5 Promising New Therapies That Are Changing the Way We Think About Healing

“It is estimated that the doubling time of medical knowledge in 1950 was 50 years; in 1980, 7 years; and in 2010, 3.5 years. In 2020 it is projected to be 0.2 years—just 73 days.”

 Challenges and Opportunities Facing Medical Education, Peter Denson MD.

This means that we live in times when new therapies and medical discoveries happen every day. However, this is more than just creating a new medicine or conducting treatment in a new way. This is about how medical professionals observe and triage the patient. Additionally, it makes all the difference with how they manage the patient’s condition.

Therefore, here are some of the most promising therapies and medical procedures that drastically improve the way we fight different ailments.

1. Photobiomodulation

Photobiomodulation is the use of light for healing purposes. It can be used for everything from treating seasonal depressive disorder to using it as a tool for injury prevention for runners.

It is based on how your body responds physiologically to various wavelengths of light. Your body is a battery. The light recharges your body which makes it easier for it to fight off harmful environmental effects. Therefore, the healing principle of red light therapy is to empower your body to heal itself.

There are different names for photobiomodulation or PBM. These include low-level laser therapy (LLLT), soft laser therapy, low-intensity laser therapy, and more. Namely, the reason that the term changed from LLLT to PBM is the change in technology. Previously only lasers were used in this therapy. Nowadays, LEDs are comparable to, if not superior, to lasers for healing the body.

Red light therapy is photobiomodulation therapy that uses the light spectrum of 600 nanometers (nm) and 1100 nm. This is a non-toxic, non-invasive therapy. It has no known side effects and has been around for over 50 years. 

What is it used for?

Red light therapy is a systemic and holistic approach to healing. As such, it has multiple health benefits. For instance, this type of therapy:

• Promotes wound healing
• Speeds up healing of bones, tendons, and muscles
• Repairs damaged nerves
• Improves cognitive abilities
• Lowers risks of dementia
• Eradicates skin conditions
• Rejuvenates hair and skin
• Maintains gut flora balance
• Improves immune system

2. Immunotherapy

Immunotherapy is one of the most promising therapies when it comes to treating cancer. The principle of immunotherapy is to change the way your immune system works. Therefore, it becomes more efficient in fighting cancer. 

However, there is not just one type of immunotherapy. For example, different types include cancer vaccines, T-cell therapy, monoclonal antibodies, and tumor-agnostic therapies, oncolytic virus therapy. There are also other non-specific immunotherapies.

What is it used for?

Eradicating cancer is the general purpose of immunotherapy. However, there are three basic principles on which immunotherapy works:

• Enables the immune system to be more efficient for destroying cancer cells
• Halts or slowing down the growth of cancer cells
• Prevents cancer from spreading

3. Stem Cell Therapy

Another name for stem cell therapy is regenerative medicine. The idea is for the stem cells to repair dysfunctional tissue in your body. 

Stem cells are the “default cells” of our bodies. They need to diversify and turn into a particular cell or tissue. Therefore, their potential is so great – they can turn into tissue that needs repairing.

For example, if a person has a heart condition, stem cell transplantation may result in heart tissue repair. Medical experts will manipulate the stem cells in the lab. They will get them to become heart tissue cells. After that, they will implant these cells into a person’s heart,. These cells then repair the damaged tissue.

What is it used for?

While stem cell therapy has tremendous potential. However, it is not a miracle. FDA warns that there are some unapproved and illegal stem cell providers on the market to beware of. For example, stem cells can help the treatment of:

• Different types of cancers
• Immunity diseases
• Bone fractures 
• Organ transplant rejections
• Blood conditions
• Metabolic diseases

4. Microbiota Therapies

There are different microbiota or microbiome therapies that mainly have a similar goal. They aim to fight pathological processes throughout the body by restoring balance in the gut bacteria. 

The principle behind these therapies is that human organisms and gut microbes live in symbiosis. Microbiota has important roles in maintaining this balance. Moreover, they control processes important for metabolism and immunity. 

Therefore, if the balance of microbiota is compromised, the human body suffers consequences in the form of illnesses. For example, microbiota therapies include antibiotics and probiotic therapies, fecal microbiota transplants which aim to maintain this delicate balance.

There is research that proves that Red light therapy can improve the gut microbiome. 

What is it used for?

Gut bacteria have a direct influence on the development of gastrointestinal conditions such as gastroenteric infections. For instance, medical experts use microbiota therapies for managing:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Colorectal cancer
• Obesity
• Metabolic syndrome
• Liver diseases
• Allergies
• Autism 

5. Robotic Surgeries as New Therapies

Robotic surgeries are performed by robotic arms with tools attached to them. Skilled surgeons control these robotic arms during surgery.

These surgeries are laparoscopic, so they don’t require big cuts and unnecessary tissue damage. In other words, robotic arms make small incisions and place the tools and a camera inside the patient’s body. After that, the camera shows an enlarged 3D image to the practicing surgeon who can perform minuscule, precise movements in areas that are usually hard to reach.

What is it used for?

Surgeons use robotic arms for a wide variety of surgeries. For example, some of them include:

• Artery bypass
• Cancer removal
• Kidney surgery
• Kidney transplant
• Hip surgery
• Tubal sterilization
• Gallbladder removal
• Cyst removal
• and many more.

However, not every new idea in medicine is automatically a new form of therapy. There is a long process between creating a prototype or a new medicine and applying it in medical institutions. For example, it is necessary to conduct extensive research. Additionally, there are other factors, such as financial, before the cutting edge technologies are available to nearby hospitals.

On the other hand, since we are witnesses of such rapid growth, it is not too far-fetched to imagine that we will soon have new standardization methods and procedures. Furthermore, they should be able to shorten waiting times and make the best, latest treatments available to the general public.

However, before you start exploring the latest medical treatments and therapies that are still in the works, why don’t you make the most of those that are already available?

Explore red light therapy – a clinically proven way to empower your body to heal itself.