Non-Laser Red-Light Therapy and Its Role in the Acupuncture Clinic

When dealing with patients in pain, I have concluded that no matter how much experience an acupuncturist has gained throughout his or her career, and no matter how many techniques were acquired—whether they be scalp acupuncture, auriculotherapy, laser, magnets, Traditional Chinese Medicine, herbs, etc.—there will always be a patient whose condition does not respond to your therapeutic attempts. Such was the case for me, with an individual who was suffering from groin pain.

The patient was in her sixth year of suffering from pain no matter what therapy was prescribed. It started because of a simple fall that seemed to be minor, as no lingering discomfort was manifest. Then, after a few weeks, she experienced constant groin pain. The patient tried a long list of therapies that included pain medications, a spinal-cord stimulator, lumbar back surgery, steroid injections, prolotherapy, physical therapy, etc. In my office, her condition did not respond to electroacupuncture, auriculotherapy, scalp acupuncture, body acupuncture, magnets, etc.

My thoughts turned to the use of red light. At a recent acupuncture symposium that I attended, there was a prevalence of red-light therapy devices being sold. In fact, several of the devices were very expensive, costing several thousand dollars. My colleagues were purchasing not one but several for their practices. Perhaps I needed to educate myself a little more on whether incorporating red-light therapy in my acupuncture practice would be advantageous. Not to be confused with a red laser, that is monochromatic, coherent, and collimated allowing it to be focused as a narrow beam, red light usually is produced by very low risk light–emitting diodes (LEDs), do not have the characteristics of a laser, and provide superior square-area coverage. LEDs are also less expensive and safer than laser devices.

The Ultimate Guide to Red Light Therapy: Anti-Aging, Fat Loss, Muscle Gain, Performance/Recovery, Brain Optimization, by Ari Whitten, MS,¹ helped me navigate through the vast material on the subject and gave me a panoramic understanding of the mechanism of red-light therapy, treatment advice, and equipment recommendations. The back of the guide contained 382 references. What is basic to red light is that it should incorporate 2 wavelengths ranging from 630–680 nanometers (nm) and 800–880 nm, representing red and near-infrared light, respectively. It is optimum in many cases to combine the 2 lights. What I have learned is that power output may be a critical factor based on the square area that you wish to treat. Although I do not intend this to be a book review, enough information is presented to help you gain expertise appropriately.¹

Mr. Whitten discuses photopuncture in his book and the effects of red, near-infrared, and other kinds of light on acupuncture points.¹ Apparently stimulating appropriate acupuncture points at these different frequencies may be beneficial for treating patients with headaches and myofascial pain. He alludes to the fact that studies need to incorporate a comparison of acupuncture points stimulated with light and light not on acupuncture points. I have included references to photopuncture for readers who wish to explore this further.^1,2

If you want a rigorous indepth view of the application of light in the biomedical field, I recommend the Handbook of Photomedicine, edited by Michael R. Hamblin, PhD, and Ying-Ying Huang, MD.³ As I explore the use of light as a therapeutic modality, it appears that I am really uncovering what was already known thousands of years ago. It is probably true that we make large circles around technology, rediscovering what has been already known. The challenge is putting it to work. Kim A. Jobst, MA, DM, FRCP, former editor of the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine in his editorial entitled, “Science and Healing: From Bioelectromagnetic to Medicine of Light. Implications, Phenomena, and Deep Transformation,” cites a quotation from Satya Sai Baba “The present is the product of the past, but it is also the seed of the future.”⁴ This was a very interesting special issue of that journal almost 20 years ago.

I would like to hear from the readership—particularly readers who are already using red light in their practices—so that we may share more information about this modality. Kindly drop me a “Letter to the Editor,” so that I might publish the information in it.