I did a search and posts seem to be a couple of years old…I am asking for opinions and experiences you have had with IR therapy. I have no bias and am sincerely curious if people have used or are currently using this therapy. I am for anything that may help the the mare my granddaughter part boards to feel and perform to her best ability. Soreness can have many causes as you here on COTH have taught me. Thank you for that! This is one thing of many that may be helpful and I appreciate anecdotal and scientific data you might care to share. TIA!
I have minimal experience using it on horses, but I found it incredibly helpful when I used to get routine back pain. It was so bad, it would wake me in the middle of the night. I’d treat myself with the red light and the pain would subside enough to allow me to go back to sleep. Eventually, I no longer needed it and haven’t used it in a few years, but I still have it in case my back flares up again.
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I have a Photizo red light hand held gadget, which is a home use one rather than vet strength one. My totally anecdotal thoughts are that I have a young, very fast labrador who occasionally runs in to things while playing with other dogs, falls over and hits the deck trying to take 90 degree corners at speed, etc. I have treated the resulting ouchy leg with the Photizo on I think 3 incidents now. It runs on a 30 second timer, I do a total 5 minutes or so moving it to a different spot in the general area for each set of 30 seconds, a few days in a row if I remember or more likely every other day and I feel that the time for full recovery has been faster and he hasn’t needed medication/other vet treatment or physio work. Overall I’m glad I’ve got it right now!
Where, if anywhere, is the clinical evidence of effectiveness? Or is this just another version of Yakov’s Golden Elixir?
Anecdote is NOT “data.” It can lead to data, but on its own is just lay opinion.
Spend your money as you wish, but a dollar spent on a chimera is a dollar you don’t have to spend on things that actually are proven to work.
Good luck in your program.
G.
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You are right Guilherme… I should have said I was looking for anecdotes AND scientific data… 
Well here’s some more anecdotal data:
I bought my equine red light therapy pad around 2005. Not cheap but it has more than paid for itself.
Most notably on the horse who fractured his sacrum twice, 12 years apart. I have used it on other horses and also a few dogs with better success than I had hoped for.
Better than that was my bout with cellulitis in my leg, and cost me a three day hospital stay. When I got home I started using the horses red light therapy pad, 2X/day, 20 minutes each time.
when I went to the doctor for my first checkup, he marveled at how well and how fast my leg healed —- until I mentioned I was using the red light therapy pad — then he pursed his lips and ended the appointment —— blessssss his harrrttt, lol
I was 71 when that happened. Meaning nothing heals as fast as it used to so I was glad to hear the doctor marvel at my speedy recovery, and gleeful to watch his face fall to the floor when I told him I was using RLT, lollol
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Often for these modalities there is little research on horses but relevant research on humans. Here is a link to the current state of knowledge with some interesting points about what it is actually used for.
https://www.healthline.com/health/red-light-therapy#how-does-it-work?
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What would the description be for a reliable device? I see 660nm and other nm units in the description.
From what I’ve read online as in the above link, there is little evidence for effectiveness outside some specialized uses so the standard for “reliable device” seems opaque.
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The linked article reads like it was written by a very skillful public affairs officer. It never says exactly “yes” and it never says exactly “no.” Indeed, it says exactly NOTHING!!! 
G.
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It says there is no conclusive evidence for anything beyond activating photosensitive medications and that insurance companies refuse to cover it based on lack of evidence. That’s generally what gets said about “therapies” for which no one has been able to prove they work.
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Indeed. Which allows Yakov to sell lots of his Golden Elixer.
G.
Yes, there are multitudes of snake oils out there just like there are orthopedic surgeons who are knife happy and want to operate when the operation is not the correct treatment.
I believe in traditional science, Eastern medicine, AND holistic treatments. I investigate the research, some of which IS only anecdotal.
When it comes down to anecdotal testimony, the investigation then depends upon the investigator being able to separate the credible sources from the nitwits ———.
Even though there are some on this forum, I don’t always agree with, I also know they can offer up credible anecdotal testimony so I pay attention:)
My dearly beloved husband (most of the time) is a traditionalist, just like you. In his mind, I don’t know a blankety-blank thing about healing even if he does witness the successful effects. However if the same thoughts fall off the lips of his medical doctors, that makes the words golden and therefore safe to follow————%%%
On the plus side, he is giving me Sunday off from stall cleaning, which that leaves me wide open to debate with you:):)
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The point about research is that a given modality is tried on a significantly large number of subjects and a placebo is tried on a large number as well.
Then the results are added up and compared to see if across the board, the treated group have significantly better or worse results than the placebo group.
This lets us see if on average the modality has an effect.
The tricky thing about most injuries and illnesses is that they get better on their own over time, and most chronic conditions ebb and flare over time. So if you use a modality at a point you are already recovering it’s easy to think it was effective. So anecdotal evidence is often wrong about cause and effect
It’s also true that some medicines work better on some genetic types, and that’s a really interesting area of research. And even with some basic OTC meds, some people get pain relief from Advil but not Tylenol. Or obviously some people get side effects and others don’t. So there is obviously individual variation.
The research sample obviously needs to be large enough to not be affected by individual variation.
Anyhow when there is something easy to test like red light therapy, which also has some specific applications, and no one can prove it is effective for a particular use, it’s pretty clear it probably isn’t.
Interestingly I recently read about a study on the holistic enzymes and anti inflammatories that people sometimes take as support during chemotherapy. It turned out that use of these products led to a statistically lower survival rate. It appears that in protecting the body from the effects of chemotherapy, the supplements also protected the tumor, and mitigated the effectiveness of the chemo.
So that would be a case where the naturopathic remedies are actually biologically effective but have the wrong effect
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“Credible anecdote.” Isn’t that an oxymoron? At least until tested? And what test do we apply?
Simple answer: SOAP.
Subjective
Objective
Assessment
Plan
If you are looking at what you think is a problem then you use the above acronym to plot your approach. First question, do you have a problem? The first three items will give you a chance at a rational answer as it takes into account the subjective (like anecdote). Indeed, that’s the FIRST step! But then we take the SECOND step. And that can, and often does, end the process as we find we don’t don’t have a problem.
Should we find that we do have a problem then we try and figure out what to do about it. Under PLAN we use the information we’ve developed and may have to retest and revise that which has gone before. That’s OK. This is process that leads to an answer, not the answer, itself.
TESTING is the key to effective problem solving. Every answer is always open to re-check but there are some practical limits. If you need to boil water you KNOW that the boiling temp. of water is 100C/212F at sea level. You can retest this until the cows come home and it won’t change. So there are some items you don’t retest as it wastes time and assets. By definition an anecdotal report of boiling water at sea level at a lower temperature is false. It can be safely ignored.
Any “colored” glasses (or other pre-conceived notions) should be removed prior to engaging in the SOAP process. Note that this is a physical process that runs in the Newtonian Universe. Should you wish to incorporate things from other universes (parallel or otherwise) you have mixed apples with oranges and you’ll get a mixed result which will be unreliable.
The charlatans, mountebanks, and cut-purses of the world rely on “doubt” to make money. They sow doubt with regard to established fact and erase doubt about un-established fact. We CAN distinguish between gold and iron pyrites by using the SOAP method. Works in lots of other places, too.
G.
I think the key first step of deciding “do I have a problem?” is so important. Much advertising of main stream and fringe products relies on creating new or imaginary problems.
One my favorites in horse world is Imaginary Thrush. Charlatan trimmer diagnoses a 'deep seated thrush infection" in a horse with no symptoms, but maybe is shedding frog or has deep frog commissures or feet are soft from wet weather… Since there are no symptoms you can never declare it cured. Also if he does a bad trim and the horse is lame, he can blame it on the thrush. And often the treatment involves getting the foot wet in dry weather. Doing a cider vinegar soak every night when the ground is hard and dry is a great way to keep a horse tender footed all summer and keep up the belief he has deep seated thrush you can’t cure.
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”‹”‹Human alternative health practitioners often claim a problem that is not recognized by medical science and then a host of remedies to solve it.
A friend once pointed out that she could go to her GP, run all the tests, and be told “hey, you’re totally healthy, that’s great, enjoy!” But when she went to a naturopath she was always found to have some serious pervasive imbalance and told she was really unhealthy and needed remedies.
So “do I have a problem?” is the true first step when you are presented with a new remedy searching for a user.
And if you do have a problem, what are the other possible solutions? Maybe you horse looks poorly because his hay is mediocre or you aren’t feeding enough. In that case switch out his hay first
Indeed. Reputable workmen of any type don’t “run the meter.”
G.
You’ll need a red light wavelength coherent (meaning the wavelengths are all the same) laser to really determine any benefit, as opposed to a white light filtered through a “red” filter so only the weaker wavelengths are used on your horse. Buyer seriously beware about the claims on the market.
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Personal experience, bought a red light, ended up using it on myself more than my horse in the beginning. My knee was destroyed, without any physio, I did red light every night, my knee is back to complete normal and doesn’t ever bother me.
Maybe it’s just in my head, but I’ll take it. I’ve been using it on my guy, his ligament in his hing leg was having some issues, with doing that, he’s come out great. I’ll add it to his SI, when I do that, he passes out in the cross ties. Now if its doing something or not, he likes it for the 15 mins its on for.
So maybe its hocus pocus, but I’m happy to continue to use it.
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I have a red light therapy pad. I purchased it fairly cheap, and I have say… it makes my back feel better. I’ve used it on my pony and he licks and chews like he likes it. He has a spot on his neck that sometimes get sore where he had a tumor removed, it gets some fluid buildup and goes away faster after I’ve used the red light pad.
