What is Light Emitting Diode Therapy?

Light Emitting Diode Therapy, commonly known as LEDT, is a form of phototherapy which involves the application of athermal, narrowband, non-coherent light to injuries and lesions to stimulate healing.

LEDT is used to increase the speed, quality and tensile strength of tissue repair, resolve inflammation, and give pain relief. The technical term often used to describe this form of therapy is photobiomodulation.

LEDT is distinct from LLLT, in that LEDs do not produce coherent light waves. However, many practitioners believe that the effects of LEDT are similar, and some research has indicated this to be the case.

LEDs have a number of significant benefits over lasers in some respects. LEDs are a good deal cheaper than laser diodes, thus making them ideal for use in cluster probes, and are inherently more robust so they can withstand rougher treatment. This is why NASA has chosen to use LEDT.

It must be remembered that most photobiomodulation research has been conducted using lasers, however, the truth is that both LLLT and LEDT have a place in modern therapeutic practice. The results of comparitive research often show that either one or the other is effective in treating a particular condition, but not necessarily both.

Also, treatment protocols and dosages - which have almost certainly been developed using lasers - may need to be varied for LEDT to elicit a similar response.

Due to their coherent output, LASER light produces speckles - areas of high relative power density within the beam. Their effects are as yet unknown, however, many believe that LLLT's apparent superiority over LEDT may be attributable to the presence of these speckles, including their ability to effectively treat much deeper tissues than LEDs.

LASER light is also polarised, and this polarisation has been shown to elicit certain outcomes that LEDs cannot replicate without the addition of a polarising filter.

Quite simply, LLLT and LEDT are different. Both may be used to good effect but they must be looked at in their own right, not by simple direct comparison.

NASA and LEDT

It's official... LEDT is rocket science!

An article by Charles Seife in New Scientist ('Space Healing', New Scientist 25 Sep 99, p20) has put LLLT, or more specifically LEDT, on the popular science map.

The rocket scientists at NASA noticed that astronauts' wounds don't heal too well in space. Apparantly mitochondria don't function as efficiently in zero gravity. So NASA is now looking at ways to help wounds heal using light.

Harry Whelan, a neurologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, realised that cultured cells grew better when irradiated by specific wavelengths produced by highly efficient LEDs.

Irradiating mitochondria with red and infrared light causes them to produce cytochromes, which increases their efficiency. Says Whelan, "We have shown that [irradiated] fibroblasts and muscle cells grow five times faster."

Due to the problematic nature of lasers in hostile environments, LEDs have been chosen as the light source for these new therapeutic devices.

Whelan hopes that "LED-based therapy will provide a way for astronauts to heal their wounds, and even prevent muscle and bone loss during extended spaceflight".

You don't need to be an astronaut to benefit from LEDT!

Spectra-Medics carries a range of LED Cluster Probes for the BTL-4000 and -5000 series Control Units.
Check out the BTL range here.

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