UNLV Football Adds Red Light Recovery Chambers
The Rebels installed four chambers at their training facility, and the program says injuries are down from this time last year.
Updated on Nov. 3, 2026 in Football
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Fans and players in the valley will see UNLV football recovery work differently now: the Rebels installed four red light therapy chambers in the recovery room of their training facility. The program says injuries are down compared with this time last year.
Why it matters
For Las Vegas residents who follow the Rebels, the change is a bet on recovery and injury prevention rather than a new roster or result. Whether the chambers are behind the lower injury rate has not been established.
The four chambers cost $12,000 each and were funded by private donations, compared with the program's injury rate from the same period last year. The reported decline is not quantified, and it remains unclear how much of it the therapy is responsible for.
The players
UNLV Rebels football
The UNLV football program installed the red light therapy chambers and reported the lower injury rate.
University of Utah
The university is named as one of the institutions behind a brain inflammation study tied to this research area.
BYU
Brigham Young University is named as one of the institutions behind a brain inflammation study tied to this research area.
The details
UNLV football installed four red light therapy chambers in the recovery room of its training facility, where players warm their tissue before practice. The chambers use red and near-infrared light in a process called photobiomodulation, a technology that dates to the late 1960s. The program says the injury rate has dropped compared with the same time last year, and it is considering red light helmets in the near future.
Timeline
Prior-year comparison period: this time last year
Benefits reported within the first four months after installation
Possible adoption of red light helmets in the near future
Beyond the Strip
Red light therapy has been around since the late 1960s, long before this installation. UNLV's program now applies that same photobiomodulation approach inside a Las Vegas training facility, though the devices are not FDA-approved.
If you follow the Rebels, expect practice and recovery routines at the UNLV training facility to include the new chambers. Whether that changes game-day availability for your favorite players is not yet known.
The takeaway
The reduced injury rate is encouraging, but the chambers' effect has not been isolated from other factors. Watch whether the program follows through on its considered red light helmets.
Further reading
For more on the team behind this recovery effort, see Football coverage across the valley.
Source note: This article includes information reported by Fox5vegas.
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