Photobiomodulation, What It Is, How It Works and What the Research Says

Where Photobiomodulation Comes From

In 1967, Hungarian surgeon Endre Mester was testing whether laser light could cause tumours in mice. It did not. Instead, the mice he treated grew their hair back faster and healed wounds better than the untreated group. He called it laser biostimulation and spent the following decade documenting what he observed across hundreds of experiments.

Two things brought PBM to wider attention. Cheaper LED technology in the 1990s made devices affordable for the first time. NASA-funded wound healing research in the early 2000s produced English-language studies that Western clinicians actually read. The therapy has had five official names since 1967. Photobiomodulation is now the internationally accepted clinical term, agreed by international photomedicine organisations in 2014.

How Photobiomodulation Works, The Cellular Mechanism

PBM works through a specific biological process, not through heat or general light exposure. Inside every cell in the body is the mitochondria, the part of the cell responsible for producing energy. At the end of the mitochondria's energy production chain sits a protein called cytochrome c oxidase.

This protein has a specific property, it absorbs particular wavelengths of red and near-infrared light. When photons at the right wavelengths hit this protein, they activate it. This is the foundational mechanism of photobiomodulation.

What activation triggers

• Cellular energy production increases. Cells that were running on depleted energy start producing adequate fuel again.
• Nitric oxide is released. This widens blood vessels and improves circulation to the treated area.
• A controlled burst of reactive oxygen species activates the cell's own repair and anti-inflammatory programs.
• Gene expression changes, switching on built-in repair genes whose proteins continue working for hours to days after the session ends.

Red Light vs Near-Infrared, Why Both Matter

Red light, roughly 600 to 700 nanometres, is absorbed by surface tissue and is well suited to skin conditions, wound healing and surface inflammation. Near-infrared light, roughly 780 to 1100 nanometres, travels significantly deeper, reaching muscles, tendons, ligaments, joints and the nerves running through them.

The GigaLaser delivers red light at 650nm and near-infrared at 830nm, penetrating up to 12cm into tissue and reaching structures including the uterus, ovaries, pelvic floor and major joints.

What the Research Currently Supports

The evidence base for photobiomodulation is extensive but uneven. Some conditions have robust clinical trial support, others have promising early evidence.

Strong clinical evidence

• Knee osteoarthritis, with a 2025 umbrella review covering more than 9,000 patients.
• Fibromyalgia, with benefits still measurable at six-month follow-up in the strongest RCT.
• Tendinopathy, supported by a meta-analysis of 25 randomised controlled trials.
• Oral mucositis, formally included in international clinical oncology guidelines.
• Post-exercise recovery, supported by a systematic review of 46 RCTs.

Growing evidence

• Fertility support, including the Ohshiro 2012 study showing a 22.3% pregnancy rate in 701 women with severe infertility.
• Neuropathic pain, confirmed by a 2025 systematic review of central nervous system mechanisms.
• Transcranial PBM for early-stage Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and traumatic brain injury research.