Results of the trials and light-delivery evaluation at low-level laser therapy of acute and chronic pain

Abstract

Although the low-level laser therapy (LLLT) is accepted in the clinical practice, its efficiency is still questionable because of the unclear mechanisms of LLLT action. This work presents the results of LLLT applied to volunteers who need recovery from trauma or suffer from rheumatic diseases, inflammatory disorders, etc. The control group we used for comparison consisted of patients being treated by conventional therapy that included massage and acupuncture needles. The effectiveness of the LLLT was graded under four categories. Short-term and long-term side effects as well as conditions responding only to LLLT were recorded. The successful treatments were up to 70%, which coincided with the result of the control group. The LLLT was performed with a GaAs laser system SIX LASER IR - Bulgaria provided with additional set of six light CW emitting diodes to scan a larger area of a tissue surface. To evaluate the light delivery inside the tissue, the spatial maps of the light spot at the laser output in different operating regimes were measured. On their basis, the absorbed dose was calculated both in the boundary layer under the tissue surface and in depth using a reduced variance Monte-Carlo code.