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  • Writer's picturejsango63

14 - Red Light Therapy Revisited

Updated: Mar 3, 2023

Hello. It's been about 1.5 years since I last communicated with you all. I cleaned up the site so only stuff that works shows and I wanted to update you on Red Light Therapy.


I stopped using the Red Light stuff I had, kind of hit a wall with it. My wife recently was getting treated for tendonitis in both of her wrists and ran across this piece of equipment so I contacted the manufacturer, and they sell a home unit, so I purchased one.


The unit is called a Anondyne Therapy Consumer System Model 120. The Anodyne® Infrared Therapy Systems are medical devices used to increase circulation and reduce pain, stiffness, and muscle spasm – and are manufactured in Tampa, Florida by Anodyne Therapy LLC.


The Anodyne Therapy System was the first infrared light therapy product cleared by the FDA (1994), and it remains the premier evidence-based light therapy product on the market today.


Anodyne Therapy uses only infrared light emitting diodes (LEDs) because infrared light penetrates more deeply into the body and works better than red or blue light, for instance. While we cannot see infrared, our bodies respond to infrared with increased circulation and reduced pain.


Unlike medical lasers, neither operators treating with, nor patients receiving Anodyne Therapy need to use protective eye-wear.


That was the number one reason I purchased it and I am very pleased with it so far.


Light therapy is the application of light to an acute or chronic injury to promote increase of circulation and relieve pain. Light therapy can benefit almost all tissues and organs of the body. The light for these therapeutic purposes is in the red or near infrared (NIR) spectrum (600nm – 1000nm). We can only see light up to 700 nm so we cannot see infrared light.

Light has a photochemical effect comparable to photosynthesis in plants. For light therapy to work, enough light has to penetrate below the surface of the skin and be absorbed by cells to exert a sufficient chemical change.


During the past 50 years there have been over 1000 published scientific papers regarding the therapeutic effect of light.


Therapeutic light may be in the form of a laser or light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs are used in all types of products from outdoor lights, to computers and light bulbs.


Technological advancements in LEDs make them a safe and cost efficient method to deliver light therapy. Unlike medical lasers, Anodyne (and other LED products) do not require either the healthcare professional or the patient to use protective eyewear during treatment.


The medical benefits from light therapy is dependent on several factors, primarily: wavelength, power density, pulse frequency and duty cycle (the dose). Clinical results may differ because of changes in the dose, just like medications. Positive results with Anodyne dose formulation are documented in 25 clinical studies published in medical journals.


A few words about light therapy dose parameters:

  • Wavelength (measured in nm) is the waveform in which packets of light (photons) travel. This is important because some wavelengths penetrate more deeply into the body where they are absorbed to deliver its clinical benefit. Anodyne uses near infrared at 890 nm for this reason.

  • Power Density is the amount of light power delivered to an area of the body. Anodyne unique diode clusters maximize the power density delivered over each square inch of body surface area treated.

  • Pulse Frequency is the number of times the light turns on and off each second. Anodyne has a pulse frequency of 292 per second. Other products operate at other frequencies.

  • Duty Cycle is the percentage of the time the light is on compared to how often it is off. Anodyne has a duty cycle of about 50%.



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