To understand how red light therapy helps with broken bones, one needs to understand two things: 

• What bones are made of.
• What happens when bones break.

1. What is Bone Made of?

Bones are essentially the only component of the skeletal system. They are made of three main components:

• Collagen: The protein that gives structure to bones and makes them flexible enough to withstand breaking.
• Calcium phosphate: The mineral stored in bones to make them hard and strong. It is released to your bloodstream when required.
• Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts: The cells responsible for bone formation and breakdown, respectively. Consider that bone is living tissue and is continuously broken down and replaced.

2. What Happens When Bones Break (Fracture)?

Fracture is the medical term for broken bones. It means that a bone has cracked, causing its complete or partial separation at the fracture spot. The hip, wrist, and ankle are especially prone to fractures.

Fractures occur when extreme pressure is put on bones. This could be caused by trauma from a fall or a hit, sports injuries, and vehicle accidents.

Also, bones that are weak and brittle are more prone to fractures. 

Causes of weak, fracture-prone bones include prolonged use of drugs like corticosteroids, lack of calcium in diet, and medical conditions such as osteoporosis, arthritis, and osteogenesis imperfecta.

Broken bones cause severe symptoms such as pain, swelling, a burning sensation, bleeding, immobility, and eventually deformity.

Since bones are living tissue, damage hinders their normal function. So, healing bones to boost the formation of new bone tissue is crucial.

Medication, immobilization, physical therapy, and sometimes surgery are all forms of bone treatment.

Medication helps with pain relief and any resulting infections. Physical therapy and immobilization are key in the fracture healing process, while surgery helps with bone structure reconstruction.

Aside from these conventional bone treatment options, science has discovered that red light therapy can deliver similar benefits for broken bones.

3. How Does Red Light Therapy Help with Broken Bones?

Red light therapy helps with broken bones by boosting the regeneration and functioning of the key components of bone. 

Specifically, red light therapy helps with fractures by:

Promoting Collagen Production

One of the well-documented benefits of red light therapy is boosting collagen production. 

Studies have shown that both low-level red light therapy (LLLT) and infrared light therapy increase collagen expression in human cells.

When a bone is fractured, the body produces different types of collagen to facilitate healing. Collagen types II and III help in the early stage of healing, and collagen type I in the later stages. 

Collagen performs key functions in fractured bone healing:

• It directs bone-forming cells (osteoblasts) to the fracture spot. These cells deposit the necessary minerals for new bone regeneration.
• It creates the necessary crosslinks for bone tissue repair and reduces the effects of the fracture on the surrounding tissues.
• It creates the surface (mineralized bone matrix) for the deposit of calcium phosphate to create new bone tissue.
• It forms the initial callus around the fracture which then matures into hard bone callus.
  

Boosted ATP Production

Increased adenosine triphosphate (ATP) production is one of the core biochemical processes activated by the absorption of LED light by the mitochondria.

In bone healing, ATP performs several functions:

• It stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of bone-forming and connective tissue cells (osteoblasts and fibroblasts).
• It enhances blood flow to the fracture spot.
• It initiates the production of increased growth factors for new bone formation.
• It supports the production of the energy that cells need to support bone healing.
• It promotes angiogenesis, or the formation of new blood cells to deliver the oxygen and nutrients required for bone healing. 
• It regulates the inflammatory response after a fracture to keep it at the levels required for healing.

Research with 660nm red LED light wavelengths and 830nm near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths reported a significant increase in ATP production. As a result, fibroblast and osteoblast cells were more effective in boosting healing through accelerated bone callus formation.

Bone density, or bone mineral density (BMD), refers to how much calcium and other essential minerals are in your bones. It is also described as bone mass.

1. What is Osteoporosis?

Osteoporosis is bone degeneration characterized by fragile and brittle bones due to tissue loss. It usually manifests when the formation of new bone tissue does not keep up with the breakdown of old bone tissue.

2. How Red Light Therapy Helps with Osteoporosis

Red light therapy can help with osteoporosis treatment as a preventative or remedial option through these processes.

Activating Bone Morphogenetic Proteins (BMPs)

Bone morphogenetic proteins are growth-signaling molecules that regulate bone and tissue development to speed up healing.

In osteoporosis-related bone healing, BMPs have these two core functions:

• They signal mesenchymal stem cells (found in bone marrow) to differentiate into bone-forming cells (osteoblasts).
• They speed up bone regeneration through boosted bone cell activity. This quickens bone healing from osteoporosis thinning or fractures.

In vitro studies have found that 850nm near-infrared light intensity stimulated osteoblasts. This activated the bone morphogenetic proteins, like cytokines, speeding up bone regeneration. 

Regulating Osteoblasts and Osteoclasts Production

Osteoblasts are the cells that trigger the growth of new bones and cause healing to damaged ones. 

Osteoclasts are the cells that break down and dissolve old and damaged bones to make way for new bone tissues. 

In osteoporosis, osteoclasts are hyperactive and overpower the function of osteoblasts, accelerating bone density loss.

LED phototherapy has been shown to regulate the functioning of both cells.

A study found that photobiomodulation therapy (PBM) with 635nm light-emitting diode irradiation reduced the number of osteoclasts. It also slowed down bone breakdown and reabsorption.  

This means that LED red light is promising in preventing bone loss due to osteoporosis and other bone diseases that cause increased bone breakdown.

Another study reported increased osteoblast activation and reduced osteoblast activity when red light wavelengths of 630nm and near-infrared light wavelengths of 810nm were used on two groups.

RLT enhanced bone tissue proliferation but reduced bone cell death (apoptosis). This controlled bone cell activity is key in reducing bone mass loss in osteoporosis.

1. RLT for Fractures and Bone Healing

Should you suffer a fracture or have been diagnosed with osteoporosis, red light therapy will promote faster bone healing. It enhances blood circulation and new bone regeneration. This happens thanks to increased ATP and collagen production.

Home-use red light therapy devices like the RedLiteX Pro Series panels can provide the targeted therapy sessions required for your home care. Their varied sizes offer a selection for smaller wrist or ankle fractures or larger ones at the spine (perish the thought!).

2. For Fracture-related Sprains 

Sprains don’t count as broken bones. However, a stretched or torn ligament often comes with fractures. It can slow down bone healing.

Red light therapy has shown it can accelerate sprain healing. A study with near-infrared 830nm LED phototherapy significantly accelerated sprain healing in all participating university athletes without side effects.

The athletes had a faster return-to-play, thanks to the ability of LED light to control inflammation, repair tissues, and relieve pain.

Portable red light therapy panels like the RedLiteX Mini have both red light wavelengths (660nm) and near-infrared light wavelengths (850nm). This combination makes the device perfect for delivering at-home targeted light therapy for both sprains and fractures.

3. For General Bone Health Wellness

Even if you never get fractures and sprains, overall well-being for bone health is crucial.

You can add red light therapy to your regular wellness routine for bone density improvement and keep the risk for osteoporosis in check.

On the one hand, regular red light therapy for bone health will stimulate osteoblasts to trigger new bone regeneration and healing for damaged ones.

On the other hand, RLT will control osteoclasts to prevent accelerated bone breakdown and absorption.

In this case, a full-body red light therapy panel is a great choice. The RedLiteX Pro RL1500 panel, with its 300 LEDs and >216mW/cm² optical irradiance, will provide comprehensive light treatment. This will boost overall musculoskeletal health.

Conclusion

Does red light therapy help with bone healing and fractures? Can red light therapy improve bone density?

Science suggests it can, and it does.

By activating bone-forming cells and controlling those that break down cells, RLT can prevent and remedy osteoporosis. 

And for broken bones, RLT promotes collagen production for new bone tissue. It also enhances ATP production for enhanced blood flow to the fracture area, accelerating bone healing.

That said, it is crucial to consider that, while in vitro and in vivo studies have shown photobiomodulation has positive results on bone healing, research is not yet conclusive. 

This is because the existing studies have been done on animals. Experts still need to conduct human studies for a definitive confirmation.

So, for the best and safest results, always seek medical advice before using red light therapy for fracture and bone health.

Sources

1. NIH: What is Bone?
2. Johns Hopkins: Fractures
3. JAAD (2019). Low-level red and infrared light increases expression of collagen, elastin, and hyaluronic acid in skin. Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology
4. Quirk BJ, Sannagowdara K, Buchmann EV, Jensen ES, Gregg DC, Whelan HT. (2016). Effect of near-infrared light on in vitro cellular ATP production of osteoblasts and fibroblasts and on fracture healing with intramedullary fixation. J Clin Orthop.
5. Escudero, J.S.B. et al.(2019). Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) in bone repair: A systematic review.
6. Luger EJ, Rochkind S, Wollman Y, Kogan G, Dekel S. (1998). Effect of low-power laser irradiation on the mechanical properties of bone fracture healing in rats.
7. Mayo Clinic: Osteoporosis
8. NIH: Bone Mineral Density Tests: What the Numbers Mean
9. Kanakaris NK, Petsatodis G, Tagil M, Giannoudis PV. (2009). Is there a role for bone morphogenetic proteins in osteoporotic fractures?
10. Peng, J., Zhao, J., Tang, Q. et al. (2022). Low-intensity near-infrared light promotes bone regeneration via circadian clock protein cryptochrome.
11. Lim HJ, Bang MS, Jung HM, Shin JI, Chun GS, Oh CH. (2014). A 635-nm light-emitting diode (LED) therapy inhibits bone resorptive osteoclast formation by regulating the actin cytoskeleton.
12. Chang B, et al. (2019). The Effects of Photobiomodulation on MC3T3-E1 Cells via 630 nm and 810 nm Light-Emitting Diode.
13. Foley J, Vasily DB, Bradle J, Rudio C, Calderhead RG. (2016). 830 nm light-emitting diode (LED) phototherapy significantly reduced return-to-play in injured university athletes: a pilot study.