Category: Practical

Recommendation LLLT has been used in many studies to treat knee OA. In a recent review article Fangel et al. 2019 found 14 articles of good enough quality to review 12 of which showed positive results in decreasing patient-reported pain. Below is the table of articles reviewed.   Laser P T THE NP PD ED EP…

Recommendation: In 2016 Li et al. wrote a meta analysis of the treatment of carpal tunnel with LLLT. They referred to a lack of consensus on the effectiveness of LLLT and hence the need for the review. Like many areas that laser has been applied to the studies in the carpal tunnel often included other…

Non Specific Neck Pain Non specific neck pain has been an area of contention in the literature. This controversy has largely come from reviews of the literature rather than from actual trials involving real patients. In 2021 Kenareh et al. compared laser (photobiomodulation) and ultrasound in the Treatment of Chronic Non-specific Neck Pain. In a randomized…

Recommendation: In 2020 Berry et al. performed a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study looking at the effectiveness of LLLT for treating lower back pain. They found 72.4% of subjects treated with the low-level laser achieved a ≥ 30% decrease in low back pain VAS scores vs. 27.6% of sham-treated subjects (44.8% difference; p<0.005). The mean decrease in…

Fibrous mass treatment (Morton’s Neuroma) In a 2020 review article on current treatments for Morton’s neuroma Thomson et al. found low level laser treatment of the condition to be limited in success.   However, studies using high intensity laser therapy have shown better results. In an earlier article Lana et al. (2017) looked at Morton’s neuromas before…

Improving muscular recovery following exercise is an area of great interest to many clinicians and athletes. Theoretically LLLT should be able to achieve this, however, most clinical lasers have been small units unable to cover a large enough area (in a suitable time frame) to achieve the goals of increased muscle recovery. More recently larger…

Recommendation: Laser has been shown in several articles to help recovery in Achilles tendinitis e.g. Naterstad et al (2018) showed LLLT prevented hemorrhage, reduced inflammation severity, and preserved tendon morphology. They went further and said LLLT showed a significant superiority over commonly used anti-inflammatory pharmaceutical agents in acute collagenase-induced tendinitis. In 2006 Carrinho et al. looked…

Rotator Cuff (supraspinatus/infraspinatus) Recommendation Haslerud et al. (2015) performed a review of the randomized controlled trials of LLLT in shoulder tendonopathy. They found that significant and clinically important pain relief was found with LLLT when used as a stand alone treatment over placebo,  and when LLLT was used as adjunct to exercise therapy. Global improvements…

Tennis and Golfers Elbow (lateral and medial epicondylitis)  Recommendation: In a review article from 2008 Bjordal et al. looked at low level laser therapy in lateral elbow tendinopathy (tennis elbow). They found that LLLT at 904 nm and possibly 632 nm wavelengths directly to the lateral elbow tendon insertions offered short-term pain relief and less disability when…

Recommendation:  700-880 probes = In a systematic review and meta-analysis Wang et al. (2018) evaluated the effect of LLLT treatment on plantar fasciitis. They concluded. Overall, the analysis suggested that LLLT can significantly relieve pain of PF for 3 months after treatment. This was consistent with the results of other studies. Although they could not conclude…