Low Level Laser Therapy For Nonspecific Low-Back Pain
Research Summary
Does low-level laser therapy help people with nonspecific low-back pain? This Cochrane review, published in 2008, assessed seven randomised trials and found too little consistent evidence to draw a firm conclusion about its clinical effect. Some trials favoured laser treatment over a sham treatment, but the authors judged the reported pain improvements to be too small to be clinically important.
The review also examined laser treatment alongside exercise. Adding laser did not consistently improve short-term pain or disability compared with exercise alone or exercise with sham treatment. The findings describe the evidence available to the reviewers at that time; they are not a review of all research published since 2008.
Who Or What Was Studied?
The plain-language summary reports seven small trials involving 384 people with nonspecific low-back pain of different durations. The reviewers searched databases up to November 2007 and used two independent assessors for methodological quality and data extraction. The trials differed in the people enrolled, laser dose, treatment schedule and comparison group.
What Did The Research Show?
- Three trials involving 168 people reported statistically significant pain improvements with laser compared with sham at follow-up of up to six months. The review described these improvements as clinically unimportant.
- One trial involving 56 people found less short-term disability with laser than with sham. This single small trial does not establish a reliable effect across all people with low-back pain.
- Three trials involving 102 people found no short-term advantage for laser plus exercise over exercise alone or exercise with sham for pain or disability.
- No side effects were reported in the review abstract. Limited reporting in small trials cannot establish that every device, exposure or treatment setting is safe.
Limitations And Interpretation
This summary uses the supplied three-page PDF, which contains the review abstract and plain-language summary, checked against Cochrane's public record and PubMed. The full methods, individual trial tables and supplements were not reviewed. The supplied PDF records a 2011 editorial update without a change to the conclusions; the original review citation remains 2008.
The accessible evidence does not identify one optimal wavelength, dose or treatment schedule. Results from clinical laser protocols cannot be assumed to apply to all red light or LED devices. Piri Red interpretation: this historical review illustrates why a statistically detectable result may still be too small to matter clinically. It does not establish that a Piri Red product treats low-back pain or replaces an individual care plan.
Source
Yousefi-Nooraie R, Schonstein E, Heidari K, et al. Low level laser therapy for nonspecific low-back pain. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2008;(2):CD005107. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD005107.pub4. PMID: 18425909.