Review of Pulsating Infrared Light Treatment
Research Results and Findings on Infrared Laser Light Therapy
Nov 12, 2009
But the results, taken as whole, remain too young, varied, or inconclusive to bring much credibility to laser or infrared light therapy movement.
Understanding PDT, IPL, PILT Study Results
Initially, the use of light therapy to treat pain seem to yield positive results. For instance, Anodyne(R) Therapy of Tampa, FL has published several articles with potentially encouraging outcomes. And other manufacturers, too, such as Thor Laser of the United Kingdom and Microlight Corp. of Missouri City, Texas, have published similar findings. However, most of these studies last for very short periods, the results of which, in terms of application model, treatment methods, and overall results, remain generally inconsistent.
But one study in particular seemed to show some real promise using PILT (pulsed infrared light therapy) on DPN (diabetic peripheral neuropathy) patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. As it notes, patients underwent 24 treatments (three times/week, for eight weeks) for 30 min per treatment. The published results showed that "PILT improved PPS [peripheral protective sensation] even in patients with longstanding chronic neuropathies..."
Unfortunately, the study could shed no light on why the improvement occurred, admitting in the last line, "while the exact mechanism of action is not understood, infrared light may improve peripheral neuropathies by improving foot perfusion by stimulating nitric oxide production."
Nitric oxide, incidentally, is, according to an article published by the Mayo Clinic, "a substance... that lines the blood vessels" and controls the "unknown mechanisms of the cardiovascular system." Interestingly, it has recently been found to "play a significant role in the marked increase in blood flow that results from mental stress."
Infrared Light, Electromagnetic Radiation, and How It Works
While doctors and scientists are not exactly sure what role nitric oxide plays in PILT, neither are they sure how infrared light actually works (or doesn't) on the human body. To understand the basic concepts, a bit of high school physics is in order. If you were awake and facing the right way in physics class, you will remember learning that the energy we feel from the sun actually reaches us in the form of electromagnetic radiation. This radiation, then, can be divided and understood by varying frequencies and wavelengths.
Radio waves, microwaves, infrared radiation, ultraviolet radiation, and X-rays are all wavelengths of varying frequency generated by the sun's rays, and they are all measured in nanometers (nm) - one millionth of a centimeter or about 0.000000394 inch.
Now, each wavelength transports and transfers a certain amount of energy based on the following science: the higher the frequency, the shorter its wavelength, and the more energy it transmits. As it turns out, infrared light fills about 50% of the radiation that actually reaches the planet, and one site breaks down its classifications as follows:
- IR A from 0 to 1,400 nm 37 % (short wave)
- IR B from 0 to 3,000 nm 16 % (medium wave)
- IR C from 0 to 10,000 nm 3% (long wave)
Laser or Infrared Light Therapy and Medicare
Pulsed infrared light, specifically, is supposed to alleviate pain and reduce inflammation, though no one knows exactly why or how. Presumably, the waves of infrared light penetrate deep into skin and tissue while at the same time emitting warmth and stimulating blood circulation. But this is all just theory, and without conclusive research to back it up, PILT will probably remain on the fringes of modern medical treatment.
That is the way Medicare evidently views the issue as it continues its policy of claim denial and non-coverage of home infrared therapy pads, despite the U.S. National Library of Medicine, on their website PubMed, publishing an article in 2006 stating that "(PILT) has been shown to increase peripheral sensation in diabetic patients with diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN)."
The one thing that seems to be constant in all of this is that home infrared therapy pads and the relative ease of home-treatment is likely to be adopted by pain sufferers regardless of study results. PILT offers a reasonably affordable alternative to just dealing with the the pain associated with such "dead-end" prognoses as neuropathy or fibromyalgia.
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