Can I Combine Red Light Therapy with Other Treatments
Red light therapy is probably just one of many treatments offered at your favorite wellness clinic, spa, or fitness center. So, can you combine red light therapy with your other favorite treatments? Yes!
Also known as photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), red light therapy is an advanced, non-invasive and pain-free treatment that uses the power of light energy to provide a wide variety of health benefits. PBMT can help reduce inflammation to reduce pain, for example, and it can promote healing. Perhaps one of its biggest advantages, though, is that PBMT works well with other therapies to optimize the effects of both treatments.
Combining red light therapy with exercise routines helps prevent injury. Using PBMT in combination with facials and other skin care treatments helps reduce inflammation, promote healing, and adds more relaxation to your spa day.
Combine Red Light Therapy with These 3 Treatments
Exercise
Trainers, sports teams, and individual athletes are adding red light therapy to their regular training and exercise programs. The treatment reduces muscle fatigue and increases endurance to help improve athletic performance. Red light therapy can help prevent injuries during training or competition. Treatment with red light can also help speed recovery from injuries, before acute pain becomes persistent pain.
Combining red light therapy with diet and exercise can reduce cellulite and even firm your skin. Cellulite is a fat deposit beneath the skin, which causes the skin to appear dimpled. Fibrous connective tissue tethers the skin to muscles, with a layer of fat between the skin and muscles. Cellulitis develops when fat cells accumulate and push up the skin, while stretching the fibrous connective tissue; this creates the dimpled look of cellulitis. Poor blood circulation can contribute to the development of cellulite.
The fat deposits associated with cellulite are most common on thighs and the midsection, even on athletes and slimmer bodies. While cellulite is natural and not dangerous, it may make some individuals feel self conscious about their appearance.
Red light therapy helps diminish cellulite and firm the skin by boosting the production of fibroblasts, which synthesize collagen and other connective tissue that keeps skin firm, healthy, and smooth looking. The state-of-the-art treatment also promotes circulation and supports healthy blood vessels to help reduce the appearance of cellulite.
Photobiomodulation can be used by itself or in combination with exercise. In fact, exercise and red light therapy together can help improve the appearance of cellulite than either approach could do on its own.
Skin Care Treatments
Red light therapy can help repair sun damaged skin, and you can combine PBMT with other skin care treatments to reduce the signs of sun damaged skin, such as scarring, hyperpigmentation, and wrinkles. PBMT devices emit specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared to stimulate your body’s natural healing processes and increase production of collagen and elastin, which are fibers that support the skin. Boosting collagen production makes skin smoother and firmer while improving the appearance of fine lines and wrinkles. Red light therapy also boosts the immune response responsible for clearing away dead cells and repairing damaged ones.
You can use red light therapy along with other skin treatments, such as anti-aging eye cream, exfoliant products that remove dead skin cells, and electric massagers and rollers that stimulate circulation and relieve muscle tension in your face. Your skincare professional may also recommend combining PBMT with a photosensitizing medication to remove actinic keratosis, which is a condition in which scaly patches appear on the top layer of skin. To combine the two treatments, you will take an oral medication that increases your skin’s sensitivity to light prior to undergoing red light therapy.
Self-care treatments
Red light therapy can optimize the benefits you get from a wide variety of self-care treatments to improve your sleep, boost your mood, and fight harmful inflammation. PBMT along with good sleep hygiene practices, such as creating a restful sleep environment and removing electronic devices, can help correct your circadian rhythm. A good night’s sleep helps you feel better when you are awake.
Do you already take steps to combat inflammation from asthma, arthritis, or other conditions? Oxidative stress from prolonged inflammation can cause long lasting damage and can even contribute to the development of chronic diseases. Adding red light therapy to your existing treatments can optimize the anti-inflammatory benefits.
Red light therapy complements an anti-inflammatory diet. To combat inflammation, you may already be eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables that contain omega-3 fatty acids, a nutrient that helps stop oxidative stress. Inflammatory fighting foods include salmon, tuna and other cold-water fish, tofu, walnuts, flax seeds and soybeans.
Exercise plays an important role in self-care, as it helps you reach and maintain a healthy weight. Physical activity also helps boost your mood and helps you sleep. Red light therapy complements your exercise routine by easing pain and fatigue during physical activity, so you can work out longer without feeling tired or achy.
Photobiomodulation optimizes the benefits of many other treatments to help you get more out of the care you receive. Talk to your PBMT provider to find out if you can combine red light therapy with your existing treatments.