Red Light Green Light: A New Game For Healthcare

Advances in medical technology provide an increasing number of new ways to treat diseases. Photo-therapy has been gaining traction in recent years. Using light as a healing catalyst is not new, for example, in the 20th century doctors used sunlight to treat rickets. In this case, researchers are using specific colors of light to treat specific disorders.  Below is some interesting research using red and green as therapeutic modalities.
A recent study from Harvard Medical School found some interesting results from their experiments with green light therapy. They found that bands of green light cause headache sufferers the least amount of pain and that low intensities of green light can lessen pain. There was also a clinical trial conducted at the University of Arizona recently that produced positive results for green light therapy for migraine sufferers.
Red light therapy is another major area of study. A recent study in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment showed very promising potential for red light therapy treatments for traumatic brain injuries. They found that certain frequencies of near infrared light can re-energize damaged brain cells. In the trial, the participants saw significant improvement in their symptoms such as depression and anxiety. Research is still ongoing to see if the effects are long lasting.
Phototherapy is a growing field that is gaining more attention. There will be more advances and breakthroughs in the coming years. In time, it’s possible phototherapy will become a much bigger part of the healthcare industry.
Sources:
Larry D Morries, Paolo Cassano, Theodore A Henderson. “Treatments for Traumatic Brain Injury with Emphasis on Transcranial Near-Infrared Laser Phototherapy”. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment. Vol. 11. pp. 2159—2175.
Rodrigo Noseda, Carolyn A. Bernstein, Rony-Reuven Nir, et. al. “Migraine Photophobia Originating In Cone-Driven Retinal Pathways”, Brain, Vol 139, Issue 7, Pages 1971–1986.