Dr Peter Herbert

Dr Peter Herbert is a highly regarded and experienced GP in North London. Early in his career he understood the many limitations in the medical treatment of chronic pain. He has sought out and investigated alternative and more effective solutions ever since. Today at Sutherland House he offers private GP consultations and low light laser therapy for the treatment of inflammatory conditions.

Medical Qualifications and Experience

After training at Middlesex Hospital, he worked in Intensive Care, Cardiology and Psychiatry before becoming a Principal in a training general practice in North West London in 1983. He was involved in teaching from the outset and was honorary Senior Lecturer at the Royal Free and University College London and GP Tutor to Camden and Islington and South Barnet. He was awarded FRCP because of his educationalist role. Until 2017, he taught fourth year clinical medicine to medical students at UCL and for ten years was an appraiser for NHS England.

Finding the Healing Power of Light

“Soon after starting in general medical practice over 35 years ago, I realised that conventional medicine had so little to offer people who were in chronic pain”  Peter J Herbert

Dr Herbert became frustrated with the lack of effective therapeutic interventions for the huge number of patients with musculoskeletal conditions in primary care. Referring to outpatients and physiotherapists meant delays in treatment and unsatisfactory outcomes for many people with myofascial pain syndrome and osteoarthritis.

Starting his journey of discovery, he studied traditional needle acupuncture with Kenyon and Lewith and became a member of the British Medical Acupuncture Society. A new world of understanding opened up for him with the recognition of trigger point medicine of Peter Baldry and Felix Mann in the UK, Chan Gunn in Toronto and Travell and Simons in the USA.

After a while he was tempted to use a single probe laser pointer to stimulate acupuncture points instead of needles. He trialled a Swiss Laserneedle device for stimulating many acupuncture points simultaneously, and some conditions responded well.

Ten years ago he went to Toronto to be trained in the use of the Meditech Bioflex device which uses multiple laser and LED diodes in a flexible array. This no longer treats acupuncture points but treats the affected part of the body directly – not using tradition al acupuncture principles. This has proved remarkably effective in the treatment of many conditions where inflammation is the culprit, as is so often the case.

Dr Herbert was one of the first clinicians to use this system in the UK and he has treated over 500 patients with this painless, safe and effective technology.

Conditions and Low Light laser Therapy

Conditions that have responded best include:

• Chronic inflammatory conditions,
  including Rheumatoid disease
• Painful osteoarthritic joints including end stage knee OA
  Wrists and fingers and ankles
• Shoulder capsulitis
• Chemotherapy induced mucositis
• Cervical spondylosis
• Cervicogenic headache and migraine
• lumbar disc prolapse
• Sacroiliitis
• Vertebral crush fractures
• TMJ dysfunction, pre and post op TMJ surgery
• Myofascial pain syndromes
• Neuropathic pain including post herpetic and trigeminal neuralgia
• Post surgical“phantom” pain such as Post cholecystectomy pain
• Post spinal surgery and “failed” spinal surgery
• And many other conditions where inflammation is involved.

Exciting areas of research include the application of low light laser therapy to treat dry macula degeneration, traumatic brain injury, dementia and treatment resistant depression and chronic fatigue syndrome (Toronto and Harvard Medical School). The future looks promising.

To book an appointment with Dr Peter Herbert you can call our friendly team on 020 8458 7869 or use our online form to contact us.

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References:
1. Karu TI, Pyatibrat LV, Afanasyeva NI. Cellular effects of low power laser therapy can be mediated by nitric oxide. Lasers Surg Med. 2005; 36:307–314.
2. Roberta Chow et al, The Lancet, Volume 374, Issue 9705, Pages 1897 – 1908, 5 December 2009.