Randomized controlled trial
Clinical efficacy of portable low-level laser therapy device in patients with chronic painful joint disorder: randomized controlled trials
Jun Yeon Lee, Nak hwan Kim
Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Korea University College of Medicine
ABSTRACT
Objective:
To evaluate the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in patients with chronic painful joint disorder of upper and lower extremities.
Materials and Methods:
This parallel-group, randomized controlled trial involved 100 patients with Upper and lower extremity joint pain disorder lasting more than 6 months. Patients were randomly assigned to four groups (25 each), each group differently receive a total of three treatment sessions for two weeks. Following low-level laser therapy devise or sham devise was initiated for four groups. Immediately after wearing of low-level laser devise, patients in the laser group received a LLL dose from an 830-nm wavelength Ga-Al-As-P semiconductor laser device with energy of 5.523 J/point. The laser was applied to affected joint (shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee, and ankle). Application was repeated when symptoms occur. Pain relief progress was evaluated once every two or four weeks of mediation and at the end of the mediation (6 weeks). The post-intervention period will be questioned by phone 6 weeks after the end of intervention to observe any adverse effects or worsening of pain.
The outcome measures include the K-PDQ, VAS, Pain drawing, SF-36v2™, Range of motion(ROM) and muscle motor power(MMT), sonography, MRI, Digital infrared thermography imaging(DITI), Grip power test.
Results:
This wearable LLLT device had a clinically significant pain reduction effect when applied to chronic joint pain, and this effect showed a significant difference compared to a Sham device, and tended to increase in efficacy according to the applied dose.
Conclusion:
LLLT is an effective method for pain relief in patients with chronic painful joint disorder of upper and lower extremities.
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