Discover the latest 2025 research on red and infrared light therapy for dogs, focusing on optimal wavelengths (630–660 nm red, 810–850 nm infrared) and treatment durations of 5–15 minutes per area. Watch me demonstrate my Hooga mask, neck piece, pulse laser, light box, and BioLight stand on myself and my French bulldog, Piper, to support his skin, joints, and ear infection. Backed by studies (Santos et al. on osteoarthritis, Hoisang et al. on wound healing), learn how photobiomodulation can complement veterinary care. Always consult your vet before use.
00:00So this is Piper chilling out with the neck piece of my hygge red light therapy mask and neck piece.
00:08And the good thing about the hygge is it uses both red and infrared light therapy.
00:12Hi guys, lately I've been getting a few questions on the use of red and infrared light therapy for dogs.
00:32So I thought I should jump on and do an update because the first video I did on red and infrared light therapy for dogs,
00:40Piper was a tiny puppy and he's now over five years old and research in this area is always evolving.
00:47So in today's video, we're going to look at what the latest research is saying in terms of the best wavelengths for treating your dog
00:55and also how long to treat your dog for.
00:58I'm going to be showing you my red and infrared light therapy home devices that I use on Piper.
01:04And we're also going to be looking at a couple of strong studies that support the use of red and infrared light therapy
01:09for dogs.
01:10So it's important to realize that or to remember that red and infrared light therapy is an adjunct treatment.
01:17So it's always best to follow your vet's advice and do what your vet says in terms of medications and treatments for your dog.
01:26Red and infrared light therapy is an adjunct treatment to support your dog's healing and well-being.
01:31So the latest research for this therapy is suggesting that the best wavelengths to use are for red light therapy,
01:40the best wavelengths from about 630 to 660 nanometers.
01:44And for infrared light, the best wavelengths are from about the 810 to 850 nanometers.
01:52And they seem to be the best wavelengths to support, you know, reducing inflammation, support dogs healing and for pain relief.
02:02And typically sessions would last from between 5 to 15 minutes per area, depending on the device you're using and the strength of the device.
02:14So all these devices are of differing strengths.
02:17These two that I'll show you in a minute would be the lower strength devices.
02:23So I would probably use them for about 15 minutes.
02:26This handy pulse laser is a strong device.
02:30I would probably only use this for 5 minutes per area.
02:33So it does depend a little bit on the device, what you've got at home, whether you've got a strong device or not.
02:39And there are red and infrared light therapy devices specifically made for dogs.
02:44So if you do purchase one of those, they will surely have instructions as to what times they would recommend according to the device.
02:52So that's what the latest research is saying.
02:55Red light therapy wavelengths from 630 to 660.
02:59Infrared from 810 to 850.
03:02Sessions lasting typically from 5 to 15 minutes.
03:06Red and infrared light therapy are becoming a lot more mainstream than even 5 years ago when I did the first video about red and infrared light therapy for dogs.
03:18A lot of us now have these home devices that we use, including myself, I have a few.
03:25And I've also got that awesome neuronic helmet that dogs do not go anywhere near that helmet.
03:32That's why I don't have it here with me right now.
03:35But I do use my neuronic light helmet every evening now to support sleep and to reduce headaches.
03:42And it is fantastic.
03:44So, but these are more for skin and this is for pain.
03:48So, if you follow this channel, you might have seen the video we did recently on my new hygge red light therapy face mask and neck piece.
03:58This is the neck piece part of it.
04:01So, this is so fantastic to be able to use on Piper and probably most dogs if they can tolerate something on them.
04:10So, it's nice and soft and it's quite light and it comes with this remote.
04:14So, if Piper's just chilling out in his bed or on the couch like he does, I can just turn this on and then I can go to the bottom and put the infrared light therapy function on.
04:26So, this is now giving him red and infrared light therapy.
04:29And the wavelengths of the hygge actually really support what the research says.
04:33So, the wavelengths of the hygge are 630, 660 and 850 for the infrared.
04:39So, it's actually perfect.
04:41So, I can just lay that on Piper as he's chilling out here.
04:46And the infrared light therapy is going to penetrate deeper.
04:49So, that's going to go down to sort of a deeper muscle tissue level.
04:54Whereas the red light therapy is not going to penetrate as deeply.
04:58So, that's best for skin issues.
05:00But this has got both.
05:01So, it's absolutely fantastic.
05:03And Frenchies are notorious for skin problems, for joint problems.
05:08So, this is just going to be able to support, you know, his back.
05:11And I can move it anywhere on him.
05:13I can just pop it down to his hips here.
05:15And, yeah.
05:17So, this is an example of a home device that, you know, I can also use on Piper.
05:23And I do imagine that because so many studies now show all the benefits of red and infrared light therapy for humans.
05:31I do imagine that most of them would equate to our furry friends as well.
05:37So, this is just one of them.
05:39Very easy to just put on Piper.
05:41Especially when he's like sleeping.
05:43Now, this one.
05:45This is the handy pulse laser.
05:47This is actually the device I used in the first video I did on red and infrared light therapy for dogs.
05:53And I did actually get a few comments warning me about you don't get this in dogs eyes.
05:59That is completely correct.
06:00So, this is a powerful laser.
06:02Do not get this in an animal's eyes.
06:05I use this to support my back.
06:08So, I strap it on like this for my lower back.
06:12Because lifting a toddler does not do wonderful things to my back.
06:17And I have had a disc replacement too.
06:20So, my lower back does get quite sore.
06:22So, I use this handy pulse laser for that.
06:25And the wavelengths on the handy pulse laser, they've got a few.
06:29It's 635, 875 and 905 actually for the infrared.
06:37So, that's going to penetrate quite deep.
06:40Now, this is fantastic for just holding against your dog for real targeted, you know, treatments.
06:49So, like I said, this is a stronger device.
06:51I would only use this per area for five minutes.
06:54And Piper does have long-standing ear infections.
06:58So, fungal infections.
06:59And in fact, that's the story behind his flop down ear here.
07:03He was scratching at it so badly that he caused an oral hematoma.
07:08Which the vet then had to operate on.
07:10And that's why his ear, sometimes it stands up like his other one.
07:16But most of the time it's now flop down.
07:18Which makes the fungal infection very hard to treat.
07:21Because he's not getting that air flow that his other ear is getting.
07:25So, this is fantastic to just hold to the back of his ear here.
07:30He's not a massive fan of this one.
07:33So, I do have to wait till he's pretty chilled out or pretty tired at the end of the day.
07:38Especially if the kids have been home all day and he does get pretty tired.
07:41That's when I can sort of treat the back of his ear for five minutes with this one.
07:46This would also be really good for like if your dog's got particular joint issues.
07:51Like sore knees or sore hips.
07:53Like if they're suffering from osteoarthritis.
07:56So, this is real targeted, you know, treatment here.
08:01Also, Piper suffers or has suffered from dermatitis to the back of his pores.
08:06This is another very common Frenchy thing.
08:09This is also fantastic.
08:10You can just hold it to the back of Piper's pores.
08:13And he tolerates that quite well.
08:15And again, so the research suggests the best treatments per area for five minutes.
08:21So, that would be five minutes per pore.
08:23So, then that would take us to 20 minutes total.
08:27But five minutes per area.
08:29These two are kind of in the same umbrella.
08:32So, what they're doing, this is my light box.
08:35And that's designed for, you can lie down on your bed and have the light box over you.
08:40So, it gets your face, neck and deck.
08:42And this one's actually got different colours to it too.
08:45So, it's got red, blue, green, sort of a purpley colour, aqua.
08:51A lighter green, white, or sort of white.
08:54And back to the red.
08:56So, this one and this one are kind of giving a more overarching, you know, bathing the dog's,
09:06a lot of the dog's body in red light therapy.
09:09And I don't know the wavelengths of either of these, unfortunately.
09:13Because I got this off eBay quite a few years ago.
09:16And this one's actually the first device I bought.
09:19And again, I don't know the wavelengths.
09:22I would have known them at the time, but I don't know them anymore.
09:25But look, it is red.
09:26I can see that it's red light.
09:28So, it would probably fall somewhere in that umbrella of the bands that would be useful.
09:34So, this one is fantastic actually for Piper.
09:37If he's lying on the couch or he's asleep, I can just pop this over him.
09:43And this one is a little bit further up, unfortunately.
09:46But this one's also a really good overarching treatment for him.
09:50And the instances I would use either of these, I mean, this one comes closer to his body.
09:57So, if I put this over his back, it would be helping his back if he's got any sort of back stiffness or hip stiffness.
10:05But I would primarily use these two for skin.
10:09And I would leave them running for a good 15 minutes.
10:12And in fact, this one and this one are really good for Piper's folds.
10:16Because Frenchies are notorious for problems with their folds as well.
10:21And the handy pulse laser, it's too risky to hold that close to his folds because it could get in his eyes.
10:27And this one, he would never tolerate wrapping this anywhere near his face.
10:33So, these two are really good if you've got a dog with any sort of skin issues near their eyes, mouth, face basically.
10:40Because this is giving, oh, that's my handy pulse laser going off.
10:44So, these two would be fantastic for overall skin issues.
10:49If they've got all body eczema or something, this would be absolutely fantastic.
10:54In fact, when my daughter was a toddler, she had a patch of eczema on her back that we were treating with steroid cream.
11:02And then it wasn't until I started popping the light box over her back for about 15 minutes every night that the eczema actually rapidly disappeared.
11:12So, I was very happy about that.
11:14But we were using steroid cream as well.
11:16But I really do think that the red light therapy definitely helped accelerate that process and get rid of that eczema.
11:22So, if your dog's got eczema all over, these two would be fantastic for the skin issues.
11:27So, they're the devices I use.
11:29Now, we're just going to briefly look at those studies that I said.
11:32I need my glasses for these.
11:34Whoops.
11:35So, it's really easy to find studies on red and infrared light therapy for dogs online.
11:42You just get in, pop it into Google.
11:44So, a couple that I just found, you know, one on wound healing.
11:50This was an assessment of wound area reduction on chronic wounds in dogs with photobiomodulation therapy.
11:57The key findings in this one were that dogs treated with 830 nanometre photobiomodulation had a almost 60% wound area reduction after 15 days or 56.98 wound area reduction after 15 days.
12:15And those were combined super pulsed multi-wavelength photobiomodulation.
12:20So, the wavelengths they used were 660, 875 and 905 nanometre.
12:26They had about a 61.8% wound area reduction compared to only 42.3% in untreated controls.
12:40So, that really supports what NASA says actually.
12:43NASA was one of the first organisations to look at red light therapy in terms of how it can help speed wound healing.
12:52So, the research does come from very esteemed institutions.
12:57And another study for, you know, red and infrared light therapy for hip osteoarthritis.
13:03This was a randomised double-blinded controlled trial on the effects of photobiomodulation therapy in dogs with osteoarthritis.
13:11So, the key findings were that dogs receiving PBM showed significant improvements in pain, pain severity score, function, gait and quality of life measures at multiple time points with better outcomes sustained through 90 days.
13:28So, joint range of motion was notably improved compared to the meloxicam only control group.
13:35So, as you can see from that, red and infrared light therapy was being a fantastic adjunct therapy for the dogs.
13:43And the key phrase there, I think, that I just read there was improved quality of life for dogs because dogs give so much.
13:55I mean, Piper adds so much to our family.
13:58Piper plays so well with Spencer.
14:01The kids absolutely love him.
14:03If anyone's had a stressful day, just cuddling this dog just sort of makes it feel so much better.
14:10And, you know, so much research for the benefits of dogs for humans like, you know, patting a dog can lower your blood pressure and do all sorts of lovely things for humans.
14:21So, they give us a lot.
14:23So, I think if we can give back to them, then it's just really good.
14:28And if red and infrared light therapy can support them in any way, like if it can speed their wound healing or if it can reduce their pain or reduce their inflammation and improve their quality of life, then I just think that's a wonderful thing.
14:42And you know what? Dogs know when they're being looked after.
14:46So, I'm guessing if you do start using or you want to use red and infrared light therapy on your dog in a safe way, under vet guidance is recommended.
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