
Red Light Therapy May Help Manage Lupus Symptoms
Lupus is an autoimmune disease that attacks your body’s tissues and organs. It is estimated that 1.5 million Americans have lupus, while 90% of individuals diagnosed with lupus are women. (lupus.org) Common lupus symptoms are inflammation and severe joint pain, fatigue, hair loss, and sensitivity to light, resulting in seasonal affective disorder in patients. According to lupus.org, 65% of patients report chronic pain as the most challenging aspect of the disease. Lupus is believed to be caused by a combination of genetics and environmental factors. While there is no cure for lupus, traditional treatments to improve the quality of life for patients include: limiting sun exposure and medications. Natural therapies include managing symptoms through diet and red light therapy.
What is red light therapy?
The human body has 70 to 100 trillion cells that make up our body. Over time, with our active lifestyle and exposure to toxins, our body cells break down, become unhealthy with free radicals and produce oxidative stress. This leads to increased fatigue and a less effective immune system to combat inflammation and chronic pain. Red light therapy is one of the natural wellness modalities that produces ATP energy to help cells repair themselves and accelerate wellness 4 to 10 times faster.
Four common symptoms that Prism Light Pod can help manage:
Inflammation and Chronic Pain:
Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many systems and organs within the human body — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs. (mayoclinic.org) Red light therapy treatments increase blood flow to repair damaged cells and tissues. According to Dr. Michael R Hamblin, “When longer wavelengths or visibly red light hits the skin, it nudges mitochondria to make energy more efficiently and boost production of healing anti-inflammatories or disease-fighting antioxidants.” (nih.gov) With Prism Light Pod, patients can choose to use the chronic pain setting and receive a whole-body inflammation and pain management treatment in just one 15-minute session. Reducing inflammation within lupus patients may relieve the effects of pain and calm the symptoms of lupus.
Fatigue:
A survey conducted on lupus.net asked patients to explain how lupus fatigue feels. Feedback from the patients in this survey concluded that lupus fatigue is endless/ongoing, a constant brain fog, and a heavyweight on the body. The mitochondria creates energy within body cells. When cells are damaged, you feel sluggish and fatigued. With the red 630nm, 660nm, and near infrared 850nm light wavelengths, Prism Light Pod delivers deep mitochondrial healing and increases a patient’s energy levels while boosting their immune system.
Hair Loss:
Life with lupus can be challenging and for 85% of patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, hair loss can increase physical and emotional stress. (Desai) Lupus can cause two types of hair loss: Scarring and non-scarring. Scarring hair loss is a result of skin rashes that can turn into sores or lesions and hair loss can be irreversible. Non-scarring hair loss is a result of inflammation around the hair follicles. Patients can also experience hair loss of the eyebrows, eye lashes, facial hairs and beards. Red light therapy may increase hair strength and follicle production by stimulating circulation. Ultimately, using red light therapy to reduce inflammation for the skin to prevent rashes that turn into lesions will help patients avoid irreversible hair loss and reduce & reverse damage to hair follicles. Click here to learn more and read our blog about red light therapy and healthy hair.
Seasonal Affective Disorder:
Lupus patients experience ups and downs while dealing with the many challenging symptoms of their disease in everyday life. These challenges alone can cause changes in mood, depression, or anxiety. On top of the emotional stress they face daily, it is recommended that patients avoid sun exposure. Many of us have experienced the effects of seasonal affective disorder with the change of seasons and the lack of sunlight. While most of us thrive from a healthy amount of exposure to the sun, for lupus patients, exposure to sunlight can trigger symptoms and cause skin rash, joint pain, fatigue, and more. Patients are left with the option of limiting light exposure to prevent symptoms. In return, they will have to cope with the emotional and mental struggles that some experience with seasonal affective disorder. According to Dr. Marc Schoen, “In tandem with psychotherapy and/or hypnosis, using red and NIR light therapy appears to catapult patients out of an acute depressive state faster than any other modality I’ve used” (healthinsiders.com). Photosynthesis to plants is what photobiomodulation is to humans. Our bodies need light. Now lupus patients can get their dose of light and vitamin D with the Prism whole-body red light therapy without the harmful UV-rays emitted from exposure to sunlight.
At Modern Chiropractic, we are proud to be the only facility in Charleston offering the cutting-edge Prism Light Pod. This state-of-the-art, full-body red light therapy system on Johns Island SC is designed to accelerate healing and recovery, enhance natural wellness, and provide aesthetic benefits.
Prism Light Pod is the most advanced whole-body red light therapy system. It delivers 360 degrees of optimized light waves closest to the body compared with all other red light beds. It’s optimized and delivers automated 15-minutes sessions, 14,000 industrial grade red near-infrared LEDs deliver mitochondrial healing, reduce inflammation and optimized red light waves penetrate deeply to repair body cells and deliver natural wellness to lupus patients without negative side effects. Prism Light Pod is a FDA registered class II medical device.
Resources:
https://www.lupus.org/resources/lupus-facts-and-statistics
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/lupus/symptoms-causes/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5523874/
https://lupus.net/living/fatigue-feels-like
https://www.healthline.com/health/lupus/hair-loss
https://prismlightpod.com/the-answer-to-healthy-hair-skin-whole-body-red-light-therapy/
https://www.dovepress.com/recent-insight-on-the-management-of-lupus-erythematosus-alopecia-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-CCID#cit0010
https://www.healthinsiders.com/red-light-therapy-benefits
Dr. Malori Mattimore
512 Hayes Park Blvd STE 201
Johns Island, SC 29455
(843)998-7534