Red lights on the brain

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The Beginning

Constant knee pain makes it hard to be active, so in mid 2015, I did a lot of sitting and reading. One of the books was Norman Doidge’s The Brain’s Way of Healing.

Chapter 4 covered the effect of red and near infrared light on the brain and spinal cord, and there were some remarkable stories told. In passing, Doidge mentioned the positive effect of red and near infrared light on arthritic joints and damaged tendons.

I went hunting on Google Scholar and found some medical journal articles that Continue reading “The Beginning”

Case study research – just published

Hot off the press is a journal article describing the observations of people with Parkinson’s disease using transcranial red and near infrared light hats on a daily basis.

The title of the article is a hoot: The “Buckets”: Early Observations on the Use of Red and Infrared Light Helmets in Parkinson’s Disease Patients.

The authors are: Catherine L. Hamilton, Hala El Khoury, David Hamilton, Frank Nicklason, and John Mitrofanis.

The article is published in: Photobiomodulation, Photomedicine, and Laser Surgery.http://doi.org/10.1089/photob.2019.4663

Here is a link to the abstract.

The sense of self

The article about dementia in today’s Melbourne Age is very good.

“I was very sad when I was diagnosed,” said Mr Bateman, who is cared for by Barbara, his wife of 35 years. “I nursed my mother with the condition and I was afraid of losing who I am.”

Pages: 12

South Australian PD study – early results

Twelve people in South Australia volunteered to participate in a study on the effect of near-infrared light on people with Parkinson’s disease.

Dr Liebert presented the findings of a preliminary analysis of the data to the study participants, their families and members of Parkinson’s South Australia on Tuesday 9 September 2019.

Dr Ann Liebert – Parkinson’s SA

This afternoon researcher Dr Ann Liebert will be presenting early results of the clinical trial she has been running in conjunction with Parkinson’s South Australia. This study looked at the effects of red and near infrared light on people with Parkinson’s disease.

Dr Liebert will continue to work with Parkinson’s SA and as well, will start a new study In Parkinson’s patients in Sydney this month.

The Sydney study will use the Well Red coronet, so Ron and I are very chuffed.

The initial analysis of the SA study confirms the kinds of improvements we’ve been seeing in people using red and near infrared lights on a daily basis for Parkinson’s.

Dr Liebert has kindly agreed that I can put a summary of the early findings of her clinical trial on the blog.

It is fantastic to see research into this promising area happening in Australia. Prof John Mitrofanis and his team from the University of Sydney were the first to document the huge potential of red and near infrared lights in Parkinson’s disease.

We in Tasmania played around with LED strips, buckets and plastic-coated wire and showed that trans-cranial lights make a difference to people with Parkinson’s. Now Dr Ann Liebert’s clinical trials are helping to confirm and define the changes that red lights make.

It really does work…

I can understand the skepticism about the biological effect of red lights, because that’s where I started from. It seemed too good to be true. However, there is a wealth of excellent quality research out there, and the evidence is compelling that red and near infrared lights protect existing neurones, and can stimulate new neurones to be created, stimulate blood vessels to increase connections- neuroprotection, neurogenesis and angiogenesis.

Red lights connect cells

Near-infrared light can restore the function of damaged dopamine-producing cells.

Thanks to Jane from South Australia for alerting me to this research article.*

Anything that is published in a medical journal called Molecular Degeneration and which starts with “reduced axonal transport in Parkinson’s disease cybrid neurites…” sounds a bit daunting, but it is a very interesting read, and you can download the full article.