Light Therapy for Peripheral Neuropathy

Peripheral neuropathy is a condition in which the nerves serving your arms and legs become damaged, causing numbness, a loss of sensation, pain and/or difficulties with motor control, according to MedlinePlus. While there is some compelling evidence that pulsed infrared light therapy (PILT) can ease the symptoms of this condition, a study on another light therapy technology---monochromatic infrared photo energy (MIRE)---shows that form of treatment to be largely ineffective.

Risk Factors

• It's not always easy to identify the cause of peripheral neuropathy, according to MayoClinic.com. However, there are a number of risk factors and illnesses that sharply increase your chances of experiencing this condition. Near the top of the list are diabetes, which causes extensive nerve damage; traumatic injury to the nerves; and alcoholism and the poor eating habits with it, which often lead to nutritional deficiencies that damage the nerves. Other possible causes include autoimmune diseases, such as lupus and rheumatoid arthritis; exposure to toxins; tumors; viral or bacterial infections, such as Lyme disease, shingles and HIV/AIDS; and vitamin deficiencies.

PILT

• If you're suffering from peripheral neuropathy and are looking for relief for your symptoms, consider the case of David A. Arnall, professor of physical therapy at East Tennessee State University. Arnall, according to an article in the July 2007 issue of BioMechanics, struggles with peripheral neuropathy caused by diabetes. Although he describes himself as a skeptic, Arnall claims that PILT relieved the symptoms of his neuropathic feet when all other methods of treatment had failed.

  Arnall and a group of colleagues conducted a study of PILT, the results of which were published in the May 2006 issue of Acta Diabetologica. The study evaluated the effects of PILT on 22 Spanish test subjects, all of whom suffered from diabetes-related peripheral neuropathy. The study concluded that "PILT, when administered for 30 min/day for three days per week for eight weeks, is a viable non-invasive treatment for chronic and profound losses in PPS [peripheral protective sensation] in patients with long-standing diabetes mellitus."

MIRE Therapy

• Another type of light therapy technology seems less likely to give you the relief you're seeking, according to a study led by Lawrence Lavery, a Texas-based doctor of podiatric medicine. Lavery's study, the results of which were published in the February 2008 issue of Diabetes Care, evaluated the effectiveness of MIRE on diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Sixty-nine patients with peripheral neuropathy were randomly assigned to active and sham treatment groups. The active group received at-home MIRE therapy over a period of 90 days, while the control group received sham treatment. At the end of the study period, Lavery and his colleagues concluded that the "MIRE therapy provided no more improvement in peripheral sensation, balance, pain or quality of life than sham therapy."