The HealthLight Red Light Therapy Pad Difference — the Value is in the Joules!

Medically reviewed by Karen Wolters, RN and Joanna Fearnley, LPN

Science has proven that non-invasive Infrared Therapy can bring effective relief from aches, pains, and stiffness, improving one’s quality of life without the negative side effects of pharmaceutical drugs or the risks and pain of injections and/or surgery.

With each additional year of medical research, more and more health conditions are added to the impressive long list of ailments and maladies that are amenable to support from light therapy.  In fact, in 2016, Dr. Michael R. Hamblin, a Harvard professor and pioneer in the study of light therapy, made this amazing statement:

“To a very great extent I believe that almost all types and variety of human diseases can be treated with light (of one kind or another).”[1]

[1] Hamblin, Michael R. “Virulence profile: Michael R. Hamblin. “ Virulence. 2016; 7(7): 836-839.  Published online 2016 Jun 17. doi:10.1080/21505594.2016.1201348.

So are you considering purchasing an LED Red Light Therapy System for you, your family, or your patients?   If so, beware —not all LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy systems in today’s marketplace are created equal.  Here’s what you need to know to make the best purchase.

Dosage Makes the Difference

What makes one LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy system superior to another?  The answer is “dosage.”  The dosage of light delivered by the therapy pad makes a definite difference in the actual amount of light energy that is transmitted through the skin into the body.

There must be sufficient energy transmitted into the skin from the red and infrared LEDs during treatment to successfully achieve a dosage of light at a level that will be adequate to effectively bring pain relief, increased circulation, and healing support to the needed area.

Dosage Equals “Joules”

So the value of any LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy system really lies in the dosage delivered, which is measured in “joules.”  You can think of “joules” as being synonymous with “dosage,” or light energy delivered through the skin.  Joules per square centimeter (J/cm²) is the amount of energy delivered into the treatment area during the light therapy session.  Many recent studies state that joules may be the most critical parameter in evaluating the effectiveness of light therapy.

But unfortunately, the amount of joules delivered by different brands of therapy pads are not industry standardized, and therefore joules vary substantially from one manufacturer to another.  This causes a big difference in the actual effectiveness of one LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy system versus another.

Joules, Not Wattage

When you compare light therapy systems, be sure to keep this in mind: to really understand the power of a particular system, make sure to check the joules delivered to the treatment site, rather than how much wattage or in-coming electricity is being utilized.  For although many LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy systems give you the watts of power (mW), wattage is not a correct measurement of effectiveness for light therapy.  For once electrical power is converted into light energy, large amounts of energy can be lost in the form of heat.

Therefore, the joules, not the wattage, serve as the most important parameter to indicate a high quality, professional-level LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy system.  Knowing the amount of joules delivered into the body by a light therapy pad can help you instantly assess the quality of any light therapy system.  In short, joules = dosage = quality.

Joules Compared by Manufacturer

The table below shows you exactly how joules differ from one brand of light therapy system to another. This information is excerpted from a larger table entitled LED Light Therapy Pad Comparison that was recently commissioned by HealthLight, a leading U.S. manufacturer of Led Red Light/Infrared Therapy systems.  (The entire Comparison Table is presented at the end of this blog, so that you may see how HealthLight’s therapy pads compare to these five other brands in a number of important areas.)

HealthLight hired an independent third party laboratory (A and T Labs in Chicago, Illinois) to do performance testing and compare the light therapy pads made by six leading manufacturers:  InLight;

NeuroCare; Celluma; Anodyne; LightSource; and HealthLight itself. The following findings reveal the joules delivered by each manufacturer’s therapy pads.  Remember, the objective of Red Light Therapy is to get the maximum number of joules delivered into the body.

The HealthLight Difference

As the table above clearly illustrates, HealthLight ranks the highest of all six manufacturers in the amount of “Joules/Minute at the Surface of the Pad” — many times emitting 100% and even 200% more joules than the others.

So in the second line, “Total Joules Per 20 Minutes” (20 minutes being the usual time period for a Red Light Therapy session), HealthLight easily exceeds all other brands tested.  In fact, any red light therapy pad cannot deliver a higher number of joules than HealthLight’s pads without causing problems to the body.

Choose HealthLight

As this independent laboratory test proves, HealthLight makes the most powerful clinical strength LED Red Light/Infrared Therapy flexible pad systems available in today’s marketplace.  Systems made by HealthLight are durable, high quality professional-level devices for both clinics and consumers that deliver the optimum amount of joules through the skin and into the body for fast-acting, highly effective, and dependable relief from aches, pains, and stiffness — plus the acceleration of the body’s own innate healing processes!  HealthLight offers a variety of systems to meet the needs of any individual, family, or health clinic. Make the best choice — choose HealthLight!

[1] Hamblin, Michael R. “Virulence profile: Michael R. Hamblin. “ Virulence. 2016; 7(7): 836-839.  Published online 2016 Jun 17. doi:10.1080/21505594.2016.1201348.