Abstract
From 1983, out of 4500 pain patients treated at the Ohshiro clinic, 1500 had lumbago-related disease entities. From 1987 until the present, a period of 61 months, 524 patients with a variety of lumbar diseases received low reactive-level laser therapy, LLLT, using the GaAlAs diode laser (830 nm, 60 mW, continuous wave). There were 364 males and 160 females (M:F-2.3:1), with an average age of 53.7 years (M: 53.7, F: 47.5). The laser was applied in the pressure contact technique at a variety of treatment times, using Ohshiro's proximal priority method. The patients graded the effectiveness of their therapy into four grades, from excellent to poor: the sum of the first two grades was used to assess the overall efficacy rate. Patients were interviewed immediately before and after the first therapy session, to give the immediate effect, and at one week after the final session, to elucidate the delayed LLLT effect. Some of the patients (81.6%) reported excellent or good immediate results, and 82% gave the same assessment for the delayed effect. No side-effects at all were reported, and patients have maintained the effective results during the follow-up period. The authors conclude that LLLT with the GaAlAs diode laser at the parameters as reported affords an easily applied, noninvasive, effective and safe therapeutic method for the treatment of pain entities in the lumbago group. Further controlled studies are needed to research in detail the possible mechanisms and pathways, although some are already known.
