For Seth Fortier, cold laser therapy is the hottest thing going.

The Albany chiropractor has been applying this relatively new technique as part of his practice for just over two weeks.

“When I opened two years ago I tried to come out with cutting edge technology,” Fortier said. “This adds to that technology.”

Cold laser technology has been around for about 20 years, but was used mostly to treat carpal tunnel syndrome. Fortier says it now has a whole new array of uses.

“A lot of professional athletes think it’s the latest greatest thing,” he said. “I use it with almost every patient in conjunction with a chiropractic adjustment.”

The cold laser, also called low level light therapy, penetrates the skin surface with wave lengths of energy stimulating mitochondria and red blood and other cells. Fortier says it lessens inflammation and results in a quicker healing time.

Already he has used it to treat herniated discs, arthritis, tendinitis, sprained ankles and even over wounds and cuts.

The laser is applied directly to the skin and includes five lights — three diodes transmitting electromagnetic energy to stimulate mitochondria and two that help increase oxygen levels. The number of treatments required could be just one or up to four per week.

“There is no cookie-cutter protocol. Everyone is a little different,” Fortier said. “I’ve used it on a 90-year-old woman with arthritis and a 5-year-old boy with a stubbed toe. Different injuries require different time.”

He said patients feel almost nothing during treatment.

“There’s no heat involved,” he said. “It’s direct transference of light energy into cellular energy.”

Fortier said he had used the device throughout school and he believes he is the only one from Salem to Eugene currently offering the cold laser process.

Although the lasers are expensive, Fortier says he doesn’t charge patients anything extra to include it with regular adjustments. He says he sees it as a first step to try and eliminate pain.

“There is a time and place to go to the next level for medications,” Fortier said. “But I believe this can help a lot of people.”

And he says his patients love the treatment.

“It’s a non-addictive, non-invasive way of correcting pain,” he said. “It feels like the best-kept secret in medicine.”