NovoTHOR Photomedicine for Chronic Pain

Posted on 19 March 2019

A Channel 7 news story on the use of light therapy to treat chronic pain. The light therapy shown initially is a red and near-infrared laser or LED. The treatment is know as a photobiomodulation because it can reduce pain but also induce healing. Dr Roberta Chow who features says that she saw a minimum of 50% improvement in 80% of the patients that she saw. This can reduce or delay the need for invasive surgery for knees, but other practitioners have also improvements for shoulders and chronic back pain.

The LED light bed that is shown later is a whole body treatment system that improved lymphatic flow, blood flow and can also release stem cells from the tibia and sternum. Used for celebrities overseas and Olympic athletes it is considered the Rolls-Royce of available light therapies. NIKE sponsored athletes are expected to use the bed 3 times a week.

However, the treatment of chronic pain is only one aspect of the way the bed can help. What the red and NIR light does is reduce oxidative stress in the mitochondria of the cells. This leads to more efficient energy production by the mitochondria, improved cell signalling, increased cell movement, cell proliferation and prevention of cell death. At a tissue level this means less inflammation, less oedema, less pain, more mobility and increased energy. Conditions which usually have very poor treatment outcomes such as Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, multiple sclerosis (MS), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA) and fibromyalgia all report improvements. Interestingly other patients report that wounds heal more quicker, skin texture improves, hair loss is reduced and some inflammatory skin conditions improve too.