Title of article :
The Beneficial Effects of High-Intensity Laser Therapy and Co-Interventions on Musculoskeletal Pain Management: A Systematic Review
Author/Authors :
Ezzati, Kamran Neuroscience Research Center - Poorsina Hospital - Faculty of Medicine - Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht , Laakso, E-Liisa Allied Health Mater Research - Brisbane - Australia - School of Allied Health Sciences - Griffith University - Gold Coast - Australia , Salari, Amir Department of Orthopaedics - Orthopaedic Research Center - Poursina Hospital - School of Medicine - Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht , Hasannejad, Anahita Zahedan University of Medical Sciences , Fekrazad, Reza Department of Dentistry - AJA University of Medical Sciences, Tehran - Laser Research Center - Dental Faculty - Tehran University of Medical Sciences , Aris, Arash Department of Orthopaedics - Orthopaedic Research Center - Poursina Hospital - School of Medicine - Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht
Abstract :
Introduction: High-intensity laser therapy (HILT) has been used more recently in the therapeutic protocols of pain managements. Adding therapeutic interventions to laser therapy is usual in clinical
practice. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of HILT and beneficial effects of adding cointerventions to HILT in musculoskeletal pain management.
Methods: The following databases were searched up to August 2018: Medline, PubMed, EMBASE,
Cochrane, Google Scholar, Springer and ISI. The keywords of pain, HILT, high power laser therapy,
laser therapy, photobiomodulation, physical therapy and rehabilitation were searched. The quality of
the articles was assessed using the PEDro scale. The primary measure was pain severity expected to
be reported in all studies. Effect size was calculated as standardized mean differences divided by the
standard deviation of either the treatment or other group.
Results: Initially 52 potential studies were found. Eighteen of these studies were excluded based
on title and abstract. The full text of 34 remaining articles was screened and 15 of the studies were
excluded. All included studies had high quality (PEDro ≥7). Approximately, 94% of included articles
(n=18) revealed positive effects of HILT on pain. The effect sizes for HILT and placebo/comparator
groups were 0.9-9.11 and 0.21-11.22 respectively. Also, the differences of effect size between two
groups were between 0.03 to 5.85.
Conclusion: It is early to determine that HILT may be an effective non-invasive agent in the
management of musculoskeletal pain, as few studies have shown its clinical efficacy. Adding related
co-interventions to HILT may enhance the beneficial effects of laser therapy. The variability of the
study methods and outcomes suggests that further long-term follow-up, randomized controlled
clinical trials with appropriate methodological design are needed regarding the effectiveness of HILT on pain.
Keywords :
Musculoskeletal pain , Laser therapy , Rehabilitation , Intervention
Journal title :
Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences
