pain relief | Beverly Jacobs Equine Massage
Cold Laser for Equines
Cold Laser Therapy is extremely safe and has been approved by the FDA. It has been around for over 30 years with no reports of injury. Studies (over 4000 studies to date) have shown conclusively that cold laser or low level light therapy restores balance, energy, and oxygen to sicks cells without damaging or effecting healthy cells. This restoration in the body results in acceleration in healing and cell regeneration.
When Can a Cold Laser be Used?
In contrast to other therapies, cold laser therapy can be started at any time during the healing process. It is important to remember that the earlier cold laser therapy is a part of the rehabilitation and healing process, the better and more rapidly the benefits will occur.
Cold laser therapy has been shown to offer a non-intrusive option to acupuncture and surgery, by supporting the natural healing process of the body. Therapeutic application to the body have shown results in a variety of ways:
Hint: There are three stages of healing: inflammation, tissue repair and remodeling
Cold laser therapy has been shown to outperform ultrasound treatments and electrical stimulation therapy in enhancing the healing process. Overall studies have proven that cold laser therapy is the best treatment for reducing injury damage while increasing the strength of the tissue repaired during the course of treatment. If acceleration the healing process is the ultimate goal of the rehabilitation process, cold laser therapy will return the horse to full function quicker and with less discomfort.
Cold laser therapy can benefit the family dog as well. Some studies have been done on cats, and show beneficial results. Application of cold laser therapy on dogs have shown results in:
Superficial ear cuts
Professionals and Equipment Used: Cold Laser Therapy is making its way into physical therapy and rehabilitation center programs. Although the actual treatment is simple, it is helpful to have a working knowledge of anatomy, muscle structures and acupuncture points. Once you locate an experienced professional who works well with your horse or family pet, you’ll find that cold laser therapy is a valuable tool when dealing with a wide variety of injuries.
This entry was posted in Canine, Cold Laser, Injury, Injury Prevention, Pain Relief and tagged cold laser, equine, horse, pain relief on November 10, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
DMSO and Its Healing Properties
DMSO : fights inflammation, pain, acts as an agent for other topicals, softens scar tissue, and much more.
Despite decades of research and thousands of studies attesting to its health-promoting properties, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) remains virtually unknown to the medical establishment and the public. For more than 40 years, Dr. Stanley Jacob has been battling the establishment over DMSO. Dr. Jacob reveals new data showing the potential of DMSO in treating brain trauma injuries that afflict more than 50,000 Americans each year. I met Dr. Jacob years ago when our children attended the same middle school in Portland, Or. I’ve been using DMSO ever since, mostly for bruises and aches and pains, but there are many other applications.
DMSO has a long list of primary pharmacological actions, including fighting inflammation, relieving pain, improving blood supply, scavenging free radicals, softening scar tissue, and effects that may benefit autoimmune conditions.
This entry was posted in Healthy Products, Injury, Pain Relief and tagged arthritis, brain injury, DMSO, immune system, inflammation, pain relief, scar tissue on June 11, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
Pain is part of the life of all great athletes. Rudolf Nureyev (the great ballet dancer) describes it here:
“Two hours after a performance, when the body cools down, that’s when the torture begins. It hurts every time. You go to bed with pain. When you wake up, you must measure your steps because if you walk too fast, you may rupture something. Hot baths, massage revive you.
You always know what will happen next. Pain becomes familiar. You do some steps the day after a performance and your body is reacquainted with pain. It is always there. You are never 100 per cent. So you have to learn to dance with missing parts.”
Do you think your horse might be feeling the same way? The goals of sports massage are to achieve pain free movement, avoid injury, and extend the athletic life. I find it interesting that Nureyev says the pain starts two hours after the performance. When I am at horse shows, I always try to check my equine clients about 90 minutes after the end of their show time. It is when spasms start to form and often I can prevent them from taking hold with sports massage and stress point therapy.
This entry was posted in Equine, Equine Massage, Human, Injury Prevention, Myofascial Release, Pain Relief, Performance Enhancing Massage, Sports Massage, Stress Point Therapy, Structural Integration, Trigger Point Therapy and tagged athlete, avoid injury, dance, pain relief on June 8, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
Rest is important and necessary after an injury. After that it is counterproductive: it allows muscle spasms to become permanent. The longer a spasm is allowed to persist, the longer this occurs: fluid is drawn to the area that is in spasm, which is the body’s way of protecting and healing an injury. That fluid is sticky and after a period of time, the muscle fibers become “glued” together. The only way to un-stick the muscle fibers is with manual manipulation and then exercise. With cross fiber friction, a massage technique, the muscle fibers that are stuck together can be released. I always have animals walk after their bodywork to maintain the loose, easy motion that was achieved during the session. An increase in range of motion, and a decrease in pain should be seen immediately.
This entry was posted in Equine, Equine Massage, Injury, Injury Prevention, Pain Relief, Sports Massage, Stress Point Therapy, Structural Integration and tagged cross fiber friction, injury, muscle spasm, pain relief, stress point therapy on April 21, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
The word LASER stands for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Lasers DO NOT emit X-rays nor do they produce the damage of x-rays. The cold laser is also called soft laser to differentiate from hard lasers that are used in surgical procedures. The cold laser is a light or photon energy with the unique property of being able to penetrate two inches or more below the skin surface causing an increase in cellular metabolism without tissue damage. The cold laser produces healing benefits to treated tissue, without causing or producing heat. Cold laser therapy does not damage cells, but aides in the stimulation of cellular function aiding in healing. Cold laser therapy is safe and has been approved by the FDA.
Neuropathy Musculoskeletal Pain
Veterinarians and Equine Practitioners have and continue to utilize low level laser therapy for:
And Speed Healing
And to treat conditions such as:
Acute Tissue Damage
Back Pain/Lameness
Joint Problems (Fetlock, Knee (carpus), Elbow, Hock, Stifle)
Cold Laser therapy can benefit the family dog as well. Some studies have been done on cats, and show beneficial results.
Veterinarians and Canine Practitioners have and continue to utilize low level laser therapy for:
In my practice, I look at the whole animal. Every part of the body inter-connects with each other. One cannot treat just one part, the whole animal is treated. When doing a treatment, after the initial evaluation, the whole body is worked, making note of any area that is in need of extra attention. The cold laser is added to the treatment program to enhance the benefits of the body work, going deeper than merely my hands can obtain. The cold laser aids in taking a long treatment program and cutting the recovery time in half, benefiting the owner and the horse.
There are several cases on the race track where the cold laser has assisted in horses returning to their training schedule in a matter of weeks instead of months as before treatments were administered. I have read some studies recently of how the cold laser is being used as a form of warming the muscles before a race and used afterwards to aide in recovery after a hard work-out.
Every case is as different as the individual animal being worked on. Each animal responds differently to therapies or a combination of therapies. Every client is treated as a separate case, treating the horse or dog as a whole, based on the findings of the evaluation and any information the responds differently to therapies or a combination of therapies.
This entry was posted in Canine, Cold Laser, Equine Massage, Human, Injury, Injury Prevention, Pain Relief, Sports Massage and tagged arthritis, cold laser, injuries, pain relief, wound healing on April 18, 2013 by Beverly Jacobs.	
Diagram of Cold Laser Healing
This entry was posted in Cold Laser, Pain Relief and tagged cold laser, pain relief, wound healing on December 19, 2012 by Beverly Jacobs.	
Cold Laser Heals Fractures
I have been reading some very boring and clinical studies, but the exciting news is that cold lasers accelerate bone healing in both animals and humans. The consensus is that fractures treated with cold laser heal 2x the rate of those left to heal without laser therapy. Pain and swelling also improved.
This entry was posted in Canine, Cold Laser, Equine, Human, Injury, Pain Relief and tagged cold laser, healing fractures, pain relief on November 28, 2012 by Beverly Jacobs.	