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Abstract
Objective: To assess the effectiveness of low-intensity laser therapy in the treatment of musculoskeletal
low back pain.
Design: A double-masked, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial.
Setting: A physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic.
Participants: Sixty-three ambulatory men and women between the ages of 18 and 70yrs with symptomatic
nonradiating low back pain of more than 30 days' duration and normal neurologic examination
results.
Intervention: Subjects were bloc randomized into two groups with a computer-generated schedule.
All underwent irradiation for 90 seconds at eight symmetric points along the lumbosacral
spine three times a week for 4 weeks by a masked therapist. The sole difference between
the groups was that the probes of a 1.06μm neodymium: yttrium-aluminum-garnet laser
emitted 542mW/cm
2 for the treated subjects and were inactive for the control subjects.
Main Outcome Measures: Subject's perception of benefit, level of function as assessed by the Oswestry Disability
Questionnaire, and lumbar mobility.
Results: The treated group had a time-dependent improvement in two of the three outcome measures:
perception of benefit and level of function. These results were most marked at the
midpoint evaluation (
p < .005,
p < .01) and end of treatment (
p < .017,
p < .001) but tended to lessen at the 1-month follow-up (
p < .10,
p < .004). Lumbar mobility did not differ between the groups at any time. All tests
were two-sample
t tests with unequal variances.
Conclusions: Treatment with low-intensity 1.06μm laser irradiation produced a moderate reduction
in pain and improvement in function in patients with musculoskeletal low back pain.
Benefits, however, were limited and decreased with time. Further research is warranted.
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Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
December 16,
1998
Received:
August 17,
1998
Footnotes
☆Supported by LaserBiotherapy, Inc., Dallas, TX.
☆☆No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.
Identification
Copyright
© 1999 Published by Elsevier Inc.
