Everyone loves a good massage, from on-holiday hotel guests to harried business professionals to injured athletes. And in the next decade, demand for massage therapists throughout the United States is projected to greatly increase. The future for massage therapists is looking very bright —the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that “Employment of massage therapists is projected to grow 32 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.”[1]
This is great news for those who will become licensed massage therapists within the next several years. But for those already established as professionals, it means that your competition will be growing by leaps and bounds. So is there any surefire way to not only maintain a healthy and profitable practice, but to also stand far above your competitors? Yes – by adding Red Light/Infrared Therapy to your treatment menu!
Pair Massage Therapy with Red Light Therapy
Just like massage therapy, Red Light/Infrared Therapy is non-invasive and excels at relieving pain, discomfort, soreness and stiffness in soft tissues and muscles. And like massage therapy, Infrared Light Therapy can be used to alleviate issues from the soles of the feet all the way up to the shoulders and the head.
The feel-good nature of Red Light/Infrared Therapy makes it a perfect adjunct to massage therapy! Clients have described Red Light/Infrared Therapy, like massage therapy, as relaxing, soothing, and comforting as the Light Therapy pads emit a gentle heat and provide fast and effective relief from aches, pains, stiffness, and soreness. But Red Light/Infrared Therapy offers much more. It reliably increases circulation and has been proven to accelerate the body’s own innate healing processes. Red Light Therapy systems are considered to be Class II Medical Devices, having been granted FDA clearance for increasing circulation, relieving pain, relaxing muscles, relieving muscle spasms, and relieving the aches and stiffness caused by arthritis.
Expands the Benefits of Massage Therapy
Red Light/Infrared Therapy can also alleviate pain in the joints, as the photons of light penetrate into areas where massage alone may not reach. The benefits of your massage session can be expanded by wrapping a Light Therapy pad around a client’s hip, shoulder, elbow, ankle, or knee, thus providing a fast, effective, and perhaps a deeper level of pain relief in those areas than massage alone could achieve because, “These low doses of light have demonstrated the ability to heal skin, nerves, tendons, cartilage and bones.”[2] Therefore, Light Therapy can add value to any massage therapy practice, allowing you to expand your treatment menu and enhance your scope of therapy for better client outcomes.
Supports and Accelerates Healing
Researchers have discovered that Red Light and Infrared Therapy can stimulate and accelerate the body’s own innate healing processes. Wherever a Light Therapy pad is placed on the body, photons of light are released which induce cascades of beneficial biochemical processes within the cells, increasing mitochondrial products such as ATP, NADH, protein, and RNA, as well as nitric oxide, which allows for greater circulation. Blood rich in oxygen and nutrients can now flow more freely into that local area, reducing pain and supporting the body’s own innate healing ability, repairing tissues and eventually regenerating nerves — which is especially beneficial for athletes suffering from sports–related injuries or clients requiring rehabilitation from a wide range of conditions.
Safe and Risk-Free
Red Light/Infrared Therapy is unique in that it is risk free and can be administered without any concerns about safety and negative side effects. According to Dr. Michael R. Hamblin, who has studied Light Therapy extensively, Red Light Therapy has been proven to have “…an almost complete lack of reported adverse effects…”[3] Because Red Light/Infrared Therapy is so safe and risk-free, clients can be left unattended during their therapy sessions.
Administration is Simple and Easy
Administering Red Light and Infrared Light Therapy is very simple and easy: therapy pads are placed on or wrapped around the body where pain relief is needed, the system is turned on, and the pads do their work. Most Red Light/Infrared Therapy systems will automatically shut off after twenty-minutes, signaling the end of the therapy session. Maintenance is also easy: Therapy pads can be kept clean and sanitary because they are coated in silicone which is easy to clean. And most systems are easy to pack up and take with you for in-home appointments.
Ways to Administer Red Light/Infrared Therapy
No matter what type of massage you specialize in, be it Swedish massage, deep-tissue massage, sports massage, etc., Red Light/Infrared Therapy can be easily incorporated into your therapy sessions in several ways:
- Pre-Massage: Utilizing Red Light/Infrared Therapy before hand work commences may often be the most beneficial approach for both your clients and for you. Light Therapy pads may be used on areas with the greatest need of relief from pain or stiffness for ten to twenty minutes before massaging begins. These pads will warm up tissues and trigger an increase in blood flow to relieve pain quickly. And the warmth of the therapy pads will cause the client’s body to relax and be easier for you to massage, saving you some hard work by helping reduce the pressure of your hand work that may have been needed to otherwise achieve the same results.
- During Massage: Utilize Red Light/Infrared Therapy throughout the duration of the massage to soothe tissues and ease the buildup of muscle tension, deepening the client’s relaxation and enhancing stress reduction. The Light Therapy pads can be moved around the body to work on problem areas as you do your hand work on other areas. Most Light Therapy pads are flexible enough to be versatile, allowing the same pad to be used on different areas to treat a wide range of conditions in soft tissue, muscles, and joints.
- Post-Massage: Give your client a complete twenty-minute Red Light/Infrared Therapy session immediately after the massage. Light Therapy pads can be placed wherever additional support is needed. Red Light/Infrared Therapy will further enhance relaxation, and also trigger cellular processes that accelerate the body’s own innate healing ability.
- Stand-Alone Treatment: Red Light/Infrared Therapy can be administered by itself as a standalone treatment option, which may appeal to clients who suffer from chronic painful conditions.
Add Red Light/Infrared Therapy to Your Treatment Menu
Red Light/Infrared Therapy pairs extremely well with massage therapy. And adding Light Therapy to your treatment menu will make your practice stand out from the ever-growing competition. Red Light/Infrared Therapy can not only quickly and effectively relieve your clients’ aches, pains, and stiffness, but it can augment the results of your hands on therapy and accelerate their bodies’ own innate healing processes. Red Light/Infrared Therapy systems are surprisingly affordable, with a wide range of systems available to meet the needs of any massage therapy practice. You should especially check out our half body pad. Treat for 10 minutes on the part of the body you are not treating. For more information, contact Rob Berman at Energia Medical at 833-429-4040 or via email at info@energiamedical.com
[1] Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Massage Therapists, at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/massage-therapists.htm (visited October 28, 2021), p. 1.
[2] Cotler, Howard B. et al. The Use of Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) For Musculoskeletal Pain. MOJ Orthop Rheumatol. 2015 ; 2(5): . doi:10.15406/mojor.2015.02.00068, p. 4
[3] Hamblin, Michael R. “Mechanisms and applications of the anti-inflammatory effects of photobiomodulation.” AIMS biophysics vol. 4,3 (2017): 337-361. doi:10.3934/biophy.2017.3.337, p. 14.
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