Red light therapy heats up as wellness treatment
Las Vegas has a reputation for playing hard. But all that frolicking demands an equally robust approach to repair and recovery.
There’s no shortage of wellness offerings for Southern Nevadans seeking the next best treatment, from IV drip infusion to infrared saunas to cryotherapy. Red light therapy is the latest regimen popping up in practitioners’ offices across town.
Available in masks, belts, mats, braces and wraps, RLT is accessible and affordable as an at-home treatment. But for those who prefer to be treated in the office, medical spas, saunas and some doctors’ offices have incorporated this treatment into their wellness approach.
Here are three examples of how RLT is being implemented around the valley:
Body recovery
In 2012, after placing fifth in a national bodybuilding competition, Karen Garrett was putting away a dumbbell during a training session when she heard her back pop. 
A visit to a chiropractor didn’t help. Subsequently, an X-ray and an MRI revealed six bulging or herniated disks, partially torn quadriceps tendons and curvature of the spine. She couldn’t set foot in a gym for three years.
In June 2022, Garrett founded KG Recovery Lounge. In deciding which forms of therapy to add to its menu of services, Garrett chose RLT, which she says helped with the nerve pain in her legs and inflammation.
“When you go look into red light, it enhances your energy levels. It helps your sleep. It reduces your inflammation — which is most people’s problems,” says Garrett, a certified sports therapist. “It’s that they’re inflamed, from their skin, the organs, the joints.”
With RLT, people see results quickly, Garrett says, requiring fewer sessions than with other techniques. It’s noninvasive and nontoxic, according to the Cleveland Clinic, and works when the entire body or parts of it are exposed to concentrated red light for as little as 10 minutes per treatment.
It’s also a safe form of light, not like cancer-causing ultraviolet rays from the sun or tanning beds. However, RLT is still an emerging treatment, and it’s crucial to exercise caution when considering any new therapy.
Aside from patients looking for natural ways to aid recovery, Garrett says, RLT can address a broad spectrum of issues, including rheumatoid arthritis, wounds and eczema. 
“It’s good for wellness. It’s good for recovery. It is good for antiaging. It’s kind of like a little fountain of youth,” she says.
Brain booster
Dr. Joseph Indrieri, the owner of Dynamic Spine & Sport Rehabilitation, added RLT to his practice for yet another reason: to help people recover faster after head injury.
The body’s ability to produce adenosine triphosphate, or ATP — the main energy carrier in our cells — shuts down after a head injury, Indrieri says.
Without red light therapy, it would take people eight to 10 days before their “mitochondria recovery starts working properly, some people even longer,” says Indrieri, who received his doctorate in physical therapy from UNLV in 2009.
With RLT and near-infrared therapies, using different wavelengths of light, Indrieri says that he can stimulate collagen production and jump-start the mitochondria to make ATP again, which gives the body fuel to initiate the healing process.
In a study led by Harvard Medical School’s largest teaching hospital, Massachusetts General, and published in JAMA Network Open in 2020, researchers found that light therapy is safe and may benefit patients with moderate traumatic brain injuries.
Bone up
John Wetzel owns and manages OsteoStrong Las Vegas, part of a global wellness brand that aims to help people improve musculoskeletal strength and bone density.
He says he offers RLT because it enhances collagen, great for bone building, and improves blood circulation. He adds that he has seen this therapy gain in popularity as more people seek natural healing solutions.
“The future of health and wellness is not break down and then try to find the fix,” he says. “The future of health and wellness is just put yourself in a position where you don’t break down.”
