SoLá Pelvic Therapy works differently.
It helps stuck muscles let go.
Remember the last time a muscle cramped in your calf? It locks up, it hurts, and it won't let go. Now imagine a cramp deep in your pelvis, day after day, with no way to stretch it out. For many women with pelvic pain, the pelvic muscles are stuck in protection mode. SoLá works differently: it sends gentle near-infrared light directly to those muscles to help them, and the cells inside them, get unstuck.
WHY PELVIC PAIN GETS STUCK
Why pain keeps going after the cause is treated
Pelvic pain often starts with a trigger, such as surgery, childbirth, an injury, endometriosis, or a bladder or bowel condition. Even after that trigger is treated, the pain can continue. Here is why:
1
Muscles guard
The pelvic floor muscles tighten to protect the area, and they stay tight.
2
Blood flow drops
Tight muscles squeeze nearby nerves and blood vessels, so the muscle gets less oxygen.
3
Pain signals build
Oxygen-starved, irritated muscles send a steady stream of pain signals to the spinal cord and brain.
4
The volume turns up
Over time, the nervous system becomes more sensitive to pain, which tightens the muscles even more, and the cycle repeats.
SoLá is designed to help break this cycle at the muscle.
INSIDE YOUR CELLS
What light does inside a muscle cell
This illustration shows what scientists believe happens during photobiomodulation. You don't need to know every label; just follow the numbers.
1
Every muscle cell is packed with mitochondria, tiny power plants that turn oxygen and nutrients into energy. One part of them, called cytochrome c oxidase, absorbs near-infrared light.
Light reaches the power plants
2
A brake is released
In stressed, oxygen-starved cells, a molecule called nitric oxide (NO) can stick to cytochrome c oxidase in the spot meant for oxygen. Inside the mitochondria, NO acts like a poison that jams the energy machinery. The light knocks NO loose, so oxygen can get back in.
3
Energy returns
With the jam cleared, mitochondria can make more ATP, the fuel your cells use for almost everything, including repair. ATP also sends signals (through cAMP and AP-1) to the cell's control center, the nucleus, to support recovery.
4
The "poison" becomes helpful
Once NO leaves the mitochondria, it does good work. It helps tight muscles relax and opens nearby blood vessels, bringing in fresh oxygen and carrying away waste.
5
Inflammation & nerves calm
Your body makes a chemical called prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) that inflames tissue and makes nerves more sensitive to pain. It is the same chemical that medicines like ibuprofen work to reduce. In placebo-controlled studies of people with tendonitis and low back pain, photobiomodulation lowered PGE2 levels. That can mean less inflammation and fewer pain signals reaching the nerves.
6
A wake-up call for repair
The light also creates a brief, tiny burst of signaling molecules called ROS. In healthy cells, this flips a gene switch called NF-κB that turns on survival and repair programs. In inflamed tissue, the light has the opposite, calming effect, turning inflammatory signals down.
Putting it together: relaxed muscles, better blood flow, and less inflammation work together to quiet the pain signals coming from the pelvis. Over a full course of treatments, the goal is to give an overloaded nervous system the chance to settle down. Most of what we know about how photobiomodulation works comes from laboratory research and from clinical studies of other painful conditions, such as low back pain, tendonitis, fibromyalgia, and knee and shoulder pain. SoLá's own clinical studies measure what matters most to you, which is your pain, but they were not designed to prove each step shown above. SoLá Pelvic Therapy is investigational and has not been evaluated or cleared by the FDA for the treatment of pelvic pain or other conditions. It is currently available through an IRB-approved registry. Learn More (Our Evidence)
Why the light comes from the inside
The pelvic floor muscles sit deep in the body, behind skin, fat, and bone. Light shined on the outside of the body can't reach them in useful amounts. The small SoLá's wand, about the width of a finger, rests gently in the vagina, right next to these muscles. Its two near-infrared wavelengths (810 and 980 nm) pass easily through tissue, and the vaginal lining has no skin pigment to block them. In laboratory testing, this approach delivered therapeutic levels of light to the depth of the pelvic floor muscles. The light is non-thermal and non-ablative: it doesn't burn or cut tissue.
Designed for Treatment in your Gyn's Office
For many women, treatment for pelvic pain means being referred outside their physician’s practice for uncomfortable therapy in an unfamiliar clinic. SoLá Pelvic Therapy offers a simpler alternative—allowing treatment to happen right in your gynecologist’s office, where care remains personal, private, and under the guidance of the doctor they trust.
Ready to Learn More?
There's nothing more reassuring than talking to someone when you have questions. Our team of SoLá Pelvic Therapy experts is here to answer your questions and help you break free from pelvic pain.