In the area of low level laser therapy for back pain treatment there have been many studies done and the results are inconclusive at this time as to its effectiveness. This short study will compare a few studies on those who received LLLT therapy for lower back pain and the results of those studies. In the study done by Malliaropoulos, N., A Akritidou I, Tsifountoudis. I and Tsita, K (2011), the goal of the work was to test the effectiveness of LLLT on low back pain through the use of documented historical and clinical examinations, MRI findings along the lumbar spine and the scores that patients assigned their pain before and after LLLT therapy.

The use of double-blind controlled trials was used and placebos were used for a control group. Thirty two patients agreed to participate and they were randomly assigned to either the LLLT group or the placebo group. The trial lasted for six weeks and an MRI was performed to be a baseline for therapy with it being a visual analogue for the scientists to refer to.

After LLLT lower back pain showed significant improvement in the group that was treated as opposed to the control group. The pain scores in the two groups was significantly lower in the group treated with LLT and the MRI findings were able to find morphologic changes in the discogenic back pain when the LLLT was taken to 905 gallium-arsenide infrared laser levels. The conclusion of the study was that LLLT can contribute to the reduction of disc related back pain.

Many tests similar to this one did not show a significant difference between the control group and the group treated with LLLT. In a study done by Dogan and Evcik D. (2011) they had 546 patients divided into three groups with the first group using only an anti-inflammatory drug (nimuesulide) while the second group received the drug with LLLT and the third was given LLLT and a placebo. All three groups saw improvement. The result of the study concluded that those who had lower back pain treated with LLLT and the anti-inflammatory showed the best progress.

References Dogan SK, and Evcik D. (2011).Low level laser therapies for low back pain Department of Physical Rehabilitation and Medicine, Ufuk University School of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey Malliaropoulos, N., A Akritidou I, Tsifountoudis. I and Tsita, K (2011) Low-level laser therapy (LLLT) for discogenic back pain. Sports Med 2011;45:e1