title: Efficacy of high-intensity laser therapy in the treatment of chronic neck pain: a randomized double-blind placebo-control trial.
abstract: The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) in treatment of patients with chronic neck pain (CNP) on cervical range of motion (ROM), pain, and functional activity. Sixty male patients participated in this study with mean (SD) age of 35.47 (4.18) years. Patients were randomly assigned into two groups and treated with HILT plus exercise (HILT + EX) and placebo laser plus exercise (PL + EX) in groups 1 and 2, respectively. The outcomes measured were cervical ROM, pain level by visual analog scale (VAS), and functional activity by neck disability index (NDI) score. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the differences between baseline and post-treatment. The level of statistical significance was set as p < 0.05. Cervical ROM significantly increased after 6 weeks of treatment in all groups. VAS and NDI results showed significant decrease post-treatment in both groups. HILT + EX effectively increased cervical ROM and decreased VAS and NDI scores after 6 weeks of treatment compared to PL + EX. HILT + EX is an effective physical therapy modality for patients with CNP compared to PL + EX therapy. The combination of HILT + EX effectively increased cervical ROM, functional activity, and reduced pain after 6 weeks of treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia. mohsalahpt@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Mohamed Salaheldien Mohamed
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Alayat
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Ashraf Abdelaal
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Umm Al-Qura University, Mecca, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Omar Farouk
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Helal
authors.affiliation: Department of Rehabilitation science, Faculty of Applied Medical Sciences, Tibah University, Medina, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Osama Ahmed
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Khaled
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D006801:Humans; D053685:Laser Therapy; D008297:Male; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000601:surgery*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Chronic neck pain; Disability; Exercise; Functional; High-intensity LASER therapy; Pain