The Complete Guide to Red Light Therapy for Athletes

Here’s how red light and near-infrared wavelengths can boost your muscle recovery.

No matter your sport or skill level, if you’re an athlete that gives 100% and is always pushing toward your goals then you know sore muscles and stiff joints well.

And while there’s no escaping this painful reality of human physiology, there are ways to speed up muscle recovery that will get you back in action faster and performing at a higher level.

New advancements in science and technology have led to worthwhile muscle recovery tools that are accessible for athletes of every stripe.

And of these new muscle recovery tools, red light therapy is growing more and more popular by the day.

Red light therapy uses low levels of red and near-infrared light to increase the function of mitochondria in your cells, which results in a boost to your muscle recovery process.

Here, we’ve put together the complete guide on red light therapy for athletes with everything you need to know about incorporating it into your training routine and daily life.

Here are the topics covered in this guide:

• What Is Red Light Therapy and Why Is It Used?

• How Does Red Light Therapy Work for Athletes?

• Where Can Red Light Therapy Be Applied on the Body?

• How Often Should Athletes Use Red Light Therapy?

• Is There Science to Back Up Red Light Therapy?

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Red light therapy uses red and near-infrared wavelengths to increase cellular function.

So, let’s get started with the basics.

What exactly are we talking about when we use the term red light therapy?

While there are a handful of different light therapies available today that address a variety of different conditions, red light therapy is used to stimulate your body’s natural healing process.

Red light therapy works by using low levels of red and near-infrared wavelengths of light to stimulate mitochondria in your cells.

Athletes use red light therapy to increase cellular function and boost muscle recovery.

This biochemical effect strengthens the mitochondria (where cell energy is created), allowing it to produce more energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

ATP is the organic compound that drives and supports cells as they carry out their many processes, including damage repair and tissue regeneration.

In other words, red light therapy increases the function of mitochondria to make more ATP, which provides cells with more energy to function more efficiently.

"Red light and near-infrared light stimulates the mitochondria in your cells, which in turn helps your cells perform more efficiently and leads to a wide range of athletic benefits."  

As you can imagine, this positive effect has proven beneficial in treating an array of conditions, such as body pain, inflammation, skin disorders, hair loss, insomnia, depression, anxiety and more.

When it comes to red light therapy and its use among athletes, however, the benefit that draws the most interest is muscle recovery.

Muscle tissue has an abundance of mitochondria, as it’s needed to power all of your movements, and this abundance of mitochondria is what makes muscle tissue especially responsive to red light therapy.

Red light and near-infrared light stimulates the mitochondria in your cells, which in turn helps your cells perform more efficiently and leads to a wide range of benefits, including muscle recovery, reduced inflammation, and increased athletic performance.  

Athletes use red light therapy to accelerate the recovery process in their muscles.

There’s a good chance you’ve seen a burst of red light therapy across social media lately, as interest in these devices continues to grow across many industries.

This includes the world of sports, where you might have seen one of your favorite athletes bathing in red light while touting the importance of muscle recovery.

Incorporating red light therapy into your muscle recovery routine is as simple as flipping the switch on your red light device and letting the red light bathe over your target area.

Red light therapy is typically used post-activity but can be used for warming up, as well.

Red light therapy devices produce both red and near-infrared light.

The red light you can see but don’t feel, while the infrared light is energy you can’t see but feel as a gentle heat.

Red light therapy is typically done post-activity, whether a workout, competition, or other physical activity, though it can also be incorporated before your workout as a warmup.

Using red light therapy both before and after physical activity has shown beneficial results.

"Incorporating red light therapy into your muscle recovery routine is as simple as flipping the switch on your red light device and letting the red light bathe over your target area."

It’s generally considered that 10 to 20 minutes of red light therapy is a suitable treatment duration.

And consistent use, such as utilizing red light therapy a few times a week, will help you reap full and noticeable benefits.

Many athletes that incorporate red light therapy into their routines report experiencing faster recovery times, less muscle soreness, better sleep, enhanced muscle tone, and an improved general well-being.

Red light therapy can be applied anywhere on the body.

For those of you that are new to red light therapy, it’s important to know that red light therapy is intended to be applied directly to your skin without any interference.

For example, if you wanted to utilize red light therapy to aid the muscle recovery of your legs, you would shine the red light at your legs, allowing your bare skin to bathe in the light.

Red light therapy works best when applied directly to your skin without any interference.

This treatment can be applied virtually anywhere on your body, as the devices produce very low levels of heat that won’t burn, cause discomfort, or damage your skin in any way.

Red light therapy is commonly used all over the body to address a wide array of conditions, injuries, and general wear and tear.

This includes muscle recovery, sprains, strains, localized pain, tendonitis, and much more.

Red light therapy has become a go-to treatment for joint pain among athletes.

Using red light therapy for treatment of joint pain has drawn considerable interest from many athletes as a non-invasive option.

Whether it’s discomfort in your knees, hips, ankles, shoulders, elbows, or wrists, red light therapy is an easy, safe, and effective way to target that pain.

Consistency is key when it comes to red light therapy.

Red light therapy has proven itself as a useful muscle recovery tool for athletes that’s easy to incorporate into your routine.

So easy, in fact, that you might find yourself wondering how often you can use red light therapy.

For starters, it’s important to note that there’s no way to accelerate your results using red light therapy.

In other words, more use does not equal more results.

Red light therapy is customizable and easy to incorporate into your routine.

The best course of action with red light therapy that will yield the most positive results is sticking to a consistent routine.

It’s generally recommended that athletes use red light therapy before and after activity to maximize effectiveness.

Using red light therapy for 3 to 5 minutes prior to physical activity will help to warm up your muscles, prevent injury, and boost overall athletic performance.

After physical activity, use red light therapy for 10 to 20 minutes to boost your muscle recovery.

Short and consistent sessions are all you need to see results.

Red light therapy works best when used several times per week for several weeks in a row.

If you’d like, you can extend your red light therapy treatment beyond the use of before and after physical activity, as it’s safe to use every day.

As we mentioned above, you won’t notice any extra benefits from exceeding the recommended treatment duration, but you will achieve greater results through consistent use.

Red light therapy is a science-backed method for muscle recovery.

For starters, it’s important to note that there isn’t a silver bullet currently available today that solves the problem of muscle pain, soreness, and stiffness.

When you physically exert your body, whether training hard, practicing hard, or competing hard, it’s going to take a toll.

So, of course, utilizing red light therapy won’t magically melt away your muscle soreness.

"Because this recovery process in the body is well-established and red light devices improve the conditions under which it occurs, red light therapy is considered a science-backed method for muscle recovery. "

But the red light therapy devices available today from high-quality brands are designed, tested, and scientifically backed to provide restorative healing and improved muscular performance.  

While your body naturally maintains a complex system of recovery that includes rest, rehydration, nutrition, repair, and resynthesis, red light therapy offers a boost to cellular function, which is key to carrying out these important elements. 

In other words, red light therapy is not introducing some farfetched, unproven recovery method to your body, but merely giving a boost to your natural recovery process.

Because this recovery process in the body is well-established and because high-quality red light devices are widely accepted to improve the conditions under which it occurs, red light therapy is considered a science-backed method for muscle recovery.

For a look at other great muscle recovery tools you can add to your recovery toolkit, check out our top picks for 2025.

Discover all of the best treatments and techniques that help athletes RECOVER.