“Dr. Bergin at Chiromed Wellness Centers is the best chiropractor in town. I no longer have to take pain meds. If you still have pain, you’re not seeing to best chiropractor.”
Service
Cold Laser Therapy
in Lakeland and The Villages, FL
Low-level laser therapy, also called photobiomodulation, for stubborn joint, tendon and nerve symptoms. Painless, drug free, and used as part of a plan rather than sold as a stand-alone answer.
- 22 years in practice
- Drug free, no downtime
- $47 new patient exam
- 22 years in practice
- $47 new-patient exam
Medically reviewed by Dr. Justin Bergin, DC Updated September 14, 2026
Cold Laser Therapy at ChiroMed
Some tissue will not take hands-on work. A knee that flares for two days after anyone touches it. A heel so reactive in the morning that you dread the walk to the bathroom. Hands and feet that burn at night and feel like they belong to someone else. The problem in those cases is rarely effort. It is that the input keeps arriving in a form the tissue cannot absorb. Low-level laser is one of the gentler ways in, and Dr. Justin Bergin, DC decides where it fits after examining you. It sits inside [the chiropractic programme run at this practice](/chiropractic-services/) rather than being sold as a package of its own.
This page sits under chiropractic services, the ChiroMed chiropractic services pillar.
What cold laser therapy actually does
Cold laser therapy is low-level laser therapy, also called photobiomodulation. A handheld applicator delivers light at specific wavelengths into tissue at a power far below anything that cuts or burns. The light is absorbed by cell structures involved in energy production, which is thought to reduce pain and support local repair.
Mechanistically, the target is the mitochondrion. Light in the red and near-infrared range is absorbed by an enzyme in the cellular respiratory chain, which appears to increase available cellular energy and shift local signalling toward repair and away from inflammation. That is the theory, and it is a reasonable one. The clinical picture is more mixed, which is the part most laser pages leave out. A 2024 review of photobiomodulation for tissue injury and recovery found decent support for wound healing and for muscle recovery, and much weaker support in acute musculoskeletal injury, where the benefit looked mainly like pain relief rather than accelerated healing. We use it accordingly: as a component, on the right tissue, with a checkpoint. The practical value is access. When a joint is too irritable for hands or a table, light gives you a way to treat it at all, which often buys enough comfort for the rest of the plan to start. It also combines cleanly. Laser sits comfortably in the same visit as adjusting, soft-tissue work, decompression or shockwave, so it adds to a course of care instead of competing with one. What we will not do is name a wavelength, a dose or a session count on a web page before anyone has examined you. Those numbers depend on the tissue, the depth and the problem, and a clinic that quotes them in advance is describing a product rather than a plan.
Background reading from an independent authority: a 2024 review of photobiomodulation for tissue injury and recovery.
Conditions we treat with it
Each of these has its own page, and each one links back up to this service. The examination decides which of them applies to you.
Why patients choose it
It reaches tissue that will not take pressure
When a joint is too reactive for hands or a table, light gives you a way to treat the area at all, which is frequently what gets the rest of the plan moving.
Nothing is taken or injected
No systemic drug load, no needle, no recovery time, and nothing that interferes with medication you are already on for something else.
It combines rather than competes
Laser runs in the same visit as adjusting, soft-tissue therapy, decompression or shockwave, which keeps your care as one plan instead of a series of separate purchases.
Sessions are short and you leave as you arrived
There is no wound, no dressing and no restriction afterward. You can drive, work or exercise straight from the appointment.
Cost, insurance and financing
A few variables move what a course of laser costs you, and the front desk settles all of them before you commit rather than at checkout.
The one published price
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47
What moves the cost
- Whether the laser supports a billable chiropractic plan or stands alone
- How many areas are being treated in a visit
- Whether it is combined with soft-tissue work, decompression or shockwave
- How long the overall course of care runs
What a course includes
- Consultation with Dr. Justin Bergin, DC
- Examination to identify the pain generator
- X-rays if they are clinically indicated
- Report of findings with a review point
Payment: Cold laser therapy is billed to insurance when it forms part of a chiropractic plan of care, and is self-pay otherwise. The front desk tells you which applies to you before you commit. Every new patient starts at the same place: consultation, exam, X-rays if needed, and report of findings for $47. Payment plans are available for self-pay care. Ask the front desk which plan fits your course of care.
Why ChiroMed
A laser is only as good as the examination that decided where to point it, and 22 years of clinical practice is what that examination is built on. Dr. Justin Bergin, DC will tell you when light is the wrong tool, which is not a sentence you hear at a clinic selling laser packages. The deeper advantage is range: spinal and knee decompression, Omniwave shockwave, Neuromed electroanalgesia, plus regenerative, metabolic and functional care, all on one DC-led plan in one building. When laser alone is not moving your case, the next option is in the next room. Patients often arrive asking for one modality by name and leave with a better-matched plan, so it is worth seeing [where laser sits among the hands-on services offered here](/chiropractic-services/) before deciding what you need.
Where you would be treated
Laser visits are short, which makes either office easy to fit around the rest of the week. Patients drop into the S. Florida Avenue office between errands around Lakeside Village or on the way home down the Polk Parkway toward Highland City, and Suite 13 sits back from the road with parking at the door. In the northern market, people coming from Brownwood Paddock Square, Summerfield and Oxford reach the Lady Lake office by running north on US-441, and the short appointment length is what makes a repeat course realistic rather than a chore.
In Lakeland that is 6595 Florida Ave S, Suite 13, Lakeland, serving Polk County. In the Villages market the office is at 929 US-441 #404, Lady Lake, serving Lake County, Sumter County, Marion County. Dr. Justin Bergin, DC performs the examination personally at both, 22 years into practice.
This page links up to its parent hub only: chiropractic services.
Compare your options
Real alternatives exist, including ones this practice does not perform. Here is the honest set.
| Criteria | Our approachLow-level laser therapy | What it is | Typically considered when | Invasive? | Offered at ChiroMed? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low-level laser therapy | Light energy delivered into tissue to influence cellular activity and reduce pain | Localised joint, tendon or nerve symptoms, especially where hands-on work is too sore to tolerate | No | Yes | |
| Omniwave shockwave therapy | Acoustic pressure waves delivered into deeper tendon and joint tissue | Chronic tendon problems needing a stronger mechanical stimulus than light can deliver | No | Yes | |
| Manual and soft-tissue therapy | Hands-on work on muscle, fascia and joint mechanics | The tissue is tight, restricted or loading badly and will tolerate being touched | No | Yes | |
| Cortisone injection | Corticosteroid placed into or around the painful structure | Severe localised inflammation that has failed conservative care | Minimally | Not performed here. Appropriate for short-term control when a specialist judges the trade-off worthwhile | |
| Surgical release or repair | Operative decompression or reconstruction of the structure | Confirmed structural damage, or a nerve compression with measurable weakness | Yes | Not performed here. Appropriate when testing shows the tissue will not recover conservatively |
Light, sound and hands are three different amounts of mechanical input, and the examination decides which one your tissue can currently absorb. The last two rows are escalation routes we refer for rather than provide.
Is cold laser therapy right for someone like you?
Candidacy is decided at the examination, not on a web page. These are the general lines.
Likely a good candidate if
- A localised painful area that has not settled with rest and stretching
- Burning, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet alongside a wider nerve plan
- Heel or arch pain that is worst on the first steps of the day
- A joint too irritable to tolerate hands-on work just yet
- You want a drug-free option and you are willing to attend a course of visits
We will point you elsewhere if
- You are pregnant, where treatment over the abdomen or low back is avoided
- There is a known or suspected tumour in the area to be treated
- The area to be treated is directly over the thyroid gland or the eyes
- There is an active infection, open wound or unexplained swelling in the area
- You are looking for a single-session fix, which this is not
When we’re not the right answer, we say so , and connect you with someone who is.
Your first visit
What to expect, step by step
You know the plan and the cost before anything begins.
-
01Examination first
Dr. Bergin works out what is generating the pain before any device comes out. Laser applied to the wrong structure is simply a warm light, and that is an expensive way to find out.
- 02
Targeted application
The applicator is held against or just above the skin over the treatment area and protective eyewear is worn. Most people feel nothing at all, and some notice a mild warmth.
- 03
Combined with the rest of the plan
Laser is almost never used alone here. It sits alongside adjusting, soft-tissue work, decompression or shockwave depending on what the examination showed.
- 04
Re-check and an honest call
You are reassessed against the markers set at the start. If the needle has not moved, the approach changes rather than the number of visits going up.
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An adjustment that is not aimed at a specific finding is just noise. We treat what the exam and the X-ray tell us to treat.
“I have had sich a great experience seeing Dr. Bergin. When other offices have told me I just had muscle damage or the only thing they could do for me was give shots, he said he had others ways to manage my pain and numbness, along with improving mobility. And he was right! I feel so much better!”
“I have had pain in my right upper back quadrant by my shoulder blade for at least a year now and the doctors have been unsuccessful in making the pain go away. I came to Dr. Bergin looking for some help. Within 3 to 4 weeks. My pain in that area is completely gone.”
“Dr. Bergin is phenomenal. Chronic lower back issues led a different doctor to mention back surgery to me. That was not an option I wanted to entertain. After a consult with Dr. B, he was confident that he could help resolve my back issues. I’ve been seeing him weekly to resolve the issue, and I am so pleased with the results so far! More mobility, less pain, and a great customer experience.”
“I bless the day that Dr. Bergin started working on me. I have had long standing pain for so long. After just a few visits my pain left and I feel so good. He is very patient oriented and caring. I regard him highly.”
“Dr. Bergin was instrumental in relieving my back pain which I had for many years. The techniques he used on relieving my back pain were impressive. I been going to chiropractors for years and Dr. Bergin is the best.”
Get in touch
Book your cold laser therapy evaluation
Tell us what the problem is and which office is closer. A member of the ChiroMed team follows up within one business day.
- 1
Send the form
Two minutes. Tell us what hurts and which office is closer.
- 2
We call you back
A real person, within one business day, to find a time that works.
- 3
Exam and answers
History, orthopedic and neurological testing, imaging on site when it changes the plan.
- $47 consultation, exam, X-rays if needed and report of findings
- Payment plans available on the self-pay programs
- 4.8 out of 5 from 225 Google reviews
- Choose Lakeland or The Villages on the form
Cold Laser Therapy questions
Tap a message for the honest answer. Call Lakeland (863) 940-3444
Does cold laser therapy actually work?
It depends heavily on what you are treating, and the honest answer has edges. A 2024 review of photobiomodulation found reasonable support for wound healing and muscle recovery, weaker support in acute musculoskeletal injury, and a good deal of variation in how the studies were run. What we see clinically is that it helps most as one element of a plan, on localised pain and irritable tissue, rather than as a stand-alone answer. Anyone promising you certainty here is ahead of the evidence.
the clinic teamIs it the same thing as the laser used in surgery?
No. Surgical lasers cut and coagulate tissue with heat. Low-level laser therapy uses far lower power and is not intended to heat or damage anything, which is why it is called cold laser. You should feel nothing more than mild warmth, and there is no wound, no downtime and no recovery period afterward.
the clinic teamHow many sessions will I need?
We will not guess at a number before examining you, and we would be wary of a clinic that quotes one over the phone. Laser is typically delivered as a course rather than a single visit, and the length depends on what is being treated, how long you have had it, and what else is in the plan. You get a re-check date at the outset so the course is judged on your progress rather than on a package decided in advance.
the clinic teamWill insurance pay for cold laser therapy?
Sometimes. When laser supports a chiropractic plan of care it may be billable under your chiropractic benefit, and our team verifies that before your first visit. Where it does not qualify, it is self-pay and we tell you plainly at the front desk rather than after the fact. Medicare coverage varies by plan and by service, and the front desk will tell you exactly what applies before you commit to anything.
the clinic teamCan it help with neuropathy symptoms?
Laser is one of the tools used in our nerve-symptom plans, aimed at pain, tingling and comfort in the hands and feet. It is important to be straight about what that means: the goal is symptom management and function, not undoing established nerve damage. For most patients with nerve symptoms the main work is done elsewhere in the plan, with laser supporting it.
the clinic teamAre there side effects?
Very few, and they are mild. A small number of people notice temporary tenderness in the treated area or a short-lived increase in symptoms before things settle. Protective eyewear is worn because the eye is the one tissue that genuinely needs shielding. Treatment is avoided over the thyroid, over a known tumour, and over the abdomen and low back in pregnancy.
the clinic teamSame-week appointments
Find out whether cold laser therapy is the right tool.
One examination tells you which discipline the problem actually needs.
- 4.8 out of 5 on Google
- $47 consultation, exam and report
- 22 years in practice
Consultation, Exam, X-Rays (If Needed) & Report of Findings: Only $47