You might be going through immense back pain or neck pain and thinking how to get rid of that easily without going through any kind of medication or operations. You might think of ways that can ease your pain and give you comfort without other side effects. While there are several kinds of options for you out there, infrared light therapy can be the one of best options for you if you want to get rid of the pain.
Infrared light therapy is one of several innovative therapies that are being taken for the management of patients with chronic pain. This therapy uses certain wavelengths of light that are delivered to parts of the body that have pains or injuries. Unlike ultraviolet light, Infrared light doesn’t have damaging effects upon the cells and tissues of the body. In fact, infrared light helps cells to regenerate or repair themselves. Infrared light also improves the circulation of blood that is rich with oxygen, in the body. And promoting faster healing of deep tissues and relieving pain in the process.
Why Infrared is Used for This Therapy?
One of the characteristics of infrared light is it is able to penetrate below the skin layers of a human body, and can provide a much greater depth than visible lights. As a result it can work to effectively provide pain relief. In fact, this natural, invasive and painless method can provide a vast range of health benefits. And it will do it without damaging the skin unlike the UV radiation.
Infrared light is the heat people feel when they are exposed to the sun. The skin naturally radiates infrared heat on a regular basis.Infrared light has shown huge health benefits, from pain relief to reducing inflammation, as a result making the infrared light therapy a really beneficial way to help your pain.
Infrared Therapy For Pain
The use of the infrared technology in pain treatment has been cleared by the FDA for the treatment of many different pain indicators. Which includes chronic pain, pain from trauma, pain from menstrual cramps, pain from sport’s injuries etc. Nowadays, physiotherapists and other medical specialists are treating a wide variety of chronic pain and muscular and skeletal injuries with infrared therapy. Infrared therapy will help you to reduce pain and inflammation to a great extent and promote the body’s healing mechanisms, while treating the source of the pain.
Certain wavelengths of light are delivered to different parts of the body while conducting light therapy. The parts with a pain or injury to be precise. Infrared light therapy uses wavelengths from 700nm to 1mm, whereas low level light therapy usually involves light at red and near infrared wavelengths of 600-100 nm. Infrared light is natural and does not damage the skin through UV radiation. Though the light penetrates the skin, the process is completely painless.
Types of Pains and Problems that can be Helped by Infrared Therapy
Infrared light therapy can treat chronic pain and temporary inflammation. So, it can be useful in the treatment of the likes of-
- Chronic Neck Pain
- Chronic Back Pain
- Osteoarthritis & Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Tendon Inflammation such as Achilles Tendon Inflammation and others
Infrared light therapy is generally used in the treatment of many different health conditions such as, trauma, carpal tunnel syndrome that is a common cause of pain, numbness and tingling in the hand and arm, joint inflammation, diabetic neuropathy (one kind of nerve damage that affects diabetes patients) etc. Infrared heat lamps are also used for muscle pain, wounds, injuries and post-surgical incisions
Infrared therapy contributes in reducing pains, such as muscle soreness that happens after exercising or playing sports, as well as stiffness and lightness. Using infrared light might help to significantly decrease back pain and other common types of pain. That includes muscular and skeletal pain in the knee joint, wrist and other parts of your body.
How Actually Infrared Therapy Works?
Infrared rays have longer wavelengths than visible light rays. Though infrared light is invisible to the eye, it can penetrate the body tissues more than visible light. Even more than ultraviolet light, which is invisible too. Infrared light works by penetrating human skin painlessly and providing a greater depth that can reach the actual place of pain such as the muscles, nerves and even bones. This is important to know as it means that infrared light therapy can help to reach cells and tissues perfectly.
After reaching body cells, infrared light is absorbed by the mitochondria of the cell and increases the cell’s metabolism, which then energizes the healing in the muscles, bones skin or subcutaneous tissues.
The releasing of nitric oxide is an important mechanism in this process. Nitric oxide gets generated naturally in the body and is a key signaling molecule that can set off several effects, when activated. Infrared light also seems to have direct effects on pain signals by facilitating the production of endorphins, which is the “feel-good” chemical that can act as pain reliever, along with nitric oxide.
Final Words
If you are suffering from chronic pain in some of your body parts, you can resort to infrared light therapy without a second thought. It is a safe process almost without any kind of side effects and is bound to bring in better results. Infrared Therapy works through your body painlessly and performs a great deal of functions. So, you won’t regret it if you place your bet on infrared light therapy for reducing your pain.