Red Light Therapy: Natural Treatment for Tendinitis and Chronic Pain

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Guest Blog Article by Antonis Kakaniaris:

I was first introduced to red light therapy in 2017/2018 by Charles Poliquin when he was testing & using the panels from Joov https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-keEWWRu1aQ

I remember doing some quick research on the topic but the prices were too high and there was no EU dealer of any red-light panel back then, so I let it go.

Last September, while I was on a forearm routine, I somehow put excess load to my left forearm and ended up with uncomforted “pain” during reverse biceps curls (particularly on the first third on the Scott bench) which expanded to virtually any prone curling movement (pull-ups, barbell rows etc.) plus any grip closing action.

The problem areas as long as I could tell were the lower part of the brachialis, the upper part of the brachioradialis & tennis elbow tendon. Thinking – mistakenly – that it was something transient that would go away with time, as has happened many times before, I would keep exercising with same intensity and adding more overuse to the already inflamed points.

After all, the problem mediated significantly after the first 1-2 sets due to increased blood flow & endorphins, I guess.

Seeing that the problem would not go away, I decided to give the inflamed muscles & joint a break and stop any movement that would cause pain (as it was the right thing to do in the first place). I called an ART practitioner to give me a hand and after inspecting my arm he said that the problem was purely from overuse and he could not find any use on doing anything to me and suggested I should rest my arm as long as possible.

After some more time, the situation got better but at a very slow rate and I was quite disturbed because I couldn’t do a lot of basic exercises, so I thought it was time to search again for red light therapy. I should also mention that I used Traumeel gel cream for 2 weeks with no success at all.

After doing some research, I found that red light therapy can be very useful in treating/improving many situations like skin conditions, eye problems, wound healing, tendon & muscle inflammation, brain conditions etc.

So, around June, I got my hands to a portable red-light device and started to use it every day. I usually had a two 10min sessions per day (one in the morning and one in the afternoon), while exposed myself to natural sunlight as long as I could. Besides, sunlight is the best option for optimal health after all, but this is another – quite interesting – story!

I used both Red & NIR (near infrared) light spectrum at the same time (most of the red panels have this feature) for deeper penetration and maximum efficacy. During the first weeks I could not barely notice a difference but I continued to use the same regimen just out of curiosity. I started to see some results after about the first month or so, continuing to avoid any problematic exercise that would aggravate the problem.

After returning from my summer vacations – where I would expose myself to the sun twice per day – with no red-light treatment at all, I would barely feel any discomfort at all and decided to give it a try in my new relative strength weight training program.

After each arm training session, I surely get a “pain/discomfort” kind of feeling on my left arm, much more on the “pump” state than an injury one. It feels like “reminding me that it’s there” but not affecting my workout at all. After taking a shower, I apply a generous Traumeel gel film and get a 10min red-light treatment a few hours later.

Next day I feel no pain/discomfort at all, to the point I barely remember there was a problem at the first place. So, after almost 3,5 months, I can positively say that red-light therapy helped me a lot to recover from my chronic injuries at about 90-95%.

Given the fact that tendons have a small number of mitochondria and that chronic conditions need much more time to heal, I find it a very useful tool in out arsenal.

I’m pretty sure that if you apply red-light therapy right after an injury it would heal much faster. Maybe, together with some Traumeel gel it works wonders, that’s my belief.

As an aside, during all this time, I also used red-light therapy on the inside of my left ankle to see if it helps with some spider veins I had. I’m very happy to see that they are greatly reduced and are barely seen in a much smaller area anymore!

Red-light therapy or LLLT (low level light therapy) is shown to be very effective for a variety of conditions, to the point that it could replace drugs according to Tiina Karu, one of the best researchers on the field https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3643261/

Here are some very interesting studies to read regarding red-light therapy and its applications:

One last note; if you want to know more about how light, darkness, water & magnetism greatly influence out lives & health, make yourself & your family a great favor and purchase this fantastic ebook https://dralexisjazmyn.thinkific.com/products/digital_downloads/new-digital-download

By Antonis Kakaniaris