著者

John Foley David B Vasily Jeanna Bradle Catharine Rudio R Glen Calderhead

出版者

International Phototherapy Association

雑誌

LASER THERAPY (ISSN:08985901)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.25, no.1, pp.35-42, 2016 (Released:2016-03-31)

参考文献数

18

被引用文献数

3 16

---

Background and Aims: For any committed athlete, getting back to conditioning and participation post-injury (return to play [RTP]) needs to be as swift as possible. The effects of near-infrared lightemitting diode (LED) therapy on pain control, blood flow enhancement and relaxation of muscle spasm (all aspects in the treatment of musculoskeletal injury) have attracted attention. The present pilot study was undertaken to assess the role of 830 nm LED phototherapy in safely accelerating RTP in injured university athletes.Subjects and Methods: Over a 15-month period, a total of 395 injuries including sprains, strains, ligament damage, tendonitis and contusions were treated with 1,669 sessions of 830 nm LED phototherapy (mean of 4.3 treatments per injury, range 2 - 6). Efficacy was measured with pain attenuation on a visual analog scale (VAS) and the RTP period compared with historically-based anticipated RTP with conventional therapeutic intervention.Results: A full set of treatment sessions and follow-up data was able to be recorded in 65 informed and consenting subjects who achieved pain relief on the VAS of up to 6 points in from 2-6 sessions. The average LED-mediated RTP in the 65 subjects was significantly shorter at 9.6 days, compared with the mean anticipated RTP of 19.23 days (p = 0.0066, paired two-tailed Student’s t-test).A subjective satisfaction survey was carried out among the 112 students with injuries incurred from January to May, 2015. Eighty-eight (78.5%) were either very satisfied or satisfied, and only 8 (7.2%) were dissatisfied.Conclusions: For any motivated athlete, RTP may be the most important factor postinjury based on the resolution of pain and inflammation and repair to tissue trauma. 830 nm LED phototherapy significantly and safely reduced the RTP in dedicated university athletes over a wide range of injuries with no adverse events. One limitation of the present study was the subjective nature of the assessments, and the lack of any control groups. However, further controlled studies are warranted to enable confirmation and generalization of the very good results in the present study.

著者

Luciana Almeida-Lopes Attilio Lopes Jan Tunér R Glen Calderhead

出版者

International Phototherapy Association

雑誌

LASER THERAPY (ISSN:08985901)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.14, no.2, pp.67-74, 2005 (Released:2011-02-24)

参考文献数

27

被引用文献数

1 2

---

Inflammation of many different aetiologies is a condition affecting almost 100% of all patients presenting at dental clinics, and the complete management of inflammation is often extremely important before any orthodontic surgery can be carried out. The lymphatic system is one of the body’s main lines of defence against inflammation, with the lymph nodes playing an extremely major role. laser therapy, or LLLT, has become much more common in dental offices, and is associated with pain attenuation, wound healing and anti-inflammatory properties. The last of these is mediated amongst others by the effect of LLLT on the lymphatic system, which has been shown to enhance lymphatic drainage concomitantly with increasing local blood flow to the treated area. Infected areas and those with viral contamination have been suggested as contraindications for laser therapy. The possibility of treating these difficult-to-manage entities through laser therapy-accelerated drainage of the affected lymphatics offers another approach. Although lymphatic drainage is frequently used in the clinical setting, its application in dentistry is less common than it should be. An illustrated review of the lymphatic system of the head and neck is presented, with relevance to the use of infrared diode laser therapy in inducing lymphatic drainage in the management of inflammation associated with acute infectious processes such as pericoronitis, endodontic abscesses, alveolitis and herpes. A case report is presented illustrating the success of this therapeutic approach for labial herpes simplex. Infrared diode laser therapy-mediated lymphatic drainage offers an interesting and efficacious approach in the management of infectious and contaminated areas, without actually irradiating the areas themselves.