In a small, new study, college football players who used a special red light device during their entire season saw no increase in brain inflammation and injury over 16 weeks.
A small , new study suggests red light therapy may help protect athletes from brain damage caused by repeated hits.
Researchers followed 26 college football players over a full season.
Half used a red light device — a headset with a small nasal clip — that delivered infrared light through the skull three times a week for 20 minutes per session. The rest used a placebo.
MRI scans taken before and after the season showed a clear difference.
Players in the placebo group developed significant increases in brain inflammation over 16 weeks.
Players who received active red light therapy did not — with researchers saying nearly all regions of the brain appeared protected.
The lead author says, “My first reaction was, there’s no way this can be real, That’s how striking it was.”
Repeated impacts — even without a diagnosed concussion — are believed to trigger microscopic brain injury and inflammation that can build over time.
That process is thought to contribute to CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy — a degenerative brain disease found after death in more than 100 former NFL players.
Researchers believe the red light penetrates the skull just enough to reduce inflammatory activity in the brain.
They stress this was a small, early study, not a cure — but larger trials are already underway, including a 300-person study involving veterans and first responders.
Source: Journal of Neurotrauma
Author Affiliations: University of Utah School of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
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