The efficiently of low level laser therapy in muscle skeleton systems diseases

SUMMARYAim: Low-level lasers are mostly in use for musculoskeletal diseases with pain.Our aim in this study were to define effect of low level lasers therapy in patient, with muscleskeletal diseases. In the early stage of this study we planned to enrolled patients withEpicondillitis, temporo-mandibular joint disorders (TMD) and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome(CTS). But we could not get enough patients with epicondilitis and TMD, and due to thissituation we completed this study only patients with CTS.Method: We studied 36 patients with CTS who were admitted our clinic due tonumb in hand and diagnosed by EMG, physical examination, and clinical features. In thisrandomised, blinded and placebo controlled study, active laser therapy were given to thegroup of 18 patients and placebo laser therapy to the other group of 18 patients for 10 sessionsin two weekly time. There were 30 hands in the active laser group and 31 CTS hands in theplacebo group.All patients were evaluated in the beginning of therapy, end of therapy, and 60days after therapy by muscle strength test, sense examination, quality of life, healthstatus[(Health Assesment Questionnaire- HAQ), depression (Beck Depression Inventory-BDI), and anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory- STAI I-II ). Also patients were evaluated inthe beginning of therapy and two months after therapy by EMG.Findings: There were no significant differences between groups for dermographicfeatures (p>0.05). Active laser group patients showed a significant improvement in theirpinch, grip strength and muscle strength of thumb abduction. In the control group, there wassignificant improvement in the second finger sense compared with pretreatment evaluations(p<0.01). In the active laser therapy group, EMG results in the second months showed69significant improvements compared with pretreatment (p=0.004). But here was no significantimprovements in the placebo group.Conclusion: In this study, low level laser therapy were found to be effective inCTS patients with mild and moderate EMG findings. Therefore, low level laser therapy canbe prefered as an effective and cheap monotherapy method in CTS patients with mild ormoderate EMG findings.70