In a previous blog post we told you about our patient Shelby who after an injury lost the use of her hind legs. You can see for yourself in this video that Shelby is doing well! We are so happy that Shelby is able to romp and play with her family again after only a few sessions of treatment.   

If you think your pet could benefit from this therapy, tell your veterinarian about our service and give us a call. Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging is located in Pleasant Hill, CA. www.veterinaryhealingandimaging.com 1945 Contra Costa Blvd Ste B, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, ph 925-265-8385.

No pet owner wishes to see their pet suffer pain or reduced mobility and function as the result of conditions such as osteoarthritis, hip or elbow dysplasia, injuries including burns, fractures, recent surgery, traumas such as bite/fight wounds, vehicle mishaps, spinal disc protrusions, or other acute or chronic conditions. Veterinary Healing and Advanced Imaging in Pleasant Hill, CA offers Alternative Pain Management strategies for pets and their owners looking for safe, beneficial and effective non-drug pet pain options.

How do we define pain in animals? The answer lies in how we define pain in humans, who are capable of communicating what they feel. The International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP; www.IASP-pain.org) defines pain...as "an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage or described in terms of such damage". How does perception of pain get from damaged tissues to the brain? The answer lies in Nociceptors, which are detectors found in skin, muscles, joints and viscera (internal organs). The stimuli that activate Nociceptors are not the same in all tissues but in general include Thermal, Mechanical and Chemical stimuli. Chemical stimuli to Nociceptors include a bombardment of a cascade of inflammatory mediators released by tissues responding to insult and injury. Basically a "Call to Help". The end result of all Noxious stimuli is the activation of spinal cord and brain pathways and programmed reactions to these stimuli. Some reactions are instant and include acute aversive (pulling away) responses, yet others can induce chronic (long term) responses that basically reprogram the Central Nervous System to issue constant Pain perception responses.

Traditional management strategies for pain span millennia with many cultural approaches to pain. Western medicine has focused on Drug therapy for pain management as pathways Inflammatory Mediators use can be disrupted or altered, reducing pain perception, but not without potential side effects on other organs. Older (sometimes Ancient) remedies often fail to match Western remedies in their effectiveness. NEW remedies in the treatment of Acute and Chronic pain have arrived and show great promise. Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging in Pleasant Hill, CA offers 1064 nanometer High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) and Platelet Rich Plasma infusion treatments as New Alternative Strategies and Non-Drug Management of Pain in Pets, which show great potential for relief of pain and inflammation over other Drug and non-Drug strategies for management of acute and chronic pain in animals.  http://epicamed.com/products/artemis

Laser Therapy at 1064 nanometer wavelength offers an amazing new Window into the body for delivery of powerful light energy to tissues enabling reduction in Inflammation. Increased circulation results through the cellular release of Nitric Oxide which in turn, reduces swelling and edema and stimulates healing through increased cellular activities. Artemis is a unique Laser Therapeutic device that, through a Q-Switch mechanism, delivers powerful light energy significantly deeper into tissue than low power lasers thus allowing its powerful Anti-inflammatory and Regenerative effects to be delivered to more tissues and organs in need.

Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is another natural (Non-Drug) way to combat inflammation and relieve pain in pets through use of the body's own mechanisms for defense and repair. Platelets, long-known for their ability to stimulate clotting when blood vessels are compromised, also possess over 250 natural growth and healing factors that are simultaneously released when platelets reach their injured target. These same growth and healing factors work wonders when delivered to other sites of injury and inflammation and can be useful to trigger accelerated healing and pain relief when delivered to these targets. In a relatively simple process, a patient's own blood is collected and processed in a two step process to separate blood cells from the Plasma and, again, to separate the Platelet poor plasma from the Platelet Rich Plasma, which is then injected into targets needing relief of inflammation and stimulation of healing. Remarkable and speedy results have been seen with Platelet Rich Plasma infusion to speed healing in Professional Athletes. At Veterinary Healing and Imaging, we bring this exceptional healing strategy to pet athletes and other pets with injuries and debilitations that prevent them from leading normal, active, pain-free lives: and all without drugs! Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging is located in Pleasant Hill, CA. www.veterinaryhealingandimaging.com 1945 Contra Costa Blvd Ste B, Pleasant Hill, CA 94523, ph 925-265-8385

San Francisco Bay Area Dogs have access to many of the key and natural strategies being used for athletic, joint and soft tissue injuries. A key therapeutic option for the injured canine patient (with joint, tendon, ligament or other soft tissue injury) now includes Platelet Rich Plasma therapy (PRP). Dogs with hereditary problems such as elbow dysplasia (a condition in which the elbow does not articulate properly leading to pain and inflammation) or acquired disorders such as crippling osteoarthritis can benefit from PRP. Tendons and injured ligaments, which heal very slowly, can be coaxed into healing much more quickly with Platelet Rich Plasma therapy.

PRP is a therapy that uses the patient's own blood that when collected and processed, is separated from its red and white blood cell components to yield Platelet Rich Plasma. PRP is then injected into injured areas to jump start healing and regeneration of tissues. All of this can be performed without worry of infection or disease as it is the patient's OWN PRP that is used for the purpose.

Platelets are remarkable little disc shaped cell fragments that are produced in the bone marrow along with red and white blood cells. Their primary purpose is for clot formation when there has been blood vessel injury and for stimulation of repair of damaged blood vessels. Platelets are loaded with at least 250 Growth Factors and Cytokines that trigger healing and tissue regeneration when injected into damaged tissues elsewhere in the body.

Once delivered to an area of interest or injury PRP stimulates a mild inflammatory response which attracts migrating macrophages. The macrophages get busy cleaning up cellular debris and get the injured area ready for healing. Blood vessels starting growing to provide nutrition, stem cells are attracted and begin differentiating into needed tissue types and fibroblasts arrive and start building the scaffolding for tissues to regenerate.

Numerous orthopedic and soft tissue conditions benefit from the delivery of Platelet Rich Plasma.The collection and processing of blood for the                                       enrichment of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) can take as little as 30 minutes.

Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging offers Platelet Rich Plasma therapy for pets at it's Pleasant Hill, CA location. Convenient to Bay Area freeways 680, 24 and 242, Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging performs PRP infusions for dogs and cats on an outpatient basis. 

Platelet Rich Plasma 3 minute video

Many studies have demonstrated the positive healing effects of High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) for acute and chronic conditions in humans. Laser therapy is an Alternative Medicine non-drug strategy for reduction of pain, inflammation and a stimulus for healing and regeneration of tissues. Up until recently pet patients have not had access to remarkable Laser Healing Technologies. Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging now offers HILT therapy for San Francisco Bay Area dogs and cats at our Pleasant Hill, CA location. www.veterinaryhealingandimaging.com

I discovered a California Poppy in bloom on Thanksgiving Day. Unusual for this time of year. That little poppy seed must have received everything it needed to germinate, put down roots, grow stems and leaves and bloom. In fact, Northern California has had the benefit of early and frequent rains this fall while enjoying sunny warm weather.

Given the nutrients it needed, the Poppy used the light energy of the sun to fuel its cellular powerhouse and flower much earlier than expected.

Like the poppy seed, cells undergoing inflammation are lying in wait of the right stimuli to awaken and flourish. Tissues undergoing inflammation have myriad cells who are lacking the vital nutrients such as glucose, Oxygen and other micronutrients needed to sustain their activities. Tissues in areas of inflammation bank their energy producing machinery and go into virtual states of hibernation.

Enter High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT). Energy, in the form of light, is delivered to cells in tissues that are mired in inflammation. Chromophores absorb this light energy and use it to restart cellular energy producing pathways. Increased production of ATP (the cellular energy source) results. Nitric Oxide is released, which promotes vasodilation and the delivery of vital nutrients to cells as well as the reduction of edema (waste-laden fluid that accumulates with inflammation). Once the cellular energy cycle gets going, RNA and DNA transcription increases and cells are once again contributing to the healing and regeneration of tissues and at a much faster rate than they might without HILT.

We utilize the Epica™ Artemis™ High Intensity Laser device at Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging. This remarkable machine operates at a unique 1064 nanometer wavelength of light. Light at this wavelength is not appreciably absorbed by water, hemoglobin or pigment. This allows for the Artemis™ to deliver its Laser light energy much more deeply and at higher intensities than other devices. With Artemis™ beneficial laser light becomes a new therapeutic treatment modality for internal organs and tissues experiencing the effects of inflammation. The Artemis™ thus uses not only photothermal and photochemical strategies for treatment; Artemis™ adds photomechanical activity, an effect not seen with other laser devices. Photomechanical light therapy awakens cell responsiveness by using light energy to stimulate the cellular cytoskeleton, the carbon-based structure that runs all through cells from the cell membrane to the nucleus. When delivered at the right frequency (wavelength), intensity and depth laser light therapy stimulates cells to arise from quiescent states and jumpstarts metabolism. HILT contributes to faster recovery from inflammation and accelerated healing and regeneration. Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging custom tailors treatments for individual patients for delivery of therapeutic light energy to tissues in need.

Veterinary Healing & Advanced Imaging
Pet Laser Therapy
1945 Contra Costa Blvd., Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
925-265-8385

For more information go to https://www.veterinaryhealingandimaging.com