Light therapy has been shown in over 40 years of independent research worldwide to deliver powerful therapeutic benefits to living tissues and organisms.
Uhh, yes. Actually we have known for even longer that sunlight is good for you.
Both visible red and infrared light have been shown to effect at least 24 different positive changes at a cellular level.*Snip*
This may be correct, but this is not proof that light therapy is any miracle cure, it just tells us that we would not fare well in constant darkness.
The diverse tissue and cell types in the body all have their own unique light absorption characteristics; that is, they will only absorb light at specific wavelengths and not at others.
This is wrong. Because colors of various tissures are somewhat different, the absorbsion spectrums vary accordingly, but there is no specific "tuning" to certain tissues as the text implies.
*Snip*
Depth of penetration is defined as the depth at which 60% of the light is absorbed by the tissue, while 40% of the light will continue to be absorbed in a manner that is less fully understood.
Nonsense. Light is partly absorbed, partly reflected by the tissue. The absorbed light is turned into heat, the rest is returned to the surroundings. The process is fully understood and accounted for. Some of the absorbed light takes part in chemical reactions in the body.
Treating points with Light can have a dramatic effect on remote and internal areas of the body through the stimulation of nerves, acupuncture and trigger points that perform a function not unlike transmission cables.
This is not documented at all. Only documented effect of accupuncture is a certain analgesic effect, due to the release of endorphins.
At this time, research has shown no side effects from this form of therapy.
No side effects of light therapy, except from burns and the carcinogenic effect of sunlight, that is....
Light therapy has also been given the name " phototherapy". A study done by the Mayo Clinic in 1989 suggests that the results of light therapy are a direct effect of light itself, *Snip*
A long yarn to tell us that any effect is due to the light itself, not to which source that generated it. This is hardly surprising, but does leave open the question why we can't use a simple table lamp.....
The Following Definitions are Terms used in connection with Therapeutic Light devices: *Snip*
Then follows a list of definitions, which are reasonably correct, but really only serve to make the article look technical.
Information About Lasers
Lasers are of two principal types, "hot" and "cold", and they are distinguished by the amount of peak power they deliver. "Hot" lasers deliver power up to thousands of watts. *Snip*
Long yarn about lasers. The distinction between hot and cold lasers is arbitrary, many other characterisitcs distinguish the various types of lasers. It will, however, serve to distinguish between lasers used for surgery and for other types of therapy. All high power lasers are pulsed, whereas not all low power types are.
What is the Difference between LED's and LASERS?
Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) are another form of light therapy that is a relatively recent development of the laser industry.
Nope. Lasers and LEDs have developed independently, but a fairly late development of LEDs is semiconductor lasers. Those are generally too low powered for therapeutical purposes.
LEDs are similar to lasers inasmuch as they have the same healing effects but differ in the way that the light energy is delivered. A significant difference between lasers and LEDs is the power output. The peak power output of LEDs is measured in milliwatts, while that of lasers is measured in watts. However, this difference when considered alone is misleading, since the most critical factor that determines the amount of energy delivered is the duty cycle of the device.
This is not correct. Processes in living tissue are slow, and except for very high energies, it is the RMS (that is effective) value of the radiation that is important. Thus different dutycycles are of minor importance.
LED devices usually have a 50% duty cycle.
No, they are usually not pulsed at all.
In the majority of lasers on the market, the energy output varies with the frequency setting: the lower the frequency, the lower the output. *Snip*
For technological reasons, the pulse energy of a given laser cannot be varied over any considerable range, so the output is indeed varied by changing the frequency of these, more or less constant, pulses.
LEDs do not deliver enough power to damage the tissue, but they do deliver enough energy to stimulate a response from the body to heal itself.
The first statement is true, the second is undocumented.
With a low peak power output but high duty cycle, the LEDs provide a much gentler delivery of the same healing wavelengths of light as does the laser but at a substantially greater energy output. For this reason, LEDs do not have the same risk of accidental eye damage that lasers do.
Not correct. The reason lasers carry a risk of eye damage, even at low outputs, is because the coherent light-beam is focused on a very small spot on the retina, thus concentrating all power there, and at the same time bypassing the various protective responses of the eye. LEDs affect the eye in the same way as other light-sources.
Moreover, LEDs are neither coherent nor collimated and they generate a broader band of wavelengths than does the single-wavelength laser.
But not much broader; LEDs are still basically monocromatic.
Non-collimation and the wide-angle diffusion of the LED confers upon it a greater ease of application, since light emissions are thereby able to penetrate a broader surface area.
But the advantage of laser therapy IS exactly the possibility to direct the beam very precisely.
Moreover, the multiplicity of wavelengths in the LED, contrary to the single-wavelength laser, may enable it to affect a broader range of tissue types and produce a wider range of photochemical reactions in the tissue.
There is not a multiplicy of wavelengths from a LED. It is monocromatic, although the spectrum is marginally wider than that of a laser.
If LED disperses over a greater surface area, this results in a faster treatment time for a given area than laser.
How exactly does that follow?
The primary reason that BioScan chose the LEDs over lasers is that LEDs are safer, more cost effective, *snip*
Yeah, there is the core of the matter: LEDs are dead cheap, in the order of ten for a dollar if you buy volume.
What does Light Therapy actually do?
Light Therapy Can:
Then follows a long list of very bold claims of fantastic efficiacy in a number of different fields. I suggest some US citizen file a complaint with the FDA, so that the company can be required to prove its wild claims.
*Snip*