For years, elite athletes have been using red light therapy to boost performance, speed up recovery after workouts, and get back to their sport sooner after injury.
Thanks to developments in technology, even weekend warriors can experience the benefits of this natural treatment.
This article explores why light therapy is an integral part of any training program and why it benefits athletes of all levels.
What is Red Light Therapy?
Red light therapy uses an LED device to shine specific wavelengths of red and near infrared light onto the skin. Both red and NIR light absorb into the body’s tissues, where it sparks a chain reaction that boosts cellular performance. This has a powerful ripple effect for tissue repair and recovery, muscle strength, and even injury prevention.
Sunlight contains red and NIR wavelengths. As isolated wavelengths, they have been studied extensively and fall within a “therapeutic window” of meaningful benefits without harmful side effects.
Let’s explore some of the ways red light therapy helps athletes.
Pain Management
“No pain, no gain” is a common saying among athletes. However, there are two types of pain that athletes have to contend with: muscle and connective tissue pain due to overuse, and pain due to acute injuries such as torn muscles or broken bones.
Red light therapy increases blood flow to the area to speed up healing. According to a 2016 study, it also has an analgesic effect, which means pain relief. The treatment has also been shown effective in relieving pain from delayed onset muscle soreness, or DOMS.
Faster Recovery from Injury or Overtraining
Runner’s knee, shin splints, shoulder impingement syndrome, knee pain, IT band syndrome, low back pain, rotator cuff tears, concussions, bruises, and broken bones are all common in sports.
The main benefit of red light therapy - which is at the heart of its amazing results - is that it supports the cells’ mitochondria to function more efficiently by stimulating mitochondrial energy production and improving the mitochondrial respiration cycle.
Better functioning cells means better performing muscles and less fatigue. More efficient cellular repair and regeneration accelerates the recovery process after workouts and injury.
Red light therapy has vasodilating effects and supports the formation of new capillaries. A 2017 study showed that red light therapy three times a week increased blood flow that resulted in faster wound healing among diabetic and non-diabetic study participants.
Red light therapy also promotes an increase in Types I and III collagen synthesis to speed up the healing of muscle tears.
Medical researchers used to generally think that cartilage could not be rebuilt. However, 850nm NIR light has been shown to increase spinal cartilage density.
Reduced Chronic Inflammation
Because of the demands of training, which sometimes leads to overtraining, some athletes suffer from chronic inflammation. Acute inflammation, which shows up as swelling, pain, and redness, is a necessary part of healing. These symptoms go away as the body part heals.
But chronic inflammation, which can result from overtraining or from other causes, interferes with cellular performance and disrupts healing. Red light therapy is well known for its anti-inflammatory properties.
Increased Muscle Growth
Red light therapy may increase muscle mass. This is especially helpful for injured athletes who risk muscle atrophy throughout the recovery process.
In 2018, Brazilian researchers found that 780nm red light improved collagen organization in muscles and tendons, which assists with muscle growth.
Improved Sleep
The China Institute of Sport Science conducted a study on twenty elite female basketball players and found that adding 30 minutes of red light therapy every night for two weeks resulted in increased melatonin levels and better sleep quality, which translated to better on-court performance.
Athletes Who Use Red Light Therapy
Athletes looking for a competitive edge view red light therapy as an integral part of their training regimen.
Basketball great LeBron James uses red light therapy to speed up muscle recovery, reduce inflammation, and improve the quality of his sleep.
Track cyclist and gold medalist Kelsey Mitchell from Canada uses red light therapy to accelerate recovery after intense sprint training sessions so she can go even harder the next day.”
Wrestler and gold medalist David Taylor of the USA combines cold plunges and red light therapy to reduce inflammation and increase energy.
The Clemson University football team, the Tigers, use red light therapy to stimulate tissue repair and increase circulation. After adding red light therapy, the team went on to win a national championship.
They might not be competitive athletes in the traditional sense, but the Navy SEALS have been using red light therapy since the 1990s to support peak performance and recovery from injury.
Red Light Therapy and Athletic Recovery
Getting back to their sport is the main objective for athletes. One study observed injured college athletes with a variety of sports injuries including sprains, ligament damage, tendonitis, strains, and contusions. The study measured how quickly athletes could safely return to play (RTP) after receiving red light therapy in addition to traditional recovery protocols.
Study participants received an average of 4.3 treatments using 830 nm near infrared light. The outcomes were significant: an RTP of 9.6 days, compared to the average 19.23 days among athletes who did not receive red light therapy.
In addition to boosting cellular performance, red light therapy reduces oxidative stress in the muscles. Cells that are under attack by free radicals heal slower. By promoting the body’s natural production of antioxidants, red light therapy reduces cellular damage to accelerate recovery.
It’s not uncommon for athletes to overtrain. The microscopic tears that occur in muscles as part of a normal training program heal stronger every time a muscle is stressed. This causes muscles to grow more mass. However, those microscopic tears need time to heal. Getting back into the sport too soon can lead to lasting muscle damage, chronic pain, and reduced performance,
Red light therapy can help muscles recover faster after a workout by stimulating the synthesis of collagen and other proteins necessary for muscles to rebuild.
Many athletes suffer from joint pain, especially those in contact sports or sports with repetitive movements like cycling. Red light therapy has been proven effective as a treatment for osteoarthritis (the type of arthritis brought on by overuse injuries) so athletes can resume training pain-free.
Red Light Therapy and Athletic Performance
Some researchers believe that red light therapy could provide athletes with an unfair competitive advantage. This conclusion came after a review of 46 studies and 1,045 participants which showed distinct advantages for athletes using red light therapy, but this therapeutic treatment obviously remains legal and well within the rules in all sports.
Muscle recovery is at the core of peak athletic performance. Preconditioning the muscles before a workout helps stimulate blood flow and improve muscle suppleness, power, endurance while reducing muscle fatigue.
BIOMAX Series
The BIOMAX Series are the most advanced red light therapy devices on the consumer market.
Check them out for more information about how to quicken your recovery process and maximize your potential as an athlete!
