Systems and methods for prophylactic measures aimed at improving wound repair. In some embodiments, laser-mediated preconditioning would enhance surgical wound healing that was correlated with hsp70 expression. Using a pulsed laser (.lamda.=1850 nm, Tp=2 ms, 50 Hz, H=7.64 mJ/cm.sup.2) the skin of transgenic mice that contain an hsp70 promoter-driven luciferase were preconditioned 12 hours before surgical incisions were made. Laser protocols were optimized using temperature, blood flow, and hsp70-mediated bioluminescence measurements as benchmarks. Bioluminescent imaging studies in vivo indicated that an optimized laser protocol increased hsp70 expression by 15-fold. Under these conditions, healed areas from incisions that were laser-preconditioned were two times stronger than those from control wounds. Our data suggest that these methods can provide effective and improved tissue-preconditioning protocols and that mild laser-induced heat shock that correlated with an expression of Hsp70 may be a useful therapeutic intervention prior to or after surgery.