You’re doing everything by the textbook - training correctly, eating right, and staying consistent with your wellness and training goals. However, no matter how much sleep or rest you get, recovery may take longer than expected. This is where modern recovery tools like red light therapy at home and cryotherapy can help.
Both promise faster muscle repair, reduced inflammation, and better performance. But with so much information out there, it’s hard to know which one actually works best for your body and your lifestyle.
In this guide, our team at Rojo Light Therapy UK will help you figure out which method is worth your time, money, and trust.
Red light therapy and cryotherapy may both sit under the “recovery” umbrella, but their mechanisms, benefits, and practical use are vastly different. Let’s dive deeper into their main differences:
Red light therapy uses specific wavelengths of light, typically in the red and near-infrared spectrum, to stimulate the mitochondria in your cells. This process, known as photobiomodulation, enhances adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP) production, which helps accelerate tissue repair, reduce inflammation, and improve circulation.
It’s non-invasive, painless, and can be used daily at home with medical-grade LED panels or handheld devices.
In contrast, cryotherapy relies on exposing the body to extremely cold temperatures, usually between -100°C to -140°C, for a short duration. This sudden drop in temperature causes vasoconstriction (narrowing of the blood vessels), which temporarily reduces inflammation and slows down nerve signals that cause pain. Once you leave the chamber, your blood vessels dilate again, helping to flush out metabolic waste.
Simply put, red light therapy works from the inside out by supporting cellular function, while cryotherapy works from the outside in by managing systemic inflammation.
Red light therapy at home allows users to treat themselves daily with minimal setup. Quality devices are now widely available for personal use and can be integrated into morning or post-workout routines.
On the other hand, cryotherapy typically requires access to a specialised facility. Whole-body cryo chambers are expensive and not practical for most home setups. While there are portable cryo options like ice baths and cold packs, they don’t replicate the controlled conditions of full-body cryotherapy, and their effects tend to be more surface-level.
Red light therapy is silent, warm, and calming. Many users compare it to a light meditation session, with no discomfort or downtime. It's ideal for anyone who wants to relax while recovering.
Cryotherapy, by contrast, can be jarring, especially for first-time users. The intense cold can feel shocking to the system, and though sessions are short, they’re not exactly soothing.
Given that red light therapy can be used daily, it can support ongoing recovery rather than one-off relief. The cumulative effect of these consistent sessions can lead to deeper, more sustainable improvements in muscle repair and inflammation control.
Cryotherapy, while potentially useful in short bursts, especially after intense training, often lacks the consistency factor unless you have regular access to a clinic and the motivation to tolerate extreme cold regularly.
Cryotherapy dulls pain signals and lowers surface-level inflammation almost immediately after a session. This can be helpful if you're managing acute discomfort such as delayed-onset muscle soreness (DOMS). However, most of these physiological changes are temporary.
Once your body warms back up, inflammation may return, and the underlying tissue damage remains unaddressed.
For red light therapy at home, by contrast, the results are more gradual but also more foundational. By enhancing mitochondrial function and cellular regeneration, the treatment supports the actual repair of damaged muscle fibres and connective tissue. It also helps regulate the inflammatory response, rather than suppressing it completely.
Several clinical trials have found that post-training red light therapy treatments can increase muscular endurance, accelerate recovery, and reduce DOMS. Other studies have also found that the treatment may have a protective effect against exercise-induced oxidative stress, as it has been linked to reduced levels of muscle damage markers.
Yes. Some athletes and wellness professionals use both therapies in a complementary fashion. For example, they may use cryotherapy after intense workouts for quick relief and apply red light therapy daily to promote deeper healing. However, timing matters.
Using cryotherapy immediately after red light therapy could potentially counteract some of the pro-healing effects of light-based treatments by blunting the cellular response. If you do plan to combine them, space treatments out by several hours and use them with different goals in mind.
The right recovery method depends on your body, your lifestyle, your training intensity, and even your tolerance for discomfort. Below, we break down who’s best suited to each option
Red light therapy is particularly well-suited for:
Cryotherapy may be more appropriate for:
Both red light therapy and cryotherapy offer legitimate recovery benefits. However, for most people, red light therapy at home is a more sustainable solution. It supports your body’s natural repair processes, fits into everyday routines, and delivers consistent results without discomfort or ongoing costs.
At Rojo Light Therapy, we make professional-grade recovery accessible with advanced at-home devices trusted by athletes, physiotherapists, and wellness experts alike.
Explore our red light therapy devices today and experience recovery that lasts.
