Why We Chose Light Emitting Diodes (LED)
The reason that we have set our therapy torches at 1000 lumens is that the light also should be bright enough to penetrate deeply into the tissue; the brighter the light, the more biologically effective it will be. We prefer the LED because it is less technical and is easier to use.
LED is also smaller, lasts longer, and is not dangerous to the eye or any other part of the body. The LED uses non-coherent light rather than the laser's coherent light, so there is no way that tissue can be damaged. Non-coherent light spreads out more and requires less technical knowledge to receive the same basic results. Based upon research and observed results, we feel the use of the LED light is equal to the low power laser and in many applications it is superior (sometimes an LED can be used when lasers may not). All of these points makes it easier for today's horse owner to be able to learn and use this technology, both safely and effectively.
The red light's wavelength of 660 nanometer (red); plus its brightness allows it to penetrate quite deeply into the body's tissue. In addition, the light rays bounce off the water contained in the body tissue. This scatters the rays even deeper, and affects the surrounding cells. You can reach virtually any spot within the body directly with the light.
The continuous beam provides a vibrational signal to the DNA in the cell. The DNA, in turn, instructs the walls or membranes of the cell to relax. As the cells relax, the tissue made up of those cells also relaxes. This is followed by the relaxing of the muscles and the pain subsides.
In addition, the light increases the blood circulation in the area that it penetrates. This increased circulation results in a warm, glowing feeling within the problem area which further adds to the soothing effect on the painful area.
When there is diseased or damaged cells, the cell walls can be pictured as shrunken, deformed and transparent or fading. The pulse light beam provides a stimulating, rejuvenating energy to the DNA in the cell. The DNA transmits this energy, via a protein or calcium transfer, to the cell walls and the cells transform to healthy looking solid shapes as the session progresses. The energy supply which had been blocked from these cells has been replaced with the energy of the light unit and the DNA molecule now has the energy to do its normal function.
The use of the red light has produced no known side effects. It does not cause any tissue damage and it cannot be over applied.
Recently, Light-Emitting-Diodes (LED) has undergone dramatic changes. As technology has improved, LED's have changed from being just simple "indicator type lights" in electronic equipment (20 millicandles power) to today's ultra bright and unique wave length LED (6,000 millicandelas). This has provided a safe, less costly and available alternative to the low power soft laser. An LED generally produces about 85% of the results of a soft-laser (e.g. pain relief in 7 minutes instead of 6 minutes).
Today more and more research, using LED's instead of soft lasers, is being published. The majority of soft laser research is directly applicable to the use of LED. Remember to apply the light in a darker environment for maximum effect.
Infrared light therapy is essentially the same as red light therapy, except infrared energy is invisible, and it penetrates the body deeper than red, reaching deep into soft tissues, muscles, joints, and bone.
Infrared light therapy is where light therapy gets serious. For the healing of deep wounds or the relief of deep muscle and joint pain, the longer wavelengths of near infrared are more beneficial. 850nm and 980nm are common.