It’s normal to experience inflammation after a workout, especially if you’re injured or strained. Acute inflammation is a natural part of the body’s recovery and healing process. But if your body is out of balance and you don’t fully recover from previous injuries and workouts, you can develop chronic inflammation. Chronic inflammation limits function and makes it more painful to work out, and more difficult to recover.
This article is about inflammation in athletics & performance, and how red light therapy supports healthier training and recovery.
Inflammation 101
If you train or play sports, you’ve probably experienced inflammation after a strenuous workout, or from an injury. Inflammation isn’t just a symptom, though, it’s a complex (and necessary) process that takes place in every living thing. You can think of inflammation as your body’s programmed response to danger or strain.
With exercise and athletics, inflammation is a response to muscle damage. The term “damage” makes it sound dangerous, but this is how muscle tissue grows: microtears from exercise are repaired in order for muscle tissues to get stronger. The acute inflammation you experience when you exercise is part of this normal process of growth and repair.
If you don’t recover properly after workouts, or don’t fully heal from an injury or strain, that acute inflammation could become chronic over time and limit your performance. It can be a vicious cycle if you're always trying to recover and heal from injuries while taking on new damage and strain.
This is one reason proper recovery is so important to athletes who are regularly putting their bodies under strenuous conditions. Being able to heal properly and efficiently regenerate damaged tissues can become a competitive advantage.
Red Light Therapy and Inflammation
Red light therapy treatments are part of a healthy lifestyle, and can help support bodily balance & enhanced cellular function. Like exercise, diet, and restful sleep, healthy light intake can have a big impact on managing inflammation and injuries.
What is Red Light Therapy? Red light therapy, also known as photobiomodulation (PBM) or low level laser therapy (LLLT), is a simple, non-invasive treatment that uses LEDs to deliver wavelengths of red and near infrared (NIR) light directly to the skin and cells. Red light therapy allows a person to supplement the sunlight they get from their environment with concentrated wavelengths of red and NIR light. This helps supply the mitochondria in your cells with the light needed to boost ATP energy synthesis and power your body.
Red Light Therapy’s Effects on Inflammation: Red and near infrared light act as a very mild form of stress that activates protective mechanisms in the cells. When these light wavelengths hit the skin and penetrate into the cells, mitochondria make energy more efficiently. This boosts the production of pro- and anti-inflammatories, and disease-fighting antioxidants that accelerate the healing process. Red light therapy also supports general cellular balance, for more efficient healing. It can also reduce inflammation by improving blood flow to damaged tissues. When cells receive the healthy light they need, the whole body has the potential to work more efficiently, with improved circulation and decreased inflammation.
Athletic Recovery and Inflammation: In sports and training, recovery is a key element of performance and muscle damage prevention. Elite athletes have to be able to preserve themselves and limit strain. Sports medicine professionals look at two main indicators when assessing an athlete's ability to return to play: pain and inflammation, which are present in nearly every common sports injury. [3] Athletes who recover from minor injuries and inflammation more efficiently have a better chance to be successful for longer periods of time.
