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- Written By: Malcolm Tatum
- Edited By: Bronwyn Harris
- Last Modified Date: 17 November 2011
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2003-2012 Conjecture Corporation
Red light therapy is a healing strategy that makes use of red tinted light in order to stimulate the body’s natural defense systems and bring relief from various ailments. The basis for this type of treatment has to do with the fact that red light helps to activate ATP or adenosine triphospate in the muscle tissues, releasing more energy for the body to use. It is possible to employ LED red light therapy at home or undergo treatments conducted by a practitioner.
Employing the therapy simply involves focusing the generated light on an area of the body that is currently experiencing some type of distress. For example, headaches are one of the more common reasons to employ red light therapy. Proponents of this treatment method note that by moving the projected light slowly back and forth over the forehead, the pain of the headache begins to subside and eventually vanishes.
There are a number of different ailments that can be addressed with the use of red light therapy alone or with a combination of blue and red light therapy. Poor circulation is one example. By moving the light up and down over the legs, the blood vessels begin to relax and healthy blood flow is restored. In like manner, the therapy can be used to help counteract stress after a rough day by helping to relax the mind and body.
Red light acne therapy is said to help adolescents with skin problems, possibly by helping to clear out clogged pores. Facial red light therapy may also be helpful with nervous tics. Mild depression may also be helped with a series of mini red light therapy treatments, offering some of the same effects that can be found by spending time in natural sunlight. There are even claims that the stimulation of ATP in the body can help with various forms of sexual dysfunction in both men and women.
Depending on the ailment that is addressed, the duration of the read light therapy session will depend on the nature of the health issue. The sessions may be anywhere from two to five minutes in length, with repeated sessions occurring after a short period of rest. For example, when using red light skin therapy to facilitate wound healing, it would not be unusual to conduct one five minute session, allow the patient to rest for roughly three minutes, then apply a second treatment lasting five minutes. This procedure would be repeated daily in order to motivate the body’s natural processes to heal the open wound.
As with most forms of alternative healing, red light therapy has a host of supporters as well as critics. At present, there is no hard scientific evidence to indicate the therapy has any beneficial effects other than some of those associated with exposure to sunlight. However, there are many testimonies from people who have tried red light therapy and found the treatment to either cure the ailment or at least facilitate the healing process.
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anon230025
Post 16 |
I would just like to say I started using red light therapy at my town's local planet fitness gym, and man, has it done a lot for me. Usually my feet and hands are always cold. I've been using red light therapy for about two months now, and not one day have I been suffering from this. This spectrum of light somehow really does stimulate blood circulation. |
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anon219982
Post 15 |
Several years ago I was being treated with infrared light by my physical therapist at an award-winning hospital. It's not new technology, and it's not considered controversial in the field of physical therapy. I am not sure if some of the cheap looking led units I have seen online are powerful enough to do much of anything, but the red light therapy booth at my local gym seems to be quite a bit more powerful. I am not saying that red light therapy is a cure-all, like a lot of people are trying to make it seem, but it sure isn't a hoax or a scam. I fully intend on trying out the unit at the gym, and it would be fantastic if it helped with my aches, pains, and migraines. |
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anon206090
Post 14 |
@Post 8: I want to point out that exposure to sunlight has always been a recommended treatment for various issues. If you've ever tried on clothes in the mall, you'll know that the vast majority of artificial lighting is very poor in the red spectrum, hence looking green in malls(especially dressing rooms). I think that trend is even worse now that there is a push towards efficiency -- making sure that all the energy used in lighting is in the wavelengths that give the most visibility, i.e., the blues. If red wavelengths of light are known to have biological activity, then it's not outrageous to think that exposure to these wavelengths could be beneficial. It might be that it's only restoring what we've deprived ourselves of, like vitamins replace the nutrients processed out of food(polished rice, for example). Someone who has lots of outdoor exposure to nice bright sun (not winter in Finland) might not notice much difference. @krisl: The key though is 'decent' diet. Considering the average modern diet I doubt most get sufficient nutrients for optimal health(as opposed to minimum needed to avoid a deficiency disease, which is not the same thing.) |
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anon199026
Post 13 |
I use red light therapy almost daily for skin rejuvenation and cannot say enough great things about it. What amazes me though is all of the benefits that go way beyond skin care. My husband uses it in the winter months to lift his mood and I have used it for headaches and find it relieves the pain. I have also read that it helps with diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's. It is definitely not a scam and I recommend it to all of my friends and family. The more I read about this phenomenal technology the better it gets. --Victoria |
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Neva Howell
Post 12 |
I had my first red light therapy session yesterday. I was interested in it because of something I read on age-related macular degeneration. My vision has become different since menopause and I'm wondering if red light therapy might help. I enjoyed the session. |
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anon152631
Post 11 |
Our bodies respond to frequencies in light and sound. That has been scientifically proven (to krisl). Sound wave weapons are used by the military to disable people and can actually kill. Every living thing has vibrates at a frequency: even bacteria. If you find the frequency that a given bacteria vibrates at or essentially is able to live, you can kill the bacteria, just like a living cell, with a given frequency. It's not voodoo or mystical, just not that well known. If you take it a step further, pharma companies are not known for helping the body help itself: it takes money out of their pockets. It is to their benefit to bias, slander and outright lie to keep people from using what the body naturally does when it has what it needs: heal itself. |
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anon140208
Post 10 |
NASA pioneered this stuff so I don't get the lack of science argument. It has been found that 1072 nm wavelengths resonate with the cytochromes of mitochondria accelerating ATP production as well NO production. I believe NO production causes the blood flow alterations and so forth. |
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anon136279
Post 8 |
RLT is basically a scam. The plural of the anecdotes shown here is not data. You receive far more red light wavelength from walking outside than you ever will from a few LEDs or a red filter in a lamp.
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anon130937
Post 7 |
As I'm writing, I am recovering from a migraine that started at 3 a.m. this morning. I have been using red and blue led light therapy (a Tanda unit, purchased on Ebay) for various things already, with some success in some areas. For instance, the blue light really does help with acne, as my 14 year old daughter will attest. The red light had helped me with hair regrowth on my temple (I have a very high hair line, but I already see some filling in after a month and a half of use). But the main reason I'm posting right now is that I was aware that red led light is supposed to help heal wounds and reduce inflammation. On a whim, I did 15 minutes (total) of red light therapy on my temples and forehead, concentrating on the areas that hurt the worst. I already feel better, and it's only been about an hour. I thought my idea was random, but decided to look up red light plus migraines and found this thread, so I'm putting my two cents in. I am not a clinical case study, as one can never be, but if this info helps even one person feel a little better, then it was worth it. Hope this helps! Leominster, MA |
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anon125180
Post 6 |
Well, I am working toward a doctorate and scientific thinking is part of my studies. I have dermatitis herpetiformis (DH) on my arms, upper back, neck and arms. DH is a skin condition related to celiac disease (gluten intolerance). I have had this miserable, evil, disgusting rash since the outbreak over two months ago. It burned, bled, crusted, oozed, and my allergist tried having me use prescription corticosteroid ointments (which only stopped the burning and itching) and several courses of amoxicillin and Dapsone (nasty drug). I got so desparate a few days ago that nothing was working that I decided to zap the DH with UVA and red light therapy both! My tanning salon has a new red light therapy bed. I decided to try it about four days ago. I've been using that and the tanning bed back to back daily. I cannot believe that the DH is going away! Amazing. Only four days of light therapy has done 95 percent more than my doctor and his meds could do! |
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anon118820
Post 5 |
It's real so don't knock it until you try it. My skin is as soft as a baby's butt. My headaches are gone and my scars are fading away. It even helped my husband without using viagra, if you know what I mean. |
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anon111086
Post 4 |
Red Light Therapy Works for sure! I found the units designed for humans to be either very expensive or very low quality with poor power. The most economical unit was from online designed for horses and animals but works perfectly for humans. |
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anon105662
Post 3 |
i went through red light therapy because i work for a porn industry and i have a lot of stress in my penis, and after a couple of sessions i felt relief in my penis. So for my sake i would have to say it worked for me. |
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Albona
Post 2 |
@krisl – I tried red light therapy when I had a recurring migraine . I noticed that after a few red light sessions, the migraines were less frequent and less intense. It may not have much in the way of scientific backing in terms of studies done on it, but the treatment does seem to do what its practitioners say it does. That is, it seems to promote stimulated blood flow. I realize that the scientific community may not support types of treatment like this. But, it made me feel better and seems to have suppressed my migraines. Isn’t that the most important thing? After all, plenty of things that are “officially” backed by the nation’s scientific agencies have turned out to be quite harmful. An FDA approved drug Baycol, for instance, was approved and prescribed to treat high cholesterol, but was found to cause muscle deterioration and organ failure over time. I don’t think case studies and FDA approval are necessarily the best ways to determine the true effectiveness of medical treatments. Only time and numbers can tell if a treatment is truly legitimate. |
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krisl
Post 1 |
This sounds like a scam to me. There are a lot of so-called “alternative” medications out there, and most of them are just a way to take advantage of people and make money. Look at, for instance, the entire weight loss pill industry or the vitamin industry. Weight loss pills just dehydrate you (thus causing a loss of water weight, which comes right back) and a decent diet provides more than enough of all the necessary vitamins. Red light therapy has to be one of the most suspicious sounding medications. I just can’t see this “therapy” doing anything for a headache or an open wound than giving the patient some kind of psychological, placebo relief. I would like to see scientific studies that prove the effectiveness of this treatment before I even start to believe that it’s not a complete scam. |
