Health

The Red Light Verdict: It Didn’t Fix Me, But It Shut the Pain Up

Real relief in our remedy-filled world is rare, but NIR is helping me with arthritic pain and muscle injuries every day.

In September, I wrote about the science behind Near-Infrared (NIR) light therapy, and cited WebMD. Then, after looking at the studies on mitochondria and collagen, I was determined. Years of powerlifting and hard labor left my joints grinding like a transmission with no oil.

I decided to stop reading and start doing, and bought the gear.

The object is to inform you. There are no affiliate links in this article. I just want to tell you what happened when I actually turned the light on.

The Ritual

The device looks like a sci-fi wrap. When you flip the switch, your skin under the cuff floods with a crimson glow. It’s bright. Intense. You have to shield your eyes or look away.

I sat there. 10 minutes. 20 minutes.

You expect heat, like a heat lamp at a diner buffet. But good NIR therapy isn’t about cooking your skin. It penetrates. You feel a subtle warmth, deep in the tissue, not on the surface.