Are You Considering a Red Light Therapy Bed for Your Business?

With the emergence of red light therapy in so many areas of health and wellness, many different types of devices have appeared on the market. Chances are, you are going to see some form of red light therapy offered at a healthcare provider’s offices or a local gym or spa. The devices used in each business may vary greatly depending on space availability, budgeting and patient/client needs.

If you are interested in adding Red Light Therapy to your business or practice, making the most informed decisions on whether a bed or panel is a good fit is key. The first step lies in examining some of the key advantages as well as logistical considerations of having a red light therapy bed in your space, and how this type of setup compares to other light delivery systems such as panels and pads.

What are the key advantages of a red light therapy bed ?

Among the greatest advantages of a bed is that it covers the whole body to a degree that cannot be matched by any other device on the market. Panels can only treat one side of the body at a time and often require the user to sit and stand for a treatment, so beds offer the gold standard in red light therapy treatment. We have nothing against red light panels of course, however commercial offerings will most often be of a higher quality and more elaborate than what is intended for home use.

Certain benefits conferred by red light therapy – specifically ones that involve the whole body – such as the immune system or nervous system or mitochondrial health – are best achieved with maximum body coverage. In this regard, a bed is incomparably superior to the partial coverage of smaller panels, pads or torches. A pad or torch can be a hit or miss on whether it can offer full body benefits, as it depends on whether the right depth of penetration was achieved and if the right area was treated. A bed immerses the user’s body in red and near infrared wavelengths, delivering whole body exposure from 360 degrees around, front sides and back - in one continuous blanket of light. This bathes the body in red light, irradiating the blood and creating maximum measured dosing. It is not by chance that elite sports teams and professionals have chosen to provide red light beds, as most athletic performance improvements are based on system-wide energization. There is no downside to treating the entire body, whereas there is a potential loss of whole body benefits when only a small or partial area on the body is treated.

Additionally, the bed can offer both targeted and whole body treatment simultaneously, as the user is close enough to the light source to achieve deeper Near Infrared penetration, so the targeting deeper treatment that panels can achieve is also accomplished with a bed.

We also would point out that from a client or patient’s perspective, the appeal of a bed is also a significant advantage when compared to other devices. The uniform coverage from head to foot with thousands of LEDs are very attractive features and clients will be assured that a professional-looking medical grade red light therapy bed is at the cutting edge of what is available.

The comfort of having a bed versus a large panel where clients or patients have to remain standing or sitting for the duration of the treatment is an important factor as well. Most people prefer to lie down and relax while the red light floods their body. Having to stand for anywhere up to 20 minutes will prove to be tedious for a lot of people. Whether your clients look forward to or not to their treatments may be a deciding factor in whether they are consistent with their treatments.

How else do Red Light Therapy Beds compare to Red Light Therapy Panels?

When comparing beds to panels, it is important to keep in mind that while panels have somewhat higher irradiance (the strength of light being emitted), the treatment distance with beds is far closer so it does not make much sense to compare them side by side. If the irradiance of a bed were as strong as a panel, it would be much too hot and intense. When compared to panels, it is important to consider this difference in proximity. Panels never touch the skin and are not designed to. Additionally, beds will have between 3600 and 45 000 LED’s depending on the model, compared to panels which have anywhere between 60 and 1200 LED’s – so the light density of beds is much greater than that of panels.

For clinics that are serious about red light therapy, and have the dedicated space available, a red light therapy bed makes good business sense due to its superior level of coverage, comfort level, light exposure and ease of use.

What is the cost of adding a Red Light Therapy Bed to my business?

Cost of course is always a factor and when they first came onto the market, red light therapy beds were prohibitively expensive, approaching between $70,000 and $100,000. Fortunately, the prices of beds have come down dramatically in recent years. With a price point starting at a much more affordable $29k, many clinics can now add them to their practices. Financing options and careful budgeting can make this a reality for many small and growing businesses.

What logistics should be considered with a Red Light Therapy Bed?

It is important to account for the space needed when introducing a device such as a bed into a clinic or commercial setting. While beds do take up more space than a panel on a wall, the space requirement of a bed is not substantially more than that of a massage table with a stand and light.

Whether it is with a panel or bed, any business that is serious about offering red light therapy may want to take into consideration the comfort of their patients/clients and dedicate the needed space to its use.

Some clinics can opt to dedicate an entire room to red light therapy, while others can use that room for other purposes if the red light bed is not in use. This can be a model for some businesses, whereas gyms and spas may have them in or near a locker room so the members can use them in those settings as well.

Another logistical consideration with installing a bed into a clinic or spa setting is that the device may require an electrical upgrade. Depending on the model of bed this may be the case, and fortunately this is a routine job for electricians and not an unusual requirement in a commercial space. Once the upgrade is performed, then that infrastructure will be in place, so it is a one-time cost that will require no further investment.

 If you are weighing the different options offered by various red light therapy device manufacturers, comparing products and taking key points into consideration is important. We welcome questions and are here to help you make the best decision.