Improve Joint Health and Combat Arthritis with Red and Near-Infrared Light Therapy

Studies have also shown that red and near-infrared light therapy can help people with osteoarthritis (often called just “arthritis”). It does this through four primary mechanisms:

• Decreasing pain
• Modulating inflammation (decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines) and increasing anti-inflammatory cytokines)
• Increasing circulation to the area
• Stimulating wound healing and cellular repair mechanisms in the damaged joint itself

It’s worth noting that there have been some mixed reports in the data about the effectiveness of red/NIR light therapy for osteoarthritis. Here’s what Michael Hamblin, PhD wrote in his 2013 review of the scientific literature on this subject:

“LLLT has been used clinically in osteoarthritis for many years but is still considered controversial. Although a Cochrane review reported mixed and conflicting results, a subsequent analysis conducted by Bjordal and colleagues concluded that the Cochrane review conclusion was neither robust nor valid. Further sensitivity analyses with the inclusion of valid non-included trials, the performance of missing follow-up, and subgroup analyses revealed consistent and highly significant results in favour of active LLLT for osteoarthritis.”

In short, while some published studies apparently failed to find positive results, a more detailed review of the research showed that red/NIR light does in fact have powerful benefits for osteoarthritis. Given its capacity to decrease inflammation, kill pain, and increase connective tissue growth, this finding is exactly what we would expect.