By Karen Villarreal

RIO GRANDE VALLEY, TEXAS – SEPT. 15, 2025 – Arthritis aches? Joint pain? Sports performance needs? Red light therapy might be a solution – and a UTRGV faculty member is making it accessible with free, 10-minute sessions.

Under a glowing array of red and infrared lights, Rio Grande Valley community members are seeing the benefits of photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy for a variety of health complaints.

Originally set up in the office of Dr. Juanito Gonzalez, an applied exercise physiologist, the project has now expanded the new Red Light Wellness lab in Room 117A in the Health and Physical Education Building II (HPEII) on the UTRGV Edinburg Campus.

Dr. Juanito Gonzalez, associate professor in the UTRGV Department of Health and Human Performance, stands with some of the 15 high-powered photobiomodulation (PBM) arrays he uses to provide free, 10-minute red light therapy sessions to community members. (UTRGV photo by David Pike)

“Red light therapy is not only safe, but reduces inflammation from injury – which speeds recovery,” said Gonzalez, also an associate professor in the UTRGV Department of Health and Human Performance.

“Enhanced cellular functioning at the mitochondrial level improves energy stores, allowing the body to be more efficient at healing itself,” he said.  

However, the public’s access to PBM therapy is often limited by cost, as it is typically available in health spas or salons as a luxury skin treatment for increased collagen production – another beneficial PBM reaction.

Gonzalez, who is interested in red-light therapy’s sports medicine applications for performance, strength, and conditioning, said PBM is not a fad, but a therapy backed by more than 60 years of research.

For more than a year, he has been making the regenerative aspects of red and infrared light therapy available to RGV community members. A steady stream of guests curious about PBM’s benefits have signed up for free, ten-minute PBM sessions in the Red Light Wellness Lab.

Gonzalez and undergraduate Exercise Science student assistants operate the 15 high-powered PBM arrays and document participants’ changes ­as they research the noninvasive use of PBM for various conditions – weight loss, sleep improvement, nerve pain, as an alternative to cryotherapy, and for sports recovery. 

“It is very humbling when these individuals find relief from their pain,” he said.  “People share with me that they have tried other things – and nothing has worked – but now they are finding the quality of their daily lives improving.”

Dr. Michael Lehker, dean of the College of Health Professions, said improving the quality of daily living is part of occupational therapy.

A guest stands in one of the lab’s light arrays in Room 117A of the Health and Physical Education Building II (HPEII) on the Edinburg Campus. Dr. Juanito Gonzalez says red light therapy is safe and reduces inflammation, helping speed recovery from injury. (UTRGV photo by David Pike)

“Dr. Gonzalez’s Pre-OT students are getting excellent experiential learning experiences that bridge the gap between theory and application,” Lehker said. “We’re proud of this effort to apply their knowledge to benefit the Rio Grande Valley community.” 

 IN ‘LIGHT’ OF THE EVIDENCE  

After training athletes for more than 27 years, Gonzalez said he found the key to improved performance: recovery. He began researching PBM’s benefits when used before and after strenuous training.

He explains that PBM therapy makes use of the safe red and infrared wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum ­– between 630 nanometers and 850 nm ­– to stimulate the body’s regenerative properties.

“It’s a process similar to how our skin synthesizes vitamin D from the sun,” Gonzalez said. “Photons, or light energy, interact with photoreceptors located under the skin surface to trigger photochemical reactions at the molecular, cellular and tissue levels.”

Gonzalez says that while sunlight contains ultraviolet (UV) wavelength light of 180-315 nm that triggers the visibly harmful reaction of sunburn, ­ PBM therapy lamps only emit the safe and beneficial wavelengths.

“There is a large body of peer-reviewed research on PBM, but there are still discoveries to be made on these mechanisms,” said Gonzalez, who has published several articles on PBM in the peer reviewed National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) Coach Journal.

Now, he is actively seeking grants to expand the lab and its research scope. He said he hopes to start a project to document PBM’s positive impact on women’s mental and physical health. The lab will be carrying out a study on menstrual pain relief, offering red light sessions on the first three days of the participants’ cycle.

 “I know what Red Light Wellness has done for many women of the RGV these past two years,” he said.  “I am at a point in my life where it is a ‘calling’ that I feel I must do to impact more lives in the RGV.”

To learn more about PBM or to sign up to visit the Red Light Wellness Lab, email redlight.wellness@utrgv.edu or contact Dr. Gonzalez at juanito.gonzalez@utrgv.edu or (956) 665-2309.

Local high school students learn about PBM in the lobby of the Red Light Wellness Lab during a College of Health Professions immersive experience designed to help them explore careers in healthcare. (UTRGV photo by David Pike)