability.

The science behind therapeutic (low) levels of laser is its ability to promote, at a molecular level, enhancement of tissue growth and thus promote healing. Because different molecules absorb different wavelengths of light therapeutic LILT encompasses mainly he red (660nm) and ultraviolet (830-840 nm) light spectrum.

As someone who has testified before the U.S. Congress regarding medical device legislation, as well as having been a past FDA Medical Device Panel Chairman, it has always been amazing to the author that the FDA has never really recognized that its responsibility was not solely that of regulating medical devices but to actually promote to the public those which were basically low cost, safe, efficacious (in the right hands), and clearly in the best interest of the patient. It is certainly time that U.S. and Canadian Health authorities begin to look more seriously at promoting important treatment modalities, of which LILT, is an excellent example, which make sense.

A good part of one’s life is spent trying to open other people’s minds often including one’s own.

I thought that I would post these comments from a physician who has been using the BioFlex Laser since 2003. Early on he was so impressed with the results obtained he donated the first $1000 for the Meditech Laser Therapy Research Fund.

Seven years later, he appears to still be happy with the technology.

Clearly he is someone who cares about making his patients well.

Fred Kahn, MD
FK / km

Fred,

You are doing some “great” things in Laser Medicine. Your conference line-up reads like a “who’s who” of Laser Medicine.

Last week I treated the Chief of Family Medicine of the Jewish General for “surgery – required” Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. He is amazed and happy – no surgery is needed.

Here in Montreal the local MDs simply don’t accept when I describe the clinical outcomes, even though I get superb results with laser since 2003! Most are skeptical – typical ivory tower attitude.

I simply go about my business and treat using laser, sometimes combined with manual medicine, massage and other “hands-on” techniques.

My practice is really more like a musculo-skeletal specialist referral practice, 2nd opinions, referral of “desperado” patients where standard therapy fails, etc. The physiatrists completely poo-poo the laser approach, of which they know nothing, aside from being resistant to learning.

Having fun and making people well, that’s the main thing!

Ciao

Robert Perlman, MD

“The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.”

Cicero – 55 BC

I enclose some material at this time which has been forwarded to us by both patients and healthcare professionals describing their experiences with the BioFlex Laser Therapy System. Thought it might be of interest to you.

Patricia Gabryle, BSc(Hon), ND

Low Intensity Laser Therapy has evolved from predecessor lasers to modern laser therapy systems.

Clinically verified Laser Therapies eliminate pain and inflammation in acute and chronic conditions. Laser therapy is drug free, pain free, non-invasive, with no known side effects.

Probably the greatest beneficiaries of this technology are individuals that suffer from back pain and arthritis. This includes athletes suffering from myofascitis, facet joint syndrome, sacroiliac joint dysfunction and disc herniations with nerve root compression. More significantly, dramatic effects are obtained by sufferers of chronic degenerative osteoarthritis accompanied by spinal/foraminal stenosis with attendant neurological complications. It promotes healing for many physiological conditions, is used by most professional sports teams to repair injuries, and is one of the most effective methods of healing available today.

With “back problems” laser therapy should be the universal treatment approach and clearly establish its role as the treatment of choice.

Laser therapy

By Sue Rondquist, The Province December 22, 2010

In recent articles regarding using alternative therapy to surgery I would like to give an example of the money saved when my husband cancelled his back surgery.

My husband had been waiting for many months for a surgery to fuse his spine, and we happened across bioflex laser treatment offered in Port Moody.
It took nine treatments for my husband to feel no pain. And when the surgeon called a month later, my husband cancelled the surgery.

Our extended medical paid for this, but even if it hadn’t, it was worth the $55 per treatment, as there was no downtime, no pain and he saved the system thousands of dollars in hospital costs.

I would recommend doctors have a serious look at this and other treatments to better manage our healthcare dollars.

Dear Dr. Kahn:

I wanted to share my incredible first-hand experience with your Bioflex Low Intensity Laser Therapy (LILT) device.

A basketball injury 6 months ago resulted in a 70-80% tear of the medial head of my gastrocnemius near the musculotendinous junction. I was minutes away from “going under the knife” when the surgeon decided my case was inoperable and was prescribed a splint and physiotherapy. The result was significant Achilles tendon edema, over 50% decreased muscle strength, and a large area of scar tissue that was not responding to traditional physiotherapy, including the use of single diode LILT.

In just two weeks of Bioflex LILT treatment, my Achilles tendon edema and muscle scar tissue has decreased by close to an astonishing 50%! It was almost as if I could observe and palpate a daily difference in the healing tissues. I have been thoroughly impressed with the ease of use, adaptable LASER treatment parameters and extensive array of pre-programmed treatment options that are unique to Bioflex.

As a practitioner of close to 20 years, I have come to realize there are countless ways to manipulate injured tissues to improve function. While no one manual “technique” is superior to another – it is often the “hands on ability” of the practitioner that ultimately determines the final outcome. The missing link is restoring physiological function at a cellular level which can be achieved with incredible efficiency by the use of the adaptable multi-diode Bioflex LILT device by any educated practitioner – regardless of their “hands on skill”.

Thank you for the years of research and development that have made the Bioflex LILT device the future of tissue healing.

Regards,

David Kunashko, B.Sc., D.C.

Jakes Dekker, MD is a practitioner at Cold Lake Hospital in Cold Lake, Alberta.

January 11, 2011

From as long as I can remember I have suffered from many different back injuries, each adding a little more pain to my day to day operation. My worst pain started in November of 2002, after a fall off a tanker trailer. A WCB claim was opened and I was sent to a place called the Mallard Center, where I underwent a series of physiotherapy and pain medications. It was not long after that I was told I was healed and should be ready to go back to work. The pain levels however, were still at about a 7 or 8.

I found it very hard to operate a truck in this condition, but I muddled through. Almost exactly 2 years later, I was in an accident with my big rig, where I was forced off the road and went bouncing around in a farmer’s field in the middle of winter. This time I had compressed my spine and was again placed on WCB. I was soon sent back to the Millard Center for more of the same treatment I received the first time, that was not all that useful on either occasion, and once again I was sent back to work, supposedly healed and able to work. I was now working on a continuous pain level of 4-5 on a good day and 8-9 on a debilitating day.

I went to see Dr. Dekker with all my back problems and he did the best he could with medication and physiotherapy to keep me mobile – to a degree. It was a very brutal and painful way to live on a regular basis. My quality of life was not very good, and the only saving grace was a patient Doctor and a supporting family. He sent me to multiple specialists who seem to take forever to get anything done. Without very much progress and in constant pain, my future was looking very grim. By this time I was totally out of the work force and my financial future was pretty much at a standstill. I had nowhere to go or turn with the slow wait to see a specialist and waiting time to get in, which took anywhere from 3 months to 18 months in some cases.

It was during an appointment on one of my especially bad days with Dr. Dekker, that he mentioned this laser therapy he was working on and would hopefully be up and running soon. He asked if I was interested in being one of his test patients when it was operational. I was very excited because my quality of life had been nothing more than a short walk, with which I had to use a cane, and sometimes two. The walk would last about 10 minutes before I would have to turn around and head pretty much home bound.

So I thought, why not, what do I have to lose? I was willing to try anything at this point in order to get my life back to normal.

When I went for my consult, I was informed of all processes and what was to be expected. The briefing was very detailed and I was free to ask any questions. It was a very comfortable atmosphere and made me feel at ease right away. After the consult, we decided that we would start with a 7 block session due to the damage done and what had to be repaired.

On the first and second treatments I wasn’t noticing differences in anything. As it was explained in the consult, I was told that if it was working, it would not start showing signs until the third or fourth sessions. And they were right!! After the 3rd session, I started to notice sensations in my spine that were different, as it has been so long that all I ever had in my back was either a numbing or sharp pain. On the 4th and 5th sessions, I was starting to notice major differences not only in my pain levels but my mobility seemed to be returning. By the 6th treatment, I noticed a large difference in the amount of pain medications I was taking, and noticed that they had been cut in half. After the 7th session, I was able to bend backwards, which is something I haven’t done in years with little to no pain!

I just did a follow up with the Doctor at the end of the 7 sessions to see if there was any improvements, and once we looked back on it, we noticed that where my pain levels used to be on average a 7 or 8 out of 10, are now averaging the 4 to 5 out of 10. There have even been some mornings that I actually wake up and climb out of bed with ZERO pain!! That is something that I have not had the pleasure of experiencing for far too long!!

I have 7 more treatments to undergo and if the results are as astounding as the first 7, I should be able to return to work without restrictions. I am a strong believer that the laser therapy works way beyond my greatest expectation. Not only am I getting better where my back is concerned, but my family has noticed a major change in me in that I am going back to the man they once knew. I have nothing but greatness to say about this treatment and looking forward to returning to my old life.

From the bottom of mine, and my family’s heart, we thank you so much Dr. Dekker for giving us back our lives!

You really are a life saver.

Shawn Lamothe

Recently, we had the occasion to treat one of Canada’s top ranked golfers – Danny King.

Danny has been suffering from shoulder and neck pain over the past year and has had difficulty swinging the club to his full potential while competing and in practice. Despite that, he recently had some strong finishes including a top ten finish at an international event in Bermuda and 4th place in the CPGA Championship in Florida.

After just three treatments with the BioFlex Laser Therapy System, Danny has noted a significant improvement with regard to his symptoms and is now able to swing the club freely without any pain. His course of treatment will probably require some additional sessions and should return him to a perfect state of health. He will continue to utilize a Home Unit when he rejoins the tour in Florida later this year, in order to prevent recurrence and regenerate damaged tissues.

Danny is the current all-time money leader for the Ontario PGA having won 3 Provincial Championships and 2 Canadian PGA Championships in 2006 and 2007. Over the past several years, he has been the Director of Instruction at the Performance Academy at Magna Golf Club in Aurora. This fall he plans to attend the PGA qualifying school in order to obtain his PGA Tour card.

Danny has volunteered to introduce Laser Therapy to the golfing community, particularly the professional tours. He will display our logo on his equipment. It is expected that he will become a top touring professional assisted by BioFlex Therapy.

Personally, I predict that by the time he gets to the senior tour in a decade or so, he should become one of its top ten competitors. We wish him the best of luck in his quest to obtain his PGA Tour card as he has all the shots to become a serious competitor on that circuit.

by Heather Ferguson

Dr. Marie-Josée Robichaud and Dr. Pierre Lévesque are pleased to announce the Grand Opening of the brand new chiropractic and laser treatment facility, Clinique Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic. Located at 5 Flanders Court in Moncton, this state-of-the-art facility features chiropractic treatments, including corrective and rehabilitative care, neuroanatomical acupuncture, massage therapy, orthotic care, and the Meditech Bioflex Laser, the most innovative in therapeutic laser technology on the market today. A pioneer in the use of the Bioflex Laser System in the City of Moncton, Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic’s new facility will be open to personalized tours during a special Grand Opening celebration to be held on December 3 from 4 pm to 6 pm. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be conducted with representation from the City of Moncton Council and will include a speech by the eminent Dr. Benjamin Yuen of Halifax. Drop by for a chance to view the exciting Bioflex Laser System which proved to be the catalyst in the addition of this handsome new facility to the City of Moncton’s health care landscape.

Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic occupied former premises on Church Street for 24 years. Two years ago the practice acquired the Meditech Bioflex Laser System as an upgrade to their HeNe and Infrared Laser System. Almost immediately they experienced a growth in their patient volume as the new laser technology provided an alternative, which is non-toxic, painless and without side effects, to common forms of care. The Bioflex laser therapy was able to address a wider scope of conditions that were usually treated at the clinic, such as sports injuries, sprains and strains, arthritic conditions, as well as neck and back pain that were usually addressed in the past. The system utilizes superluminous diodes and probes which, when placed on the skin, allows photon energy to penetrate tissue and interact with intracellular biomolecules, enhancing the body’s own healing process, resulting in an accelerated rate of recovery of many injuries. The Bioflex Laser System has revolutionized the practice of Dr. Robichaud and Dr. Lévesque resulting in the need for the recent expansion in their move to their present location. “From our humble beginnings just two short years ago, and as a direct result of the incorporation of the Bioflex Laser System into our clinic, we have increased our scope of practice to include patients for whom chiropractic care would have been contraindicated or for whom previously, response was limited or again patients who would normally have fallen outside of the usual chiropractic care regimen. We have also constructed a beautiful new clinic, tripled our staff, and have enjoyed a dramatic growth in our practice in general,” says Dr. Lévesque.

Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic is well situated in the heart of Moncton, and is easily accessed by residents from all three of our communities of Moncton, Dieppe, and Riverview. A multidisciplinary centre, Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic has an open, airy ambience with plenty of natural lighting and beautiful artwork on display by renowned area artist Julie Boulianne, offering a relaxing, inviting atmosphere that is so conducive to the therapies that take place within its walls. The new facility boasts a chiropractic wing and a laser therapy clinic with consultation rooms, six chiropractic treatment rooms, and five laser treatment rooms. The services of a team of seven employees complete the staff which includes RN Susan McEniry who, along with Dr. Robichaud, administers laser treatments, and massage therapist Lisa Blanchard. Robichaud-Lévesque works in tandem with other medical and paramedical disciplines, taking referrals and encouraging people to come in for a consultation. “We recognize the value of utilizing a combination of treatment methods to obtain a desired result, and we work in association with other disciplines from the various fields of physiotherapy, orthotics, and more, in order to obtain the best results for our patients,” says Dr. Lévesque. Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic is a complete family practice, encompassing the treatment of every age demographic, from children to seniors. The clinic is owned and operated by Dr. Marie-Josée Robichaud and Dr. Pierre Lévesque, who are professional partners as well as life partners, and are the parents of two teenagers. Dr. Robichaud comes from a family of chiropractors and specializes in the care of children and seniors, and Dr. Lévesque specializes in whiplash traumatology, serving an independent client base as well as fulfilling roles as a certified independent personal injury examiner, lecturer to the New Brunswick Law Society and the insurance industry, and as a chiropractic evaluator to the RCMP. Together, this exceptional couple has devoted almost a half century of combined years of experience and expertise to the health and well-being of area residents, bringing a unique blend of impeccable credentials, and caring to their patients.

For more information on Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic, contact them at 506-857-0095, fax at 506-867-0017, e-mail at info@robichaudlevesque.ca, visit their website at www.robichaudlevesque.ca, or drop by their location at the rear of the YMCA building and experience new concepts in wellness offered at the Robichaud-Lévesque Clinic.

Please check back shortly for more news.

• Recently, we had a patient with a back problem who found that applying coconut oil to the low back enhances the efficacy of Laser Therapy significantly.

• In the past, we have noted that many patients after laser treatment sleep much better and many insomnia sufferers develop normal sleep patterns. This leads one to conclude that perhaps insomnia should be treated with Laser Therapy.

• Depression also has been relieved markedly, particularly in patients with chronic pain syndrome.

FK/sg/cn

The article below is an excerpt from The Toronto Star dated August 16, 2010.

Read the article on The Toronto Star web site

Once again, this article clearly demonstrates the consistently bad judgment exercised by political parties no matter what their stripe.

First, the Liberals criticize the Tories when they are in power and vice-versa – same with the NDP if they had the opportunity. These matters are therefore of no particular import.

The natural reaction of the politician faced with a problem is to deflect criticism. This result in the appointment of a commission or another administrative body, who pretend to resolve the dilemma; this is known as a diversionary tactic.

It would never occur to our political masters that patient care is best delivered when required and that the appropriate therapy be instituted.

Bureaucrats and their organizations have no comprehensive understanding of what medical care should be and invariably complicate delivery at an exceedingly high cost.

Perhaps one day it might dawn on them that it would be best to leave healthcare to the professionals who understand the problems and maintain a sense of commitment with regard to their resolution.

No matter what profession, unless one has an understanding of the problem and the experience to deal with these situations in a capable manner, all efforts even if well-intentioned, will fail.

The tax payers of this country of whom I am one, should take note and steps to rectify these problems.

FK/sg/cn