BioModulation

Have you heard about Photobiomodulation (PBM)?
It's the use of light therapy to restore health to the tissues of the body.

Red and infrared light will actually energize the cells that the body is made of and help them to function at their highest potential. That means that if they need to repair themselves, they will. If they need to detox, they will do that. If they are a lost cause and need to be broken apart and remade, they will do that as well. If they are just too low energy to function, the energy imparted to them will allow them to begin functioning again. Since every part of the body is made of cells, they can have positive effects on every area that the light (and therefore the energy) can reach.

The red light used is generally in a 660 nm wavelength and the infrared light is most often around 810 nm wavelength but can be up to 1050 nm’s which can penetrate even deeper in the body.

One of the most important things to know about PBM is how much energy is being transferred to the cells to maximize their function and over what size of area. The measurement of mW/cm² (milli Watts per square centimeter) is most often used to describe this.

Therapeutic levels are around 100mW/cm².

When you’re looking at different devices, its important to understand that if it has multiple different colors of light, it’s power rating will be split between the different colors. For example, if a PBM device has 100mW/cm2 and it has red, infrared and blue lights that are all on at the same time, each light will have a portion of that power so each one may only have 33mW/cm2. If you are using a weaker light source or if the power is spread among many different lights, sometimes you can just prolong the contact with the light to increase the amount of energy that your tissues are absorbing.

One of the tricks that device makers sometimes use is to not list the power rating over a specific area (cm2). That way they can measure directly under a light and give an artificially high power rating. Also be aware of how far away from the light that they are rating their measurements as the power drops off quickly with the distance of even a few inches.

Another important factor is whether to use laser or LEDs as a light source. The lasers were the only light sources that could provide enough intensity to be effective for quite a long time. However, because their light is so focused to a small area, there was the potential of accidentally overheating the tissue and burning it.

Newer LED technology is now able to provide the intensity needed for effective treatment but without the risk of burning as the LEDs naturally spread the light waves over a larger area. Also as a bonus, the LED devices are generally considerably less expensive than most laser devices.

So if you’re looking to get a PBM device be sure to check that the frequencies are in the healing range that you’re looking for, that the power intensity is enough in each of the frequencies that it provides to actually energize the tissue enough for healing, and that the light source is an LED to avoid the potential of accidentally burning the tissue.