Can Red-Light Therapy Treat Brain Injuries? (nytimes.com)
(Saturday September 12, 2026 @05:00AM (BeauHD)
from the promising-findings dept.)
- Reference: 0185610396
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/09/11/2037218/can-red-light-therapy-treat-brain-injuries
- Source link: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7581642/2026/09/11/red-light-therapy-brain-injuries-journal-of-neurotrama/
The Athletic reports that researchers at the University of Utah are studying itPBM, a medical-grade red-light therapy that has [1]shown promising signs of reducing brain inflammation and improving cognition, mood, anxiety, motor performance and neural connectivity. The report centers in part on former BYU football star and University of Utah adjunct professor Larry Carr, who says the treatment helped him after years of brain damage from repeated head impacts. An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from the report:
> ... The knife, the call, the diagnosis in 2013, would lead [Carr] on a life-changing mission -- one in which he and a team of researchers at the University of Utah would eventually compile research that one of those researchers, Elisabeth Wilde, Ph.D, co-director of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Concussion Center, calls "striking." The treatment they are studying is called photobiomodulation therapy, or itPBM (intranasal transcranial PBM), also known as red-light therapy. It is different from the kind of superficial red-light usage one can find on social media skincare channels or at a wellness boutique, and its application is broader.
>
> The research includes multiple studies, and is not just focused on ex-football players, but on women and men in various walks of life. The group recently published their latest results in the [2]Journal of Neurotrauma , based on a study that followed 26 BYU football players throughout a season, suggesting the treatment could " [3]potentially safeguard neurological health without reduced playing time or contact exposure."
>
> Definitive clinical trials haven't been run yet; broader research and validation is required, and some in the field are [4]skeptical . Carr acknowledges some have told him that it could be "too good to be true." Still, other outside experts who spoke with The Athletic call the findings promising. They make sure to caution: This is not a cure-all, and there is much more to be tested. But the findings have been compelling enough to justify more research and more speculation.
Researchers say 14 peer-reviewed studies have linked itPBM with improvements in cognition, mood, anxiety, attention, executive function, motor performance, and other measures, while brain imaging has shown reduced inflammation and improved connectivity.
One of the most striking findings mentioned in the report came from a study of 26 BYU football players during the 2021 season. Players who did not receive treatment developed significant, widespread brain inflammation, while the treated group showed no comparable increase and even demonstrated reduced inflammation in some brain regions. As researcher Michael Carr put it, "I believe our BYU data suggests the players' brains using itPBM are actually healthier after the season." He added: "That is a first."
Carr also said treated participants showed fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD, along with faster processing, better sustained attention and stronger executive function. Researchers have also observed improvements in balance, motor control and grip strength. Taken together, the findings suggest itPBM may have a neuroprotective effect.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7581642/2026/09/11/red-light-therapy-brain-injuries-journal-of-neurotrama/
[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08977151251403554
[3] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/23/3225102/0/en/Protecting-Football-Players-Brains-Breakthrough-Study-Reinforces-Vielight-s-Red-Light-Therapy-Technology.html
[4] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1398894/full.
> ... The knife, the call, the diagnosis in 2013, would lead [Carr] on a life-changing mission -- one in which he and a team of researchers at the University of Utah would eventually compile research that one of those researchers, Elisabeth Wilde, Ph.D, co-director of the Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Concussion Center, calls "striking." The treatment they are studying is called photobiomodulation therapy, or itPBM (intranasal transcranial PBM), also known as red-light therapy. It is different from the kind of superficial red-light usage one can find on social media skincare channels or at a wellness boutique, and its application is broader.
>
> The research includes multiple studies, and is not just focused on ex-football players, but on women and men in various walks of life. The group recently published their latest results in the [2]Journal of Neurotrauma , based on a study that followed 26 BYU football players throughout a season, suggesting the treatment could " [3]potentially safeguard neurological health without reduced playing time or contact exposure."
>
> Definitive clinical trials haven't been run yet; broader research and validation is required, and some in the field are [4]skeptical . Carr acknowledges some have told him that it could be "too good to be true." Still, other outside experts who spoke with The Athletic call the findings promising. They make sure to caution: This is not a cure-all, and there is much more to be tested. But the findings have been compelling enough to justify more research and more speculation.
Researchers say 14 peer-reviewed studies have linked itPBM with improvements in cognition, mood, anxiety, attention, executive function, motor performance, and other measures, while brain imaging has shown reduced inflammation and improved connectivity.
One of the most striking findings mentioned in the report came from a study of 26 BYU football players during the 2021 season. Players who did not receive treatment developed significant, widespread brain inflammation, while the treated group showed no comparable increase and even demonstrated reduced inflammation in some brain regions. As researcher Michael Carr put it, "I believe our BYU data suggests the players' brains using itPBM are actually healthier after the season." He added: "That is a first."
Carr also said treated participants showed fewer symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress and PTSD, along with faster processing, better sustained attention and stronger executive function. Researchers have also observed improvements in balance, motor control and grip strength. Taken together, the findings suggest itPBM may have a neuroprotective effect.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7581642/2026/09/11/red-light-therapy-brain-injuries-journal-of-neurotrama/
[2] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/08977151251403554
[3] https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/01/23/3225102/0/en/Protecting-Football-Players-Brains-Breakthrough-Study-Reinforces-Vielight-s-Red-Light-Therapy-Technology.html
[4] https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1398894/full.
No. (Score:2)
by backslashdot ( 95548 )
But it can diagnose it. If you believe that it can, you have a brain injury.
Re: (Score:2)
by satuon ( 1822492 )
Nostril-based i-PBMT devices are available, using either lasers or light emitting diodes (LEDs).
From [1]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/a... [nih.gov]
If they stick a laser up your nose and shoot the light at your internal blood vessels, it might have some tangible physical effects. It's not just putting you in a room with red lighting.
[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7138738/
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) (Score:2)
by evanh ( 627108 )
is the name I've been looking for. Just calling it brain damage always felt crass.
There's a shit load of so called PTSD label cases that are really TBI instead ... IMHO.
Shine On, Football Brain (Score:5, Interesting)
It always starts with "promising results" and ends with somebody selling a $799 helmet on Instagram.
That said, this one is actually interesting. The study was small, but it wasn't just a handful of guys staring at a red light and filling out a questionnaire afterward. The researchers randomized 26 college football players to active PBM or sham treatment and followed them through a season. The MRI results reportedly showed substantial changes in the untreated group that weren't seen to the same extent in the treatment group.
The part that makes me cautious is the leap from "we saw interesting changes on an MRI" to "this protects football players' brains." Those aren't the same thing. MRI measurements are proxies, the sample is tiny, and a single season tells us very little about what happens after ten years of playing football. And none of this establishes that PBM prevents CTE, which is the elephant in the room whenever we're talking about repetitive head impacts.
Still, I wouldn't dismiss it. If shining 810nm light at someone's head a few times a week really does reduce the neurological consequences of repetitive impacts, that's potentially a pretty big deal. It's also exactly the sort of claim that needs a much larger, independent trial before anyone starts handing these things out in locker rooms.
I'd be particularly interested in seeing a study with hundreds of athletes, multiple seasons, objective biomarkers, standardized PBM equipment, and researchers who aren't financially connected to the device manufacturer. If the effect survives all of that, then we can start getting excited.
Re: (Score:2)
But how does that work? It just feels that there is no logical causal mechanism through which red-light photons can affect brain inflamation.
> The treatment they are studying is called photobiomodulation therapy, or itPBM (intranasal transcranial PBM), also known as red-light therapy.
From google:
> Nostril-based i-PBMT devices are available, using either lasers or light emitting diodes (LEDs), and can be applied either alone or in combination to transcranial devices (the latter applied directly to the
Re: (Score:2)
Red light therapy is one of those things that sounds like total woo hokum when you first hear about it, but that studies keep showing benefits to.
Key thing to remember is that these studies are using very high doses of red light - often limited by the amount of heating you can safely tolerate in the subject (not heat from the emitter, but from the photons themselves).
Honestly, it doesn't sound crazy at all. Different tissues have different light susceptibilities (that's how, say, laser hair removal works),
Re: (Score:2)
Also, it's perfectly possible that the red light from being outdoors in the sun is also good for you - but that also comes with other frequencies, including harmful ionizing UV light, which "ages" the skin and risks skin cancer (though the increased vitamin D from ~290-300nm is an offsetting factor).