How to Use Red Light Therapy for Joint Pain & Recovery — Kineon MOVE+ Honest Review

I've had my ACL reconstructed, my kneecap broken in half, several herniated discs, and two torn calves. It's safe to say that I've beaten my body up pretty badly. So finding things that actually help my body recover and telling you which ones are actually worth it, it's kind of become my thing, which is why in today's video I am so excited to talk to you guys about the Kinéon Move+, which Kinéon sent to me to test out. But of course, as always, all opinions in this video remain my own. And I gotta be honest, I've been putting this thing through its paces the past 3 months, and I have some thoughts I wanna share with you guys about it. And the honest question I want to answer in this video isn't, does red light therapy work? It's more that I want to answer the question of if the Move+, a $500 device, is actually worth it for a real person with a real budget and a real nagging or chronically popping up injury. And I've got all 3 answers for you. So let's dive in. So if you're dealing with some sort of injury or pain like neck pain or a tendon injury, ligament injury, joint issue, or if you've dealt with that stuff in the past and maybe have some lingering effects, I think that something like this device can genuinely help. Help you. So I will be judging the Kineon Move+ on 3 pieces of criteria: does the science actually hold up for this device? Does it easily fit into real-life applications so that you can use it consistently? And if it's actually worth the money. So let's start with, does this device actually work in the format that it's in? Now, a quick overview of the mechanism of how red light therapy actually works. So specific wavelengths of red and near-infrared light get absorbed by your cells, specifically the mitochondria of your cells, which you can think of as like the energy powerhouse unit. It can support healthy local blood circulation and help to regulate the body's inflammatory response. And that last one is big for a lot of us active folks who are pushing our body's boundaries. Red and near-infrared light can help dial down the messengers that drive swelling and soreness in the body. So when we talk about red light and recovery, that inflammation reduction component is really the through line here. Now, how does that actually translate into how this affects humans in different tissues in particular? Let's start with tendons. For reference, tendons connect muscles to bones. So for tendon pain, you can think of things like tennis elbow or patellar tendonitis or Achilles tendonitis, right? And for tendon pain in general, research shows that red light and infrared therapy can actually reduce inflammation in that tissue, therefore reducing pain and improving function. Now, the evidence here is still developing. So think of red light and infrared therapy as something that can be a great adjunct to strength training and normal rehab exercises. Rather than a replacement of those things. And like most recovery interventions, consistency is really key to seeing improvement. So for tendons, yes, red light and infrared therapy has a good amount of evidence showing that it is a big help. All right, so let's dig into muscle tissue. So some studies actually show that using red light and infrared light therapy around your workout timing can actually help to reduce muscle soreness and help you bounce back faster from heavy lifting sessions. But there's some mixed data here. So it's not 100% clear if this is replicable every single time. So I'm not going to tell you it'll definitely make you less sore in your muscle tissue if you plan to use it that way. But in reality, it might really just be a thing where it depends on the dose and the timing and the individual physiology of somebody. For me, it's personally become part of my normal workout routine. And I will talk about that in a second. But you know, for somebody else, it might not be as significant as it has been for me. Now let's talk about ligaments, and ligaments are the tissue that connects bone to bone. The thing with a lot of ligaments, and in particular the ACL, is that it sits really, really deep into the joint, and a light device that sits on top of your skin only can reach so far. It can usually reach like a superficial to moderate depth, reaching some tendons, definitely the joint line, definitely some muscle tissue around that area. And while the Kineon Move+ can actually reach a lot deeper than other commercial red light devices out there because of its design and its powerful lasers, which I will get into in a second, the amount of light that's going to reach the deeper tissues, like a ligament within a knee, is going to be so minimal in comparison to what's getting treated on more of the superficial layers of the joint. But I will say that oftentimes inflammation doesn't just stay completely localized to the tissue that's damaged. For example, when you tear a ligament, there are other tissues around that area that get affected and something like the Kineon can potentially help to mitigate the inflammation as a whole in that area. Which brings me to the broader scope of how red light and infrared light therapy can help with inflammation in general. Across multiple studies, these particular wavelengths of red light and infrared light therapy have been shown to support a healthy inflammatory response, which may contribute to reduced discomfort and improved recovery. So I'd say that's the most defensible way to look at something like a device like the Kineon Move+. So to be clear about what red light therapy probably can't help with, it's not going to completely heal a tear or replace surgery. If you fully rupture like a tendon or ligament, it's definitely not going to reconnect it for you. Now, as I mentioned before, the Kineon Move+ does reach a lot deeper than other LED-only based devices, particularly because it combines near-infrared lasers with LEDs in a targeted and compact design. Even with deeper penetration, light does have its limits. That's why I like to think of the Move+ as a tool that can help to support the healing of muscles, tendons, and soft tissue around an injury, but not necessarily something that's going to repair severe structural damage itself. This is one that I see very commonly as a coach. If a joint hurts because you're loading it incorrectly or a strength imbalance, then something like a red light or infrared light therapy is just a band-aid. The fix would really be to adjust the loading and the structural imbalances. So another thing I want to address is the different types of devices, right? So we have the Kineon Move+, right? And that's a very targeted device. Then we We have things like panels and wraps, right? And the thing is, they're all great for certain things, but most people tend to purchase the wrong one for their unique need. So let me break down some of the differences here. So panels are big flat lights that you sit or stand in front of. They're your best option for large areas of whole body exposure, like your whole front or your entire back, or general skin and surface level recovery. And they're generally easy to build into like a daily habit of using them. The only catch is that they're not contact-based. You see, the light travels through some air before it reaches you. Some of it reflects off your own skin and then spreads out so that the amount actually reaching a deeper target is lower unless you are right up against it. So it's great for broad surface level targeting, but definitely not the tool to drive deep into one specific area. Now, red light wraps are flexible pads with red light paneling that you can actually wrap onto a body part. They are a step up when it comes to actually targeting a specific part of your body because it's sitting directly on the skin. So it's great for something like a calf, a quad, your whole shoulder. And generally speaking, they're comfortable, they have decent coverage, and they're fairly convenient to use so long as the wrap is fit to the area that you want to strap it onto. But I will say most red light wraps tend to be LED only, and that light in general is more diffuse and reaches surface level for the most part. Now moving on to targeted contact devices like the Move+. It's small, but it combines medical-grade lasers and LEDs, and you can clamp it directly onto the spot and tighten it down onto that spot. Now, the particular pressure you can apply with the Kineon Move straps isn't just to help it stay put. That pressure actually helps to drive the light deeper into the area that it's contacting. And this is important because your blood and the water in your tissue absorb and scatter light. They're the main things really standing between the light and its target. It helps to just deliver a consistent level of therapeutic wavelengths directly to your targeted area. So if you're looking to get more whole body coverage, maybe at a lesser strength, or maybe just target surface levels like the skin, then something like a panel is going to be great for you. If you want to cover something like a whole limb or your back on a budget and get a decent dose of strength, then something like a wrap is going to be great. But if you're really wanting to drive that light into a specific targeted area and get deeper into the tissues, then I would suggest something like the Kinéon Move+. Now I have personally found the Kinéon Move+ to be part of my daily habits and routines at this point, and I use it in a variety of different ways. So I wanna share with you guys how I go about using it and for what particular things. One of the big ones for me is somebody who has had ACL reconstruction surgery and kneecap fracture and just a lot of trauma in that knee in general. Still to this day, sometimes when I lift heavy or load up my training volume too fast, something called my infrapatellar fat pad gets a little angry with me and makes my knee very inflamed and just not happy. And that is really targetable by something like the Move+, because that is soft tissue inflammation that the light can directly reach into. For appropriate dosing, I use it twice a day for 15 minutes, no more than that, per body part, because you can actually overdo red light therapy to a point where you actually get declining benefits. So you want to follow the dosage instructions on the device. Now, I also use the Kinéon Move+ twice a day on my neck, in particular my scalenes, because I have a lot of neck tension usually that's pulling my neck from volleyball and it just doesn't feel great and I get radiating pain down my back. So I've been using the Kinéon Move+ in both these areas of my neck because the scalenes are both muscles. It does a great job of reducing inflammation and therefore eases some of that tension in my neck. It's been reducing a lot of tension headaches. I'll sometimes even run it near my C5 vertebrae where I have a herniated disc. And while something like the Canadian Move+ isn't like necessarily healing my herniated disc, it is helping to reduce some of the inflammation in the area, which can reduce the pain and the discomfort. I also use it after volleyball on my low back, which feels absolutely amazing. Um, for any kind of volleyball player or sport that requires a lot of rotational movement and twisting, those muscles can be really easily aggravated and fatigued. Fatigued. So I usually will put it on my low back and do that twice a day as well. I sometimes even use it before my activity to help with a little like almost pre-sport activation of that area. I'm not claiming it's boosting my performance per se, but it does seem to help my low back muscles feel really good going into practice. Now some pros and cons of the device in general I want to share. One of the pros is that it is incredibly portable. This thing is so easy to bring along with me. It comes in this nice little carrying case. Second thing that I love is that it's modular. I can reconfigure it for a variety of different body parts. I can I can use one laser, I can use two, I can use all three. I can place them vertically, horizontally. So there's so many different variations you can do to make it fit different areas of your body and serve whatever your needs are. Also, the strap system is built really, really well and it stays in place. When you tighten a strap, it's going to stay there. There's little loops you can put the flaps into if you want to, but I haven't had any issues when I've tightened it down for it to stay put where I need it to stay put. And because of that, I love that it's hands-free. I can put this thing on, I can walk around with it. I can do whatever and it feels great. Sometimes I even put it on before I'm driving to, again, the gym or volleyball or just wherever, and it's just on my leg or on my shoulder or on my neck. Another thing I want to mention is that I've had no issues with battery life. It lasts a long time. Um, I haven't really paid attention to how many uses I get before I have to charge it, but it's been quite a few uses. And when you do need to charge it, you just plug it in, in its case, it's good to go. So the only negative I will mention about this device is the fact that it has this kind of loud chirping and buzzing when you turn it on and when it ends. I understand why they do that. It's so that you know the session's done and it's finished. So it doesn't, you know, just like having it on and realizing like, oh, it's been done for 20 minutes. But if you're like doing something relaxing, like sometimes I'll use this at the end of the day, I'm reading a book, I put this on, I'm reading, I'm reading, it's 9:30 at night, I'm relaxed and I hear bzzz and it just kind of like buzzes and chirps. It's a little, it's a little, it kind of wakes you up for a second, but, um, you get used to it like anything. There is one more thing that in the beginning of using this, I kind of expected the device to heat up and have a sense of like warmth to it, because with this type of light therapy, the effect actually comes from the light reaching the tissue, not necessarily from surface heat. These are designed to deliver output without cooking your skin. So it's something worth knowing if you're expecting kind of like a heating pad feeling, because that's not necessarily what you're going to get. But you're going to get deeper tissue healing essentially instead, which is a fair trade-off in my opinion. So who would benefit from something like the Kineon Move+ as opposed to like another type of red light device, like a panel or a wrap? Well, I would say it is well worth its money if you are dealing with something very specific or multiple areas in your body that are very specific areas, something like a cranky tendon or tension in your neck or an aggravated shoulder. And holding in mind that it is something that is a helper tool tool, not replacing your entire like therapeutic exercises or rehab protocol. And you should only get something like this if you know you can use it consistently, because that's where a lot of the benefit lives. And as far as how long of consistent use it takes for everybody, well, that's going to vary depending on the issue you have at hand. For me, I felt a big difference within a week of using consistently once or twice a day, but that could be sooner or later for some people. If you want to try something like the Kinéon Move+ for yourself, the link is down below in the description, and using code Victoria S. Dorsano at checkout gets you 10% off and it's backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. So you can order it, try it out for some time, and if it's not for you, you can send it back. I do earn a small amount of commission if you do order with my link down below. So thank you ahead of time if you do. It genuinely supports the channel. Again, one more ask I make before you decide to purchase this, commit to using it every day for a few weeks before you judge if it's working or not. Like most recovery tools, as I said earlier, you're gonna get the best results if you use it consistently for for a few weeks. And if you want more recovery advice or want to fine-tune your nutrition, your training protocol, your sleep, your stress, that is exactly what we do at Be Victorious Coaching. I'll put the link down below in the description if you want to book a call and chat about that as well. Until then, I'll catch you guys on the next one. Bye!