Alternative Wellness: Red Light Therapy
Delve into the pages of the Vail Daily from Sunday, November 5, 2023, and bask in the spotlight as our Red Light Therapy takes center stage. Enjoy the illuminating article!
Vail Valley Wellness uses advanced LED technology and the power of light to resolve pain, help with cellular detoxing and wound recovery
Tricia Swenson
tswenson@vaildaily.com
Editor’s Note: The Vail Daily’s Tricia Swenson searched the valley for alternative wellness modalities that are lesser-known and have proven benefits. Follow this series and take steps to improve your well-being and see which offerings work for you.
Vail Valley Wellness uses a holistic approach when it comes to your well-being. The professionals there take great care in finding the right treatment for you, whether it is a traditional, time-tested approach or some of the newest technology out there that provides results and relief for many ailments or issues.
One of the technologies Dr. Becky Burgess is most excited about is infrared light therapy.
“We’ve been doing infrared light therapy in our clinic for about three years, and we’ve found the best technology out there. Red light therapy in general was developed by NASA so it has strong roots in science and it has been really well researched,” said Burgess, who is a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine and the owner of Vail Valley Wellness.
Vail Valley Wellness offers a treatment where you get wrapped in panels of red and near-infrared light which can help with cellular detoxing, fat burning, wound recovery and Seasonal Affective Disorder.
“What we’re doing is using the red light and the near-infrared light to heal. So, near-infrared light is that light that you can’t see on the spectrum, it’s invisible to the eye and it goes deeper into the body whereas red light goes more on the surface level. That combination between the two of them gives you both surface-level changes and changes that happen deeper in the body,” Burgess said.
For surface-level issues, think more cosmetic, like skin tone and texture, cellulite reduction, scar treatments and wound repair. The near-infrared light travels about three inches into the body and what that does is it works on cellular repair and detoxes the body.
“It can literally pull fat and toxicity out of your cells and out of your body, as well as penetrate into the body to help with pain relief. So, it’s an amazing service for chronic pain, especially for folks who are healing after an operation, folks going through radiation treatments or chemotherapy, Lyme disease patients, neuropathy, chronic toxicity...there are a lot of different health concerns that are seemingly hopeless that are seeing really great benefits with this,” Burgess said.
I decided to check it out and had heard that they would “wrap” my body, but it is more like they are placing flexible panels of red light and infrared light on you, so you’re not wrapped like a mummy.
“The light only affects bare skin so we say that bare skin is best so most people will just wear a bra and underwear or a bathing suit and we put the wrap right against the skin so it can reach as deep as it can,” Burgess said. “You want to drink a lot of water before treatment because the more hydrated you are, the better the circuit works to literally create this circuit of healing.”
There I was, wrapped in about 8,000 little lights on the massage table for 30 minutes. It was very relaxing, and it was such a nice comfortable feeling of warmth.
“The goal is not to sweat. Similar to infrared saunas, we’re not really trying to get you to sweat out your toxicity, we’re trying to enter the body and stimulate healing and ATP production, so you’re lying there, you’re nice and warm, most people say it is the most relaxing thing,” Burgess said.
ATP is short for adenosine triphosphate and is often referred to as the molecular “unit of currency” of intracellular energy transfer.
“We’re actually making the cellular change that is needed while making you healthier, so you get healthy to lose weight rather than just burning off a fat cell, it doesn’t kill any fat cells, it keeps everything intact, it’s just shrinking your fat cells,” Burgess said.
Burgess is excited to have the strongest red light therapy equipment that she has been able to find.
“This is the exact model that NASA is using. There are actually different nanometers of red light that are being produced. For example, 660 nanometers helps with pain, 880 helps with skin. You want to make sure you are using the correct wavelength. With our equipment we can adjust what amount of nanometers were sending into your body based off of what goals you are looking to achieve,” Burgess said.
Carrie Anderson Rash decided to try this modality after suffering from back issues and having surgery.
“I started red light last year and after only a few sessions I knew it was something I was going to incorporate in my wellness regimen because I also saw chronic pain that I’ve had for decades start to diminish. I’m sure that red light therapy, combined with Becky’s acupuncture, are the reasons I moved from a crisis to a maintenance plan so quickly,”
Anderson Rash said.
“Additionally, I’ve noticed improvement in my skin with texture, tightening and softness as well as some weight loss. Everyone I’ve recommended red light therapy to at Vail Valley Wellness gets hooked, each seeing a variety of benefits.”
