Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Red Light Therapy and Tendonitis

Anyone who does sports can tell you how painful tendonitis can be. They will also tell you how ineffective many treatments can be too. Red light therapy seeks to change all that by offering a truly effective treatment for this very common ailment. Could there really be a fast, effective cure for tendonitis or is it too good to be true? Read on to find out.

Tendonitis, also called tendinitis, is an inflammation of the tendons that join the muscles and bone together. These tendons are cords of gristly, connective tissue that keeps the muscles attached to the bone and allows the muscle to generate motion. Our body is full of these tendons, that for the most part, work smoothly and effortlessly as we go about our day. When these become inflamed or irritated and affect the movement of the tendon. That’s tendonitis.

The best way to treat tendonitis is to stop doing the activity that causes it. That’s all very well if it’s a leisure activity, but if it’s part of a lifestyle or job, it isn’t so easy. Most conventional treatments involve resting for up to 3 weeks, using a brace if practical, applying anti-inflammatory creams or taking drugs, monitoring the situation, trying gentle movement and a gradual return to the activity. If the treatment wasn’t successful then further work is needed.

Red light therapy is known to help with muscle problems and other surface ailments such as bad skin, wrinkles, and muscle atrophy. It works by stimulating the chemical adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which produces energy for cell use. This stimulation speeds up cell growth and repair, which in turn ensures the damaged tendon cells are replaced much quicker than would be usual.

We have known for a while that ultrasound is a useful tool in fighting tendonitis, but studies conducted by the University of Wisconsin found that red light therapy was more effective and worked much quicker than ultrasound. As the treatment is risk free, pain free and relatively cost-effective, it’s slowly being recognized as a viable alternative to conventional tendonitis treatments.

Whereas ultrasound penetrates deep into the body, red light therapy only penetrates the surface of the skin. The LED isn’t strong enough to go further, which makes it ideal for this kind of treatment. It also means that the power of the light can be directed solely for the benefit of the tendons, offering a much more directed approach to the treatment.

This kind of therapy doesn’t replace conventional treatment, but complements them. You’re still going to have to refrain from whatever caused it, you’re still going to have to rest, and you’re still going to have to apply the cream or take the drugs. However, you’re going to heal much quicker with a series of red light therapy sessions, which is good news. That means less downtime for you, and a quicker return to whatever pastime it was that gave you the problems in the first place.