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Acupunct Med 2009;27:94-100 doi:10.1136/aim.2009.000521
  • Original papers

Laser acupuncture for chronic non-specific low back pain: a controlled clinical trial

  1. Gregory Glazov1,
  2. Peter Schattner2,
  3. Derrick Lopez3,
  4. Kerrie Shandley4
  1. 1
    Department of General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  2. 2
    Department of General Practice, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
  3. 3
    University of Western Australia, Perth, Australia
  4. 4
    Monash University, Victoria, Australia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Gregory Glazov, School of Primary, Aboriginal and Rural Health Care, University of Western Australia, 328 Stirling Hwy Claremont WA 6010; glazog01{at}student.uwa.edu.au

    Abstract

    Objective: The primary aim was to determine if laser acupuncture (LA) is more effective than sham laser in reducing pain and disability in adults with chronic non-specific low back pain.

    Methods: The design was a double blind, two-group parallel randomised controlled trial. The active intervention was an 830 nm (infrared), 10 mW, Ga-Al-As laser diode laser for acupuncture and a sham control. The primary outcome measures were changes in pain (visual analogue scale) and disability (Oswestry Disability Index) at the end of 5–10 treatment sessions. Secondary outcomes were patient global assessment, psychological distress (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale) and subjective wellbeing (Personal Wellbeing Index). Follow up was performed at 6 weeks and 6 months after completion of treatment.

    Results: 100 participants were enrolled and treated in a general practice setting. Per protocol analysis of the primary outcome measures using ANOVA suggested that although there was a significant overall improvement in pain and disability after the course of treatments (p<0.01), there was no significant difference between the intervention and control group in both the primary and most secondary outcome measures.

    Conclusion: This study did not show a specific effect for LA using infrared laser at 0.2 Joules per point for chronic low back pain. The overall intervention appeared effective because of placebo and other factors. As there was some concern about baseline inequality between the groups further research using tighter inclusion criteria should attempt to replicate the result and examine if a dose response may exist.

    Footnotes

    • Funding Australian Medical Acupuncture College purchased the Acupak research laser and also provided some funding for the project and to enable presentation of its findings at conferences.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Ethics approval This study was approved by Monash University ethics committee.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed

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