Cold Laser Therapy

LLLT Literature Watch for January 2010

Some very interesting papers in this edition including a large back pain RCT of 546 patients, LLLT for major depression and anxiety from Harvard Medical School, Allergic Rhinitis  and another from Harvard on mechanism and dose. Continue reading LLLT Literature Watch for January 2010…

Low-level laser irradiation promotes the recovery of atrophied gastrocnemius skeletal muscle in rats

Somehow this paper slipped through the net and missed my literature watch last year
Continue reading Low-level laser irradiation promotes the recovery of atrophied gastrocnemius skeletal muscle in rats…

Roundup of the decade – a big thank you note

Wow, what a decade it has been for LLLT. Credibility is critical for acceptance by reimbursement and regulatory authorities as well as doctors and therapists. In the last ten years over 1,000 papers have been published that build on the work of the early pioneers. Highlights of this decade include: FDA clearance, publication in high impact factor journals such as Nature, Pain, PNAS, Spine, Muscle and Nerve, Stroke, Blood and, of course, The Lancet. Output from world renowned institutions including Harvard Medical School, NASA and the US Navy add further reassurance.

Continue reading Roundup of the decade – a big thank you note…

The next decade of LLLT – the barriers to mainstream adoption

Because LLLT modulates cellular oxidation and energy production it could potentially affect  a wide range of diseases, injuries or other dysfunctions in the body.

By the end of the next decade, it is possible  LLLT may be used in almost every department of every hospital (and every medicine cabinet of every home).

Given the amount of good quality research published over the last decade, why isn’t it part of mainstream medicine already?

Continue reading The next decade of LLLT – the barriers to mainstream adoption…

62 new papers in the November 2009 LLLT literature watch

62 LLLT abstracts for you this month and of course we have to start with the Lancet paper on laser for neck pain. You can see a TV interview with the primary author Roberta Chow on the front page of our web site and an audio interview I did back in September is here.  There are as usual more papers showing how important dose and dose-rate-effects are. If you are unsure what W/cm2 are and how many you need then then it’s time you came on our “3 x 3 knowledge matrix” training course. There are trials on myofascial pain,lymphedema, plantar fasciitis, oral mucositis, psoriasis and more. read on Continue reading 62 new papers in the November 2009 LLLT literature watch…

The Lancet Laser neck pain review

This landmark study establishes that there is now more evidence for the use of laser for neck pain than any other medical procedure. For comment and to hear an interview with the lead author click here: The Lancet publishes that laser therapy helps neck pain

Efficacy of low-level laser therapy in the management of neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised placebo or active-treatment controlled trials

Roberta T Chow, Mark ‘Johnson, Rodrigo A B Lopes-Martins, Jan M Bjordal

Summary
Background Neck pain is a common and costly condition for which pharmacological management has limited evidence of efficacy and side-effects. Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is a relatively uncommon, non-invasive treatment for neck pain, in which non-thermal laser irradiation is applied to sites of pain. We did a systematic review and metaanalysis of randomised controlled trials to assess the efficacy ofLLLT in neck pain.

Methods

We searched computerised databases comparing efficacy ofLLLT using any wavelength with placebo or with active control in acute or chronic neck pain. Effect size for the primary outcome, pain intensity, was defined as a pooled estimate of mean difference in change in mm on 100 mm visual analogue scale.

Findings

We identified 16 randomised controlled trials including a total of820 patients. In acute neck pain, results of two trials showed a relative risk (RR) of1·69 (95% CI 1· 22-2.33) for pain improvement ofLLLT versus placebo. Five trials of chronic neck pain reporting categorical data showed an RR for pain improvement of 4·05 (2.74-5.98) of LLLT. Patients in 11 trials reporting changes in visual analogue scale had pain intensity reduced by 19·86 mm (10.04-29.68). Seven trials provided follow-up data for 1-22 weeks after completion of treatment, with short-terIll pain relief persisting in the medium tenn with a reduction of22· 07 mm (17.42-26.72). Side-effects from LLLT were mild and not different from those of placebo.

Interpretation We show that LLLT reduces pain immediately after treatment in acute neck pain and up to 22 weeks after completion of treatment in patients with chronic neck pain.

Listen to the interview with Roberta Chow on using laser therapy for chronic neck pain.

Harvard LLLT paper available for free download

It is not often we can say this but this paper is available for free download. click here

An insightful paper from Harvard

This excellent paper from Mike Hamblin’s team at Harvard Medical School reviews the LLLT mechanisms and the biphasic dose response. This paper neatly summarises the molecular and cellular mechanisms of LLLT, it gives a scientific explanation for the biphasic dose response, why a low dose has a stimulatory effect and why a high dose inhibits. Low power densities tend to get better healing and anti-inflammatory effects where higher power densities are more likely to inhibit (which may be useful if you just want an analgesic effect). I have to disclose an interest in this paper because I am a co-author.

Continue reading An insightful paper from Harvard…

LLLT Research Literature Watch for Sept 2009

30 more papers for your review including: two systematic reviews, one on tendionpathies the other on wound healing. A nice summary by Rochkind on nerve regeneration and several papers on LLLT dose response, dose rate response and dose interval response papers.

Continue reading LLLT Research Literature Watch for Sept 2009…

Sydney LLLT conference program 27 Sept 2009

Click here to download pdf of the conference program