Articles

Low Level Laser Therapy in Musculoskeletal Pain Syndromes: Pain Relief and Disability Reduction

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of low level laser therapy (LLLT) in symptoms and disability of patients with different musculoskeletal pain syndromes.

Materials and Methods: Treatment was performed in 35 patients (25 women and 10 men) between September 2001 and August 2002. The patients, ages ranged from 31 to 75 years (mean=54) suffered from different musculoskeletal pain syndromes. The majority of patients had been seen by orthopedists and general surgeons. Drug-based treatment and/or physiotherapy in all patients had poor results. Al pulsed GaAlAs (890nm) laser (peak output power 10 W in pulse mode) was used as monotherapy for the patients. The trigger points, access point to the joints, and striated muscles adjacent to relevant nerve roots were irradiated. The patients were evaluated for pain by visual analogue scale (VAS), 4-grade scale (4GS), vigormeter and for some disability indices (Oswestry for Low back pain, Lequsnes for osteoarthritis).

Results: This study showed the positive results in pain reduction of osteoarthritis of knee (78%), chronic low back pain (55%), lateral epicondylitis (66%), and subcalcaneous heel pain (50%) in the patients. Though the patients’ symptoms got better, there was no significant relation between pain reduction and disability index.

Conclusion: Treatment with 890 nm GaAlAs laser may be a modality of pain reduction in musculoskeletal pain syndromes. However, it would seem that monotherapy can not merely improve the disabilities in such patients and the combinations of other modalities are needed.