Skin adhesive low-level light therapy for dysmenorrhoea: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot trial.
OBJECTIVE
The cause of dysmenorrhoea is an abnormal function of smooth muscles in the uterus due to long-term deficient blood supply into smooth muscle tissue. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of skin adhesive low-level light therapy (LLLT) in participants with dysmenorrhoea.


METHODS
Thirty-one women were included in this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, pilot trial. Twenty-one women were treated with active LLLT and ten women were treated with placebo one. The therapy was performed in a laboratory room for 20 min a day over a period of 5 days prior to the expected onset of menstruation. The outcome was measured using a visual analog scale (VAS) for each participant's dysmenorrhoeal pain severity. VAS of each subject was measured every month for 6 months.


RESULTS
In the active LLLT group, 16 women reported successful results during their first menstrual cycle just after active LLLT and 5 women had successful results from the second menstrual cycle after active LLLT. The pain reduction rate was 83 % in the active LLLT group, whereas there was only a slight and temporary reduction in pain in the placebo LLLT group. Changes of VAS within 6 months of LLLT showed statistical significance (p = 0.001) over placebo control.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study suggests that skin adhesive LLLT on acupuncture points might be an effective, simple and safe non-pharmacological treatment for dysmenorrhoea.
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Research Institute for Convergence of Biomedical Science and Technology, Pusan National University Yangsan Hospital, Yangsan, Korea.
Yong-Il
YI
Shin
Nam-Gyun
NG
Kim
Kyoung-Jun
KJ
Park
Dong-Wook
DW
Kim
Gi-Youn
GY
Hong
Byung-Cheul
BC
Shin
D015669:Acupuncture Points; D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D004412:Dysmenorrhea / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D009215:Myometrium / Q000503:physiopathology; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010789:Phototherapy; D010865:Pilot Projects; D055815:Young Adult