High Intensity Laser Therapy on Pain in Patients With Myofascial Trigger Points

Abstract

Purpose: to investigate the effect of high intensity laser therapy on pain intensity in patients with acute cervical myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle. Methods: 50 patients (32 female and 18 male) suffering from myofascial trigger points in the upper trapezius muscle participated in this study. They were all recruited from the out-clinic of the faculty of physical therapy Badr university. Their ages ranged from 20 to 40 years old with body mass index less than 25 kg/m². They were randomly allocated into two equal groups; group A (n=25) received traditional treatment only (transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, ultrasound, passive stretch and isometric exercise), group B (n=25) received high intensity laser therapy with traditional treatment. duration of treatment was 2 sessions/week for 4 weeks. Measurement of the visual analogue scale was recorded before and after the intervention. Results: Results showed that there was significant difference between the two groups in the outcome measures in the post treatment assessment, with the intervention administered by group (B) being more significant than the control group (A) at (p >0.001). Conclusion: high intensity laser therapy was found to be significantly effective as a physical therapy modality for patients with cervical myofascial trigger points.

Effectiveness of high-intensity laser therapy added to a physical therapy program for the treatment of myofascial pain syndrome - a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…the results indicate that 66.6% of the articles (n = 2) demonstrate high quality based on internal validity, with PEDro scores equal to or greater than five [22]. As the study by Ahmed et al was not in the PEDro database, it was evaluated and scored four points by the researchers [30].…”

“…The randomization process was rated as low risk in 66.7% of the articles [28,29]. The deviations from intended intervention bias was evaluated as high risk in one article [30], some concerns in another [29], and low risk of bias in the other [28], i.e. 33.3% for each category.…”

“…The overall population included 176 patients with a mean age of 33.5 years (SD 7.6), divided into 132 women and 44 men. A total of 88 patients received HILT, while another 88 patients were treated with a sham application within a physical therapy program [28,29], or only the physical therapy program [30]. Own elaboration.…”

“…The treatments were developed between three and four weeks with a frequency of two to three sessions per week until completed, for a total of 8 to 15 treatments. All trials used infrared lasers with a wavelength of 1064 nanometers [29,30] and a mixed wavelength of 980-810 nm [28]. The HILT treatments used a pulsatile emission (duty cycles of 0.1% and 50%) with energy densities ranging between 10 and 60 joules per treatment point.…”

Volume 3, Issue 1 (Continuously Updated 2020) Func Disabil J 2020, 3(1): 111-122 | Back to browse issues page ‎ 10.32598/fdj.3.16 XML Print Download citation: BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks Send citation to: Mendeley Zotero RefWorks Parandnia A, Yassin M, Sarrafzadeh J, Salehi R, Navaei F. Comparison of the Effects of Dry Needling and High-Intensity Laser Therapy on Pain Intensity and Pain Pressure Threshold in Females With Active Trigger P

“…Consistent with the present study, Hatem et al compared the effects of HILT and physiotherapy (electrical stimulation+ultrasound) on VAS, in patients with the active trigger points of the UT muscle. The authors concluded that HILT significantly reduced pain, compared with physiotherapy [43]. Also, Alayat et al showed that HILT plus pressure release significantly improved the pain intensity and PPT in patients with MTrP in the UT muscle [44].…”