We Wanted to Find the Best Red Light Therapy Device to Help With Pain. Here’s Why We Can’t Recommend Any. | Reviews by Wirecutter

By Teresa Carr

Using a wand or scary-looking mask to bathe your face in red light is all the rage for helping to make skin look and feel better. But another use for red light therapy is also gaining traction: treating pain.

The therapy involves using devices with laser lights or light-emitting diodes (LEDs) to deliver specific wavelengths of light that penetrate the skin surface into deeper tissues to affect cellular function—a process known as photobiomodulation. While scientists aren’t sure exactly how light relieves pain, research suggests that it may stimulate cell regeneration, reduce pain signals, and calm inflammation.

Devices for home use ranging from wraps to wands—some of them costing thousands of dollars—claim to alleviate pain for everything from an arthritic knee to an aching back. But there’s reason to be dubious.

Physician and researcher Dr. Mohab Ibrahim, who directs the Chronic Pain Management Clinic at the University of Arizona’s College of Medicine in Tucson, Arizona, has researched different forms of light therapy for pain. As a scientist, he maintains some skepticism. “Researchers still do not have a full understanding of the biological mechanisms for how red light therapy works,” he said. “Or even who is a good candidate.”

But as a clinician, Ibrahim acknowledges that people in pain often have limited options. “Here is a therapy that is low risk, relatively affordable, and has the potential to work,” he said. When patients ask about red light therapy, he encourages them to give it a go.

Unfortunately, like all the pain experts I consulted, Ibrahim wasn’t able to recommend specific devices for home use. There are no evidence-based guidelines for what type of device and settings may work best against different forms of pain, he pointed out. And neither the US Food and Drug Administration nor any independent testing organization has reviewed red light therapy devices to ensure that they’re effective at relieving pain.

That leaves us without solid grounds for judging the best red light devices. So instead, we’ll give you the lowdown on the evidence and what medical experts say. And if you’re still interested in trying a red light device, we’ll provide some general advice on what to look for—and what to avoid.

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Despite thousands of studies, research still lacks definitive answers on whether red light therapy alleviates pain. Some studies show a benefit; others do not.

To truly show that red light therapy works, we would need evidence from large clinical trials comparing the treatment with a placebo (a fake device, for example), said Dr. Praveen Arany, an associate professor of oral biology at the University of Buffalo School of Dental Medicine and former president of the World Association for Photobiomodulation Therapy (WALT), a nonprofit organization supporting research, education, and clinical applications for light therapy.

Unfortunately, Arany said, researchers haven’t yet found funding for those expensive large-scale studies.

One major problem with the research available, said Ibrahim, is that the study methods vary widely—for example, by the wavelength and intensity of the light, whether it’s pulsed or steady, and how long it’s applied. Another issue is that many studies use professional devices with laser lights rather than LEDs, which give off less focused light and are the mainstay of home products because they are safer and often cheaper than lasers.

Timothy Demchak, a professor in the department of applied medicine and rehabilitation at Indiana State University, is convinced that red light therapy is a safe, effective way to alleviate pain. He said that many of his physical therapy patients have benefited from treatment with the laser devices that he uses in his practice.

In a 2022 review of red light research published in the European Journal of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine, Demchak and colleagues reported evidence to suggest that therapy using LEDs or lasers helped against some types of muscle and joint pain, such as neck pain, osteoarthritis, and fibromyalgia.

But the group didn’t find strong evidence that red light therapy worked against some other common aches, such as lower back pain. The field desperately needs more rigorous research, Demchak said. Many of the existing studies are lower quality—they may involve too few patients, for example, or lack a comparison group that didn’t receive the red light treatment.

Nonetheless, under the right circumstances, he contends that red light therapy can be “very, very effective.” It comes down to figuring out the optimum treatment protocol for each type of pain, he said.

Those protocols don’t yet exist. WALT has developed guidelines for using red light to prevent oral mucositis (mouth ulcers that can be a side effect of cancer treatment). But the organization has had a harder time reaching a consensus for how to treat common afflictions such as back and neck pain, said Arany.

Devices for home use ranging from wraps to wands claim to alleviate pain for everything from an arthritic knee to an aching back.

While different researchers may claim that specific devices and settings are effective, he said, as of yet they haven’t been able to provide a satisfying scientific explanation for how and why the device may work in those conditions. Without that information, he says, it’s hard to generalize results to all types of products and patients.

“There are so many devices,” said Arany. “People are just not agreeing on universal guidelines.”

Due to the lack of consistent evidence supporting red light therapy, as well as the tremendous variation in how it’s implemented, most health insurers don’t cover treatments performed in a doctor’s office. And major medical organizations haven’t issued guidelines for using red light therapy to treat pain.

Although some providers such as Demchak use red light therapy in their practices, the American Physical Therapy Association doesn’t recognize it as an effective form of therapy. And a spokesperson for the Arthritis Foundation told me that they “were unaware of any clinicians or researchers the Arthritis Foundation works with who give red light therapy much regard.”

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If you’re in pain, check with your doctor before trying to treat yourself at home. “Pain is a warning sign,” said pain expert Mohab Ibrahim. “There might be something benign or it might be something serious that needs to be addressed.”

Even if the source of your pain has been diagnosed, you should still check with your doctor before trying red light therapy. In particular, Ibrahim cautions against using red light on areas where there is a wound, rash, or other skin condition without first getting your doctor’s okay.

If, after all those caveats, you are still interested in trying out a red light device at home, the experts we consulted offered some general advice. We link to top-selling devices on Amazon as examples of the different styles and configurations we mention, but we have not tested any of these devices and are not recommending them.

With red light therapy, more isn’t better, so never exceed the manufacturer’s instructions for how long or how often to use the device, advises Arany. The treatment isn’t supposed to heat the tissues, so if the area you’re treating starts to feel warm, stop immediately, he said.

Many devices come with safety goggles or dark glasses. Although the intensity and wavelength of light used in home devices is likely not harmful to the eyes, Demchak advises using eye protection out of an abundance of caution, especially if you’re using the device near your eyes.

This article was edited by Claire Perlman and Kalee Thompson.

Teresa Carr

Teresa Carr is an award-winning science journalist based in Golden, Colorado. She is a contributing editor at Undark magazine and a former senior editor at Consumer Reports. With degrees in both physics and English literature, Teresa is curious about how the world works and eager to tell you about it.

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