Red Light Healing Technology is Quickly Emerging

It can be frustrating staying in good shape when we are hampered by the pain associated with aging. Typical options such as stopping or modifying workouts, longer breaks between activities, pain medications and injections are not always effective, and traditional medical treatments may come with unwanted side effects or even drug addiction.

U.S. Olympic running and gymnastic teams, NASA, UFC fighters, Navy Seals, the Dallas Cowboys, the New England Patriots and many others are currently using red light therapy (photobiomodulation) to treat many types of injuries. More than 5,000 medical studies support the benefits of this emerging technology.

In more than 500 randomized controlled studies, the scientific community has shown the immense value of red light therapy for a host of ailments including plantar fasciitis and brain disorders.

Light therapy works similarly to photosynthesis in plants. Sunlight enters the plant and creates a chemical reaction leading to the production of energy, allowing the plant to grow and thrive. This same plant can be brought indoors and placed under specific grow lights and get the same benefit of sunlight.

In the treatment center, light-emitting hardware technology emits specific wavelengths of energy at specific power densities to penetrate deep into the tissues of the body, interacting with mitochondria in the cells. This light energy is absorbed, allowing the cells to produce energy, called ATP, at a much higher level, leading to a cascade of events that put the body into repair mode.

For athletes, this repair mode allows them to work out longer and harder, reducing the recovery and rest time between workouts and speeding up recovery from injury and illness. This technology also allows them to eliminate or greatly reduce pain meds and cortisone injections.

The 2016 Journal of Athletic Training states, “Using photobiomodulation therapy, combining super-pulsed lasers and light-emitting diodes to improve performance in progressive cardiopulmonary exercise tests, 20 males were tested for running distance before exhaustion. The photobiomodulation group all ran a much greater distance than the placebo group.”

In a study by the Department of Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine, Ufuk University School of Medicine, in Ankara, Turkey, ”Low-Level Laser Therapy For Acute Low Back Pain,” research showed that light therapy had similar reduction in inflammation at four hours to anti-inflammatory drugs like meloxicam and indomethacin, with an inflammatory reduction of 30 to 50 percent. In a similar study, researchers showed that light therapy benefits outlasted that of pain injections.

Red light therapy is offered as an in-office treatment and through home or office use through tabletop and wall- or door-mounted panels.

New clients that mention this article will receive a discounted $25 first session. Offer expires on January 10, 2020. Scott Kennedy is the owner of LightPath to Wellness, located at 208 Main St., in Fort Lee. For more information, visit LightPathToWellness.com or for panel info, visit LightPathLED.com, or call 1-833-544-4865.