Light Therapy Treatment for Muscle Pain Relief

Muscle pain can range from temporary discomfort that is caused by a minor injury to severe and chronic pain that limits a person’s normal activities. Muscle pain that occurs in your feet or hands can make it difficult to walk, stand or hold objects for even short periods of time. Infrared light therapy for pain works differently from commonly prescribed medications and other treatments by targeting the muscles that are directly responsible for your discomfort using a special form of light that penetrates your skin.

What Is LED Therapy for Muscle Pain?

Understanding LED light therapy for pain requires taking a brief step back into your high school biology class. Back then, you likely learned about how the mitochondria in your cells produce ATP, which is a special energy-carrying molecule that aids in healing.

LED therapy for pain works by using special red and near-infrared lights to penetrate deeply and send low amounts of heat to your body’s cells. Once it starts to work, it turbocharges cells, allowing them to produce more energy, and thereby providing proper functioning. This is how red light therapy devices are effective in speeding up the healing process and relieving muscle pain.

This form of therapy comes with no side effects other than feeling a sense of greater comfort that can begin as soon as the first time that you place your painful feet or hands on the lights.

Why Do My Muscles Hurt and Ache?

To better understand how red light therapy for chronic pain works, it helps to learn a little bit more about why muscles develop those uncomfortable aches and pains in the first place. Muscle pain typically occurs from inflammation that occurs after an injury.

As part of the healing process, your body sends more fluid and blood cells to injured areas to protect them from getting hurt further. Unfortunately, this inflammation places pressure on the nerves that can make pain worse. The inflammation also stops your body’s cells from being able to perform their jobs as well, and this can lead to the mitochondria producing lower levels of ATP.

Injuries aren’t the only cause of chronic pain. Autoimmune disorders also cause similar levels of inflammation in your muscles. Infections, certain medications and neurological disorders can also lead to muscle pain due to changes in how your nerves and body cells communicate.

Types of Muscle Pain

People who seek muscle pain relief may experience a range of different symptoms. Most people are familiar with the soreness that occurs in muscles after a strenuous workout, but chronic pain can involve other forms. The cause of the damage to your feet and hands can impact the symptoms that you experience, and it helps to know how LED pain relief light therapy can address the different types of pain you might experience.

Foot

Foot pain is often described as sharp, shocking sensations, or often just general aching. Shooting pains are common with nerve damage. You might feel sharp pains (pins & needles) shoot across your feet and up into your legs if you have diabetic neuropathy or a chronic injury. Burning sensations are also common types of pain that respond to LED pain therapy because they tend to occur from problems that exist deeper below your skin.

While approximately one out of three people over the age of 65 tend to experience chronic foot pain, younger adults frequently experience ongoing discomfort from causes such as sports injuries and standing for too long at work. Near-infrared technology also helps with this type of pain by improving blood circulation to the muscles that are experiencing significant strain.

Hand

Hand pain often occurs from repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Along with numbness, you might experience the familiar but uncomfortable pins and needles feeling. Hand cramps are another common effect of inflammation that occurs deep within your muscles where pain-relieving ointments often can’t reach. LED pain relief light therapy reaches further into the tissue of your hands where the warmth can loosen up tense muscles and relieve inflammation that affects the nerves.

How Do You Treat Muscle Pain?

Treating pain often requires multiple methods to bring complete relief. Naturally, you’ll want to stop any activities that exacerbate the pain if possible. Taking breaks from standing on your feet or using your hands can lower the inflammation in your body. You might also need to work with your physician to find a medication regimen that relieves some of the underlying causes of your discomfort. This is especially effective for people with diabetes and other autoimmune disorders.

One of the benefits of using an infrared device for pain relief is that it is safe to use with other treatments. As the warm rays of light penetrate your skin, it heats up the cells and activates them to begin producing more energy. This has the effect of initiating a stronger healing process that improves your overall well being.

Home Infrared Light Devices Provide Relief from Muscle Pain

Infrared light therapy for pain offers a natural form of relief that goes deeper than heating pads and may be preferable over taking medication for some people. You’ll also find that using a home infrared light device is simple and only takes a few minutes a day when you can relax comfortably while taking the weight off of your feet. If you’ve been struggling with pain that gets in the way of you enjoying your favorite activities, then give light therapy a try. Soon, you’ll be able to step out into the world with greater comfort that enhances your overall quality of life.