The healing power of light...

I considered posting this in the LED forum, but since it isn't directly flashlight-related, I decided to post it here instead.

This evening I saw an infomercial for Light Relief.

It claims to use the "healing power of light" to cure everything from back pain to tendonitis to carpal tunnel syndrome. Who knows, maybe they'll enlist Smiling Bob as a spokesman, since I haven't seen those Enzyte commericials in a while...

(For those who are interested, there is a very bare-bones website at http://www.lightrelief.com - it's basically just an order form)

I thought I'd post something to The Cafe mocking the concept to give fellow CPFers a chuckle. Nevertheless, I decided to do a little background research to see if there was any little speck of truth to the concept.

Lo and behold, NASA has done some clinical trials evaluating LEDs to promote soft tissue healing for oral mucositis after bone marrow transplants, and to address wound healing problems.

Light emitting diodes bring relief to young cancer patients; NASA technology used for plant growth now in clinical trials

PubMed abstract: "Effect of NASA light-emitting diode irradiation on wound healing"

Medical College of Wisconsin / NASA LED research home page

The wavelength spectrum being researched is in the range of 680-880 nm. Hmmm, a little too red for my liking. Nonetheless, I think I can use this as a rationale to justify flashaholism to my wife...

"It's not just a flashlight, it's a *medical device*!"

BTW, I wonder who will be the first to mod the Light Relief with some Luxeon or Cree LEDs? (not that I'm advocating its use, mind you...)

Oh I've known about the healing power of light for a year or so.

All I need to do is get one of my favorite lights out and fire it up and I feel better already... or log on to CPF. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

thanks for pointing this out..

I'm a little puzzled. The NASA study mentioned that they tried various wavelengths but in the end made no mention of whether the wavelength made any difference. They also didn't mention whether the LEDs were run continuously or pulsed.

They're still showing the lightelief.com infomercial.

Recently the FDA approved an LED hair follicle stimulating brush

What's the real deal with these gadgets? Is it just another ionic breeze type ripoff?

Last night someone at work saw a minor burn on my arm from my home oven, about the size of an AAA cell.. She recommended getting a red led light to heal it! (Who needs a red flashlight?)

does it have to be red what about just regular white

I have an evaluation of the Light Relief unit right here.
I used it on a sore leg, but it didn't do anything - it's entirely possible that the product was simply not designed to deal with that type of pain.

The unit uses blue, red, and near-infrared (~850nm) LEDs; they are pulsed.