For years, athletic recovery lived in the background of performance culture—important, but rarely headline-worthy. Training programs focused on strength, speed, and strategy, while recovery was treated as an afterthought, something addressed only once the body broke down. That paradigm has been flipped over the last 20 years, driven by a new generation of athletes—and technologists—who understand that availability, durability, and marginal gains often decide championships, and the next contract.
Bradley Carden didn’t set out to become a disruptor in recovery technology. In fact, when he first encountered red-light therapy, he dismissed it outright. It sounded too simple, too fringe, too disconnected from the rigor of science and engineering that had shaped his career. “I thought it was BS,” Carden says plainly. “I didn’t believe it worked at all.”
Today, his company, Solbasium, is trusted by multiple NFL franchises, its technology visible on the sidelines of nationally televised games. What changed wasn’t Carden’s skepticism—it was the evidence. And in an industry where results matter more than rhetoric, that distinction has made all the difference.
Forged By Failure
Before Solbasium, Carden was already deeply embedded in the world of innovation. He had an obsession with science, technology, and engineering, and had previously launched a startup focused on wireless power—an ambitious venture that ultimately failed. The experience forced him to step back, reassess, and refine what he was truly looking to build.
“I always knew the next thing had to push the limits of what was already on the market,” Carden says. “It had to genuinely interest me, and it had to be real.”
That search led him—almost reluctantly—to light therapy. After dismissing it multiple times, Carden finally began reviewing clinical studies and peer-reviewed research. What he found surprised him: thousands of papers validating the effects of light on cellular function, inflammation, and recovery. “I couldn’t understand why nobody had really built meaningful products around it,” he says.
The final confirmation came not from a journal, but from his own body. After suffering a chronic elbow injury from jiu-jitsu, Carden tested an early red-light device. The pain vanished—and didn’t return. “That was it,” he says. “I knew this worked.”
The experience reframed his mission: build recovery technology that could stand up to real-world use, not just theoretical promise.
At its core, red-light therapy works by delivering specific wavelengths of light that penetrate the skin and stimulate cellular energy production. By activating mitochondria—the engines of the cell—it helps increase ATP (adenosine triphosphate) output, reduce inflammation, and accelerate tissue repair. ATP is the body’s primary energy currency. Every time a muscle contracts, tissue repairs itself, or a cell performs a basic function, it spends ATP. Higher ATP output means cells have more energy to do their work efficiently. The science has existed for decades, but until recently, the technology wasn’t engineered for consistent, high-performance use.
When Solbasium entered the market, recovery technology was largely defined by one breakthrough: the massage gun. Beyond that, options were limited, fragmented, or positioned more toward beauty and wellness than performance.
“Light therapy was basically missing from fitness recovery altogether,” Carden explains. “People were using it cosmetically, but not athletically.”
Carden saw a fundamental disconnect. Athletes were training harder, playing longer seasons, and facing greater physical demands than ever—but the tools designed to help them recover hadn’t evolved at the same pace. Simplicity, durability, and effectiveness were often sacrificed for novelty.
Solbasium’s approach was different. Instead of chasing trends, the company focused on building devices that athletes would actually use—products designed for repetition, wear-and-tear, and measurable outcomes. “If something breaks down or doesn’t deliver consistent results, pro teams won’t touch it,” Carden says.
That philosophy laid the groundwork for what came next: entering one of the most skeptical, data-driven environments in sports.
The LA Chargers train with Helios on-site, an important part of their recovery room. Trusted by the pros for deep recovery, year-round performance, and next-level resilience.
Earning Trust in the NFL, One Proof Point at a Time
Breaking into the NFL wasn’t a strategy—it was an uphill battle. Early outreach was met with silence or polite dismissal. “You could give it to them for free and they still wouldn’t respond,” Carden recalls. The breakthrough came unexpectedly, via a website inquiry from the Los Angeles Chargers. Carden initially assumed it was a prank. It wasn’t. The Chargers tested Solbasium’s Helios red-light bed, and feedback from players and staff quickly followed.
Then came the moment that changed everything.
“Khalil Mack reached out to us directly,” Carden says. “He told us he healed significantly faster—weeks ahead of schedule—and credited the bed.”
Soon after, Mack was shown on a CBS broadcast using Solbasium’s technology.“ Seeing that on live TV was surreal,” Carden says. “But more importantly, it validated that this worked at the highest level.”
From there, adoption accelerated. Today, several NFL teams are actively trialing Solbasium products, and red-light therapy in some form is now commonplace across league facilities.
Validation at the professional level was one thing. Translating that proof into daily training environments required a different kind of expertise. That bridge came in the form of Gunnar Peterson, whose decades-long career training elite athletes—from NBA champions to Hollywood’s most physically demanding roles—has given him a rare understanding of how recovery actually fits into performance.
For Solbasium, Peterson’s involvement isn’t about endorsement; it’s about application. His insight into how athletes train, break down, and rebuild informs how the technology is designed, used, and refined. “Gunnar has seen everything—injuries, plateaus, mistakes,” Cardon says. “He understands what athletes feel day to day, and that perspective directly shapes how we build.”
Innovation at the Margins—and the Future of Performance
As red-light therapy moves into the mainstream, Solbasium’s advantage lies in what Carden calls “leading, not following.” A majority of the company’s revenue is reinvested into research and development, resulting in innovations like integrating pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) therapy directly into red-light beds.
“Why make athletes jump between devices?” Carden asks. “Nobody wants that.”
The company’s work is guided by a belief shared across elite sport: championships are often decided by fractions. “A 0.5% improvement can be the difference between winning and losing,” Carden says. “Red-light therapy isn’t magic—but it gives athletes a competitive edge. That story matters because those small margins are everything in elite sport.”
Looking ahead, Carden sees recovery technology entering an era once reserved for science fiction. “There are patents and lab discoveries from decades ago that never made it to market because there wasn’t demand,” he says. “That’s changing now.”
For athletes, his advice is simple: stack recovery. “Red light, PEMF, massage, hyperbaric oxygen—when you combine them, the results compound.”
In a performance landscape where margins define legacies, recovery is no longer optional. And for Carden, what began as skepticism has evolved into something far more consequential: a system designed to keep athletes available, resilient, and just a little bit faster than the competition.
