Red Light Therapy

Red Light Therapy - Learning Objectives

How long have people used color to heal?
What is a Chromotherapy?
What is red light used to treat?
What red wavelengths are used for healing?

The chart above shows wavelength emissions for Circadian input and Photopic Vision, noontime sun, various artificial light sources.

Red Light Therapy
My college education was unusual, it focused on color. For us to see a color, first, the light source must contain that wavelength, then, a surface absorbs all other colors except the one we see reflected back to us.
I began to wonder about healing with light and realized that if you have a red inflammation, your body is absorbing all colors except red. My theory was that if you expose the inflammation to red light, you begin to restore balance to the injury - if only we could find a red light that did not give off heat - now 40 years later we have red LED’s.
Recently, red light therapy is being used on horses to treat inflammation, and is now being tested for healing humans. I do not endorse nor claim any healing from this; however, I find it fascinating how research and an industry has now formed around this idea, without me saying anything about it, except to an occasional colleague at a convention. The name ‘Collective Consciousness’ describes the phenomenon where like-minded designers and researchers around the world follow similar paths of exploration.

History of Chromotherapy
Since 2000 BC in ancient Egypt, Greece, China, and India; color has been used for healing the human body. Colors in the form of minerals, crystals, dyes, and light all have been considered to have healing and therapeutic properties.
Some believe that the art of chromotherapy was discovered by the god Thoth, god of writing, science, wisdom, and the moon, according to Egyptian mythology. The ancient Ayurvedic physician Charaka, who lived in the sixth century BC, recommended sunlight to treat a variety of diseases. Stained glass windows in religious structures send rays of color into the spaces, bathing people and spaces in colored light.

For more reading on the history of Color Light Therapy visit the article A Critical Analysis of Chromotherapy and Its Scientific Evolution.
[1]

What is Photonic Therapy and What Can it Treat?
Photonic therapy has worked for more than a century. In the late 1890s, scientist Niels Ryberg Finsen won a Nobel Prize for his use of Photonic therapy to treat a smallpox and lupus. NASA has been using Photonic therapy to speed up the healing of astronauts. Photonic therapy is proven to heal injuries up to 60% faster than traditional approaches. University research has shown that Photonic therapy is a proven way to treat virtually any injury.
Photonics covers a huge range of science and technology applications, including laser manufacturing, biological and chemical sensing, medical diagnostics and therapy, display technology, and optical computing. [2]

Equine Red Light Therapy Research

Equine Red Light Therapy Research
In addition to reducing swelling, evidence show that light therapy can increase vascularity (circulation) by increasing the formation of new capillaries, which are additional blood vessels that replace damaged ones. New capillaries speed up the healing process by carrying more oxygen as well as more nutrients needed for healing and they can also carry more waste products away. For more information read the complete article from Equiworld. [3]

Turning On Lights to Stop Neurodegeneration: The Potential of Near Infrared Light Therapy in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's Disease

"Low-level laser or LED (light emitting diode) therapy using red to infrared light (λ = 600–1070 nm), conflated here to the term “near infrared light” (NIr), is an emerging, putative neuroprotective treatment that is showing promise in several pre-clinical models of disease." US National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health [4]

Footnotes

Photo Credits

Wikipedia

Related Topics
Vision & Aging Eye, Photosensitivity, SAD,
Lighting Research, Chakras, Crystals,