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You’ve probably seen red light therapy panels popping up everywhere lately: gyms, recovery studios, even people’s home garages. It looks simple. You lie down, get bathed in red light, and get up feeling good. But what’s actually going on, does it work, and is it right for you?
We put together this guide to answer exactly that, in plain language, no jargon, no hype. We’ll walk through how it works, what it’s genuinely used for, who shouldn’t use it, how long and how often to do it, and what makes the panel we use in our Recovery Zone a bit different from the smaller units you might have seen elsewhere.
A quick note before we start. This article is general education, not medical advice. Red light therapy is a wellness and recovery tool, not a treatment or cure for any medical condition. If you’ve got a specific injury, health condition, or you’re just not sure whether it’s right for you, have a chat with your GP or one of our practitioners first. We’re always happy to talk it through.
Red light therapy, sometimes called photobiomodulation (or PBM if you want the technical term), is the use of specific wavelengths of light to support the body’s natural processes. Unlike a sunbed, red light therapy doesn’t use ultraviolet light at all. It uses visible red light and near-infrared light, both considered low-risk wavelengths when used correctly.
It’s completely non-invasive. There’s no heat in the way a sauna produces heat, no pressure like a massage, and no needles. You lie down (or sit) in front of or under a panel of LEDs for a set number of minutes, and that’s it.
The concept has been studied since the 1960s in various forms. In the last decade, brighter and more efficient LEDs have made it practical to build panels large enough to treat the whole body at once, rather than small handheld devices aimed at one spot.
Here’s the honest, non-oversold version.
Light is made of different wavelengths, measured in nanometers (nm). Visible light, the rainbow you see, sits roughly between 400nm (violet) and 700nm (red). Beyond 700nm, light becomes invisible to the human eye. That’s the near-infrared range.
Red and near-infrared wavelengths are able to penetrate skin and reach cells, where they’re absorbed by structures inside cells called mitochondria: the “powerhouse” of the cell, for anyone who remembers that line from high school biology. Mitochondria are responsible for producing energy (ATP) that cells use to function, repair, and regenerate.
The working theory, backed by a growing body of research, is that red and near-infrared light exposure can support this cellular energy production process. That’s why red light therapy is associated with effects like improved circulation, support for tissue repair, and reduced inflammation markers in various studies.
In plain English: red light doesn’t “heal” you directly. It’s thought to give your cells a nudge to do what they’re already trying to do (repair, produce energy, function efficiently) a bit more effectively.
This is the part most articles skip, and it’s genuinely useful to understand if you want to get the most out of a session.
Red light (approximately 630 to 700nm) is visible and penetrates a few millimetres into the skin. It’s mostly absorbed by the outer layers of skin and surface tissue. This is why red light is commonly associated with skin health: collagen support, surface healing, and overall skin appearance.
Near-infrared light (approximately 700 to 1100nm) is invisible to the eye and penetrates significantly deeper: through skin, into muscle, connective tissue, and closer to bone and joint structures. This is why near-infrared is more commonly associated with muscle recovery, joint comfort, and deeper circulation support.
Most cheaper, single-wavelength panels only give you one or the other. A proper full-spectrum panel gives you both, meaning you’re covering surface-level skin benefits and deep-tissue recovery benefits in the same session, rather than having to choose.
At Massage Land’s Recovery Zone, we use a full-body panel that goes well beyond the basic two-wavelength setups you’ll find in most home devices or budget studios. Here’s what that actually means for you.
Nine wavelengths, not one or two. Our panel runs across 480nm, 590nm, 630nm, 660nm, 670nm, 810nm, 830nm, 850nm, and 1060nm, covering blue, yellow, red, and multiple depths of near-infrared in the one unit. Each wavelength does something slightly different:
| Wavelength | Type | What it’s associated with |
|---|---|---|
| 480nm | Blue | Surface/skin-focused |
| 590nm | Yellow | Gentle, calming, skin tone |
| 630 to 670nm | Red | Skin health, collagen, surface healing |
| 810 to 1060nm | Near-infrared | Deep muscle, joints, circulation, recovery |
Full-body coverage, in one go. Because the panel is large (just under 2 metres wide), you’re not repositioning a small device around different body parts. One session covers your whole body at once.
Independent control over every wavelength. Unlike basic panels that are just “on” or “off,” ours allows brightness and pulse frequency to be adjusted independently, per wavelength. In practice, this means our team can tailor a session: leaning more into near-infrared for a muscle-and-joint-focused session, or more into red and blue for a skin-focused one, rather than one setting for everyone.
Pre-set session “scenes.” We use pre-configured combinations depending on what you’re after: general recovery, muscle-focused, joint-focused, or skin-focused. You don’t need to know the technical wavelength numbers. Just tell our team what you’re hoping to get out of the session.
Worth saying upfront. Red light therapy is a wellness tool, and results vary from person to person. It’s not a guaranteed fix, and we won’t pretend otherwise. What we can tell you is what it’s commonly used for, and what current research associates it with.
Widely used by athletes and active people to support post-training recovery. Muscle tissue works hard to repair and rebuild after exercise, and light therapy is thought to help support that energy-hungry repair process.
Often used alongside a healthy lifestyle to support blood flow. Improved circulation is associated with better delivery of oxygen and nutrients to tissue, and better removal of waste products, both relevant to how quickly the body bounces back after activity.
Near-infrared wavelengths are commonly used by people managing everyday joint stiffness, general muscle tightness, and the kind of low-grade aches that build up from physical work, training, or simply getting older.
Red and near-infrared light are associated with supporting collagen production and cellular turnover. That’s why red light therapy has become popular as part of general skin health and appearance routines.
Light therapy is associated with supporting the body’s natural inflammation response as it recovers from physical activity or everyday wear and tear.
Light plays a role in regulating your circadian rhythm, the internal clock that tells your body when to be awake and when to wind down. Unlike bright blue light (like your phone screen at night), red light is a lower-intensity alternative that some people find supports better sleep quality when used earlier in the day or evening.
Beyond the physiological side, most people genuinely find a session relaxing: warm, quiet, lying down for 10 to 20 minutes with nowhere to be. That alone has value.
We get asked this a lot, so let’s be straightforward about it.
Red light therapy is commonly used by people dealing with:
What we won’t do is diagnose you or promise it’ll fix a specific condition. If you’ve got arthritis, a specific injury, a skin condition, or ongoing pain that hasn’t been assessed, the right first step is a proper assessment by your GP, or one of our myotherapists, physios, or other practitioners, so you know what’s actually going on before you decide how to manage it. Red light therapy can be a great complement to that care. It’s not a replacement for it.
This is the section we think matters most, and we’d rather over-explain it than under-explain it. Red light therapy isn’t right for everyone. You should avoid it, or check with your doctor first, if any of the following apply to you:
If any of this applies to you and you’re still keen to explore whether it’s an option, that’s exactly the kind of conversation to have with our team before booking, not something to work around on your own.
Sessions with our panel typically run 10 to 20 minutes, and the right length depends on what you’re after and how experienced you are with light therapy.
More isn’t automatically better. Light therapy doesn’t work like a weights session where more volume equals more result. Past a certain point, longer exposure doesn’t add meaningful extra benefit, which is part of why our equipment caps out at 30 minutes per session.
This varies a fair bit person to person, and by what you’re using it for.
General wellness and relaxation: many people find 1 to 2 sessions a week works well as an ongoing habit.
Active recovery (regular training, sport, physically demanding work): some people do more frequent, shorter sessions, for example straight after training a few times a week.
Skin-focused use: consistency tends to matter more than frequency. Regular sessions over weeks work better than one-off visits.
There’s no universal “correct” number. What we’d suggest: start with a session or two, see how you respond, and chat with our team about building a routine that actually fits your goals and your schedule, rather than copying a generic plan off the internet.
If you’ve never done it before, here’s exactly what happens.
Yes, and it’s one of the most popular ways people use it. A lot of our clients book a red light therapy session directly before or after a remedial massage or myotherapy appointment, using it either to warm up tissue beforehand or support recovery afterward. If that sounds like something you’d like to try, mention it when you book and we can set up your appointments back to back.
No. Most people describe it as warm and relaxing, nothing more dramatic than that. You won’t feel the light “working.” It’s simply a comfortable, low-effort session.
For the vast majority of people, yes, when used as directed and after a simple safety check with our team. See the “Who Should Be Cautious” section above for who should check with a doctor first.
Completely different. Sunbeds use UV light, which carries skin cancer risk with repeated exposure. Red light therapy uses visible red and near-infrared light with no UV at all, which is why it’s considered a much lower-risk category of light exposure.
No. There’s no UV involved, so there’s no tanning effect and no sunburn risk from the light itself.
Some people do use it very frequently, but we’d recommend chatting with our team first to build a sensible plan rather than defaulting to daily use. More frequent isn’t automatically better, and your specific goals matter more than a blanket rule.
No, different technology, different mechanism. Infrared saunas primarily heat the body to induce sweating. Red light therapy uses specific light wavelengths absorbed at a cellular level, without significantly raising your core body temperature.
No, we provide the light-blocking glasses. Comfortable, loose clothing is a good idea, though many clients do sessions in activewear straight after training.
We’d recommend against it, partly for comfort (you’re lying down and relaxing), and partly because the glasses are there for a reason. It’s a good excuse to just switch off for 15 to 20 minutes.
No, red light therapy is a wellness service and isn’t a Medicare-rebateable or typically insurance-claimable treatment. If you’re unsure about your specific policy, check directly with your provider.
If you’ve read this far, you’ve probably got a good sense of whether red light therapy is worth trying for what you’re after. The best next step is simply booking a session and seeing how you respond. That tells you more than any article can.
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Got a question we didn’t cover here? Give our team a call or send us a message. We’re always happy to talk it through before you book.
