The first of their kind in Australia, class-four laser therapy machines have arrived in Moama direct from Europe.

The arrival of the Hiro TT and M-Hi machines at Clinical Laser Therapy coincided with visits from two other international guests.

En route to the Heal With Laser conference in Brisbane, Greek physiotherapist Dr Mata Karagianni and Italian laser therapist educator Francesco Sahli dropped into the twin towns.

Clinical Laser Therapy owner Dr Matthew McLindon’s interest in photobiomodulation, or laser therapy, began around a decade ago after his daughter, Gen, sustained a brain injury.

Coming across the treatment, Dr McLindon saw a gap in the Australian market, though it took a few years and an injury of his own before fully jumping in.

“As a chiropractor, I felt very limited in what I could do,” he said.

“We came across ... photobiomodulation, or laser therapy, and brain injuries.

“Every two or three years, I would research laser again.

“Then I herniated a few discs in my back ... and an email popped up from a different company in Canada saying, ‘you’ve been interested in laser, are you still interested?’ and I said, ‘very much so’.”

From there, he purchased a machine from Canada and brought the technology to town.

Dr McLindon uses laser therapy to treat soft tissue and sports injuries, inflammatory conditions, repetitive stress injuries and wound care.

“I started doing it at the clinic as a bit of a side thing,” he said.

“It started getting busier and busier, and I was going home at nine, 9.30 at night.”

Dr McLindon travelled internationally to develop his skills, including to Toronto.

At a conference in London, he met Dr Catherine Norton from Heal With Laser, and was introduced to the M-Hi machine, a class-four laser.

Earlier this year, Dr McLindon travelled to Germany and Italy, training on the M-Hi and Hiro TT.

The clinic now offers multiple M-Hi and Hiro TT machines, attracting clients from far and wide.

“I started the laser clinic as a small, part-time practice,” Dr McLindon said.

“I didn’t realise how far Australia is behind.

“There are laser technicians in Australia, but at this level and regionally, there’s nobody.”

Dr McLindon, along with Dr Karagianni and Mr Sahli, spent Friday, September 12 and Saturday, September 13 training other local practitioners on the new machines.

Among them were chiropractors Dr Troy Walker, Dr Chris Knight, Dr Nicholas Couchman and Dr Emily Dietrich.

Dr Karagianni has been using the technology on patients since opening her own clinic in Greece more than a decade ago.

She is passionate about sharing the technology.

“Both of (the machines) are a part of my everyday practice ... I share my experience and learn how my science is performed across the world, which is extremely interesting,” Dr Karagianni said.

“You can take the things you think you can merge into your everyday practice and share some cases that may be inspiring to other people.”

Following the training sessions, guided by the international experts, Dr McLindon and his fellow practitioners now offer the new treatments to patients in Echuca, Kyabram and Bendigo.

“It’s great to have this level of technology two and a half hours from Melbourne,” Dr McLindon said.

“Melbourne gets everything, Sydney gets everything; they don’t even have these.

“When we opened up the clinic, we thought, ‘why can’t country people have the best of the best?’.”

Clinical Laser Therapy is located at 22 Meninya St, Moama and can be reached on 0493 656 346.

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Thursday, 20th October 2022

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