Near Infrared (NIR) Light Therapy

Near infrared light (roughly 700–1100 nm), often paired with red light (625–700 nm), is the basis of a field usually called photobiomodulation (PBM), also known as low-level light therapy or low-level laser therapy. The proposed mechanism is that red and NIR light is absorbed by a mitochondrial enzyme (cytochrome c oxidase), which affects cellular energy production and can release nitric oxide, improving local blood flow. This is one of the more heavily studied light-based therapies, with hundreds of published trials across different conditions.

A 2025 umbrella review — a review of existing systematic reviews and meta-analyses — searched five databases for randomized controlled trials of PBM across multiple health outcomes. It found supportive evidence concentrated in a handful of areas, most consistently musculoskeletal pain and tendon conditions. Source: link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13643-025-02902-3.

A 2021 systematic review and meta-analysis specifically on tendinopathy (tendon pain and dysfunction) found that red/NIR PBM improved pain and function compared to sham treatment in randomized trials, though the authors noted evidence quality was mixed across studies. Source: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8364035.

A 2026 systematic review in Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience examined PBM for chronic pain conditions including fibromyalgia, headache, and neuropathic pain across randomized trials. A separate 2025 systematic review looked specifically at PBM for psychiatric and neurological conditions — depression, anxiety, dementia, and Parkinson's disease — describing the evidence as early-stage but promising in some domains. Sources: frontiersin.org/.../fnint.2026.1717372; pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11945382.

A 2023 systematic review focused specifically on safety — whether PBM used for skin rejuvenation carries oncologic risk — reviewed in vitro, in vivo, and clinical trial data and found no evidence linking PBM to new or recurrent malignancy at studied treatment parameters, though it rated the overall level of evidence as low (Level 4) by standard evidence-grading criteria. Source: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10309024.

PBM is one of the more researched light therapies, but quality still varies a great deal by condition. The umbrella review above is explicit that supportive findings cluster in certain areas (musculoskeletal, dermatologic) while other applications have thinner or more mixed evidence. Nearly every review in this space also flags the same limitation: studies use widely different wavelengths, doses, treatment schedules, and devices, which makes it hard to say what dose or device is "the" effective one, or to generalize a result from one study's specific LED or laser to a different light source.

None of the studies above were conducted on the Aura Matrix Elite, its phototherapy array, or the Aura Video Station 7's readings. Most used medical-grade LED or laser panels at specific, documented wavelengths and doses for a specific studied condition (a tendon injury, a wound, a mood disorder) — parameters that are not established for wellness-context exposure with a different device.

It's included here because it's the closest published, peer-reviewed research on NIR light and photobiomodulation that we could locate — not because it demonstrates anything about this product's effects on any specific person.