http://www.theamericangym.com/lightsport.htm
Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s) have been around for a long time, but have been introduced as a legitimate therapy option in recent years. LED’s are similar to lasers in that as they can emit the same light but differ in the way that the light energy is delivered. Lasers are focused beam single-wavelength light emitters that can be intense enough (a ‘hot’ laser) to burn/cut tissue or ‘cold’ enough to only have light therapy effects. LED’s do not deliver enough power to damage the tissue, but they do deliver enough energy to promote natural self healing and pain relief. With a low peak power output but high duty cycle (50%), the LED’s provide a much gentler delivery of the same healing wavelengths of light as does the laser but without the same risk of accidental eye damage that lasers do.
LED’s are merely convenient devices for producing light at specific wavelengths, and in addition to the one already cited, several other studies establish that it is the light itself at specific wavelengths that is therapeutic in nature and not the machine which produced it. All biological systems have a unique absorption spectrum which determines what wavelengths of radiation will be absorbed to produce a given therapeutic effect. The visible red and invisible infrared portions of the spectrum have been shown to have highly absorbent and unique therapeutic effects in living tissues.
LED’s also allow the light beam to spread out instead of being a pinpoint light beam and they generate a broader band of wavelengths than does the single-wavelength laser. The wide-angle diffusion of the LED confers upon it a greater ease of application, since light emissions are thereby able to penetrate a broader surface area. The multiplicity of wavelengths in the LED, contrary to the single-wavelength laser, may enable it to affect a broader range of tissue types and produce a wider range of photochemical reactions in the tissue. Since LED light disperses over a greater surface area, this results in a faster treatment time for a given area than laser.
“This is a tremendous addition to our arsenal of treatments that can be used to manage sports injuries of any kind,” Saputo said. “This will be something that will be mainstream therapy for professional athletes around the world.” While infrared light has been used in Europe and Asia for almost three decades, the therapy is relatively new in the United States, only recently gaining FDA approval.
Infrared light is one of the safest therapies on the market today. Athletes can use infrared light therapy before a competition to loosen up muscles and after a game to reduce soreness, pain and swelling........
Bad news for all you LED users...
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2011/04/surprise-led-bulbs-no-better-than-cfls/
LED’s are no more safer or less toxic than CFL’s.... The more you know...
If you purchase daylight CFL’s, in the 5-6500K range, you arent left with that ugly yellow that alot of folks complain about. I use nothing but 6500k in the house and the lighting looks amazing.
Total malarkey. An incandescent bulb gives off FAR more "infrared" than an LED. The only LED's that produce infrared emissions are those specifically tailored to do so, and they emit ONLY a specific spectral band in the infrared. And all "non-infrared" LED's produce virtually ZERO infrared, emitting only a narrow band around their specific designed-in output wavelength.