You may have seen red light therapy advertised as a way to improve your skin, ease pain, or boost your mood. But what is red light therapy, and does it actually work? In this blog post, we'll take a closer look at red light therapy and see if there's any scientific evidence to support its claims.
What is red light therapy?
Red light therapy is a type of phototherapy that uses red or near-infrared light to treat various medical conditions. The therapy is also known as low-level laser therapy (LLLT), cold laser therapy, and soft laser therapy. It should not be confused with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), which uses high-frequency sound waves instead of light.
Red light talk has been around for quite some time—as early as the 1960s—but it wasn't until the 1990s that studies began to emerge showing its potential usefulness. A wide range of conditions have been studied, including skin conditions like psoriasis and dermatitis, joint pain, wound healing, stroke recovery, memory loss, and more.
Does red light therapy actually work?
The jury is still out on whether or not red light therapy is an effective treatment for any condition. One issue with studying red light therapy is that there are many different devices on the market that deliver the treatment in different ways. This makes it difficult to compare results across studies. In addition, most studies on red light therapy have been small and not well-designed, so their findings should be interpreted with caution.
That said, there are a few small studies that have shown promising results for specific conditions. For example, one study found that red light therapy may help improve symptoms of psoriasis. Another study found that red light therapy may help relieve joint pain associated with arthritis. And yet another study found that red light therapy may help speed up wound healing.
Conclusion:
At this point, there's not enough evidence to say definitively whether or not red light therapy is an effective treatment for any condition. However, there are a few studies that have shown promise for specific conditions like psoriasis, arthritis, and wound healing.