Ben Earl, Saracens and England rugby star, was hobbling off the pitch on crutches before the match against Harlequins could even begin in November 2023. A medical scan revealed that Earl had damaged the cartilage in his right knee during the warm-up. Within a few days, he was lying on the operating table.
Earl had suffered a damaged meniscus, which can require up to six months to recover from. Fortunately, an operation can reduce the recovery time required. And courtesy of a luxury performance centre in London, Earl was hiding an innovative trump card up his sleeve: a mysterious high-tech form of recovery that has grown in popularity among athletes over the past decade: red light therapy.
The science
Red light therapy, also known as ‘photobiomodulation’, refers
