The effects of high intensity laser therapy on pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis

Abstract

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high intensity laser therapy (HILT) on pain and function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. [Subjects and Methods] In this study, an experiment was conducted on 20 subjects who were divided into the control group (n=10), which would receive conservative physical therapy (CPT), and the experimental group (n=10), which would receive effects of high intensity laser therapy after conservative physical therapy. All patients received their respective therapies three times each week over a four-week period. In terms of the intensity of the high intensity laser therapy, it was applied to each patient in the tibia and femoral epicondyle for five minutes while the patient’s knee joint was bent at around 30° and the separation distance between the handpiece and the skin was maintained at around 1 cm. The visual analogue scale was used to measure pain, and the Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index was used for functional evaluations. [Results] The comparison of differences in the measurements taken before and after the experiment within each group showed a statistically significant decline in both the VAS and the K-WOMAC. The comparison of the two groups showed that the high intensity laser therapy group had statistically significant lower scores in both the visual analogue scale and the Korean Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index than the conservative physical therapy group. [Conclusion] High intensity laser therapy is considered an effective non-surgical intervention for reducing pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis and helping them to perform daily activities.

The Beneficial Effects of High-Intensity Laser Therapy and Co-Interventions on Musculoskeletal Pain Management: A Systematic Review

“…The full text of 34 remaining articles was screened and 15 articles were excluded [1][2][3]6,7,9,10,[23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] because: the PEDro score of three studies was 6 2,3,28 . Six articles didn't report pain by VAS; it was not possible to estimate ES in two studies 1,6,7,9,10,23,24,27 ; two studies 29,30 were case reports; and two studies did not have at least one another group for comparison. 25,26 Finally, 19 studies (HILT: 11, +other interventions: 8) were included for qualitative and quantitative assessment.…”

“…Laser photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy is a non-invasive and painless method of treatment in contemporary physiotherapy which may have both local and systemic effects on the patients. [1][2][3][4] The effect of PBM on tissues depends on such factors as wavelength, irradiation mode (continuous or pulse), pulse duration, pulse time interval, energy fluence, power output and irradiance. 1 PBM stimulates cells including pain receptors in peripheral tissues, the immune system and can cause vasodilation and analgesic effects.…”

“…[1][2][3] Moreover, laser therapy can stimulate repairs to damaged tissues and peripheral nerves leading to neurological regeneration. 1,4,5 Low-power laser (light) therapy (power ≤ 500 mW) can be used to decrease acute and chronic pain, induce recovery of damaged nerves, enhance peripheral circulation and metabolism, and reduce joint inflammation. 2,5,6 The effects of low-power laser therapy are photochemical not thermal.…”

“…5 High-intensity laser therapy (HILT) has been used more recently in the therapeutic protocols of physiotherapy. 1,2,6 The main difference between HILT and low-power laser therapy, is that the more powerful beams (power >500 mW) are irradiated to penetrate deeper, bringing a desired high amount of multi-directional energy to deep tissues in a short time. 2,[6][7][8][9][10] Also, application techniques, the time of treatment and the cost of the device are different between these two generations of the laser therapy.…”

Dolor en la Artrosis de Rodilla

“…Por otra parte, el paciente refiere ese síntoma como insidioso, variable, intermitente con días de mayor y menor intensidad, puede presentarse al reposo y en horas de la noche, lo que lleva a pensar en un proceso degenerativo avanzado. [8][9][10] Según Gwilym SE y col., 11 el dolor en pacientes con artrosis tiene controversias como: primero, no todos los pacientes con artrosis tienen dolor y no se puede predecir quién de ellos lo tendrá; segundo, ese síntoma tiende a mejorar con técnicas de placebo y, tercero, uno de cada diez pacientes a los que se les realizó una artroplastia total de rodilla continúa con dolor. 12,13 Los factores asociados al dolor en la artrosis son: sexo femenino, ya que ese sexo refiere más dolor que el hombre en número e intensidad; articulación afectada, la rodilla es más dolorosa que la mano; y presencia de cambios radiográficos severos.…”