Laser Therapy May Provide Benefits For Your Painful Condition
TLDR; if you want to try deep tissue laser therapy in Visalia or Hanford for tennis below or other tendinitis diagnosis, give us a call.
In our last blog, we explained that lateral epicondylitis—or tennis elbow—is a painful musculoskeletal condition that occurs most commonly in athletes and other individuals who frequently perform movements that involve lots of gripping or extending the wrist.
We also pointed out that high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) is an emerging treatment option available for sports-related injuries like tennis elbow in which a high-powered laser is applied to painful areas of the body to produce changes within the cells in a process called photobiomodulation. Results from the study featured in that blog found that HILT was more effective than low-level laser therapy (LLLT) for tennis elbow, and other research has also reached similar conclusions.
A Second Study Concludes Deep Tissue Laser Therapy is a Valuable Treatment
Another study focused exclusively on the use of HILT for tennis elbow. In this study, 65 patients with tennis elbow were randomly assigned to either undergo HILT or wear a compression bandage. In the HILT group, a high-intensity laser was applied for 75 seconds to the most painful areas in a circular motion to produce a pain-relieving effect for the first four sessions. In the following six sessions, the laser was applied for 12.5 minutes to the painful areas in a linear motion to elicit a biostimulatory effect. These 10 HILT sessions took place over two weeks. Patients in the other group were instructed to wear a bandage that applied moderate pressure to the elbow for six weeks.
All patients were assessed before and after treatment with various outcome measures. These included an evaluation of hand grip strength, the visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and function levels, the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH) score for upper extremity physical functional activity, and the Short-Form 36 (SF-36) survey for quality of life.
Significant Improvements with Deep Tissue Laser Therapy
After completing treatment, patients in both groups reported significant improvements in all outcome measures evaluated. Patients who underwent HILT, however, experienced greater improvements in resting VAS scores and the physical component of the SF-36 survey. These findings suggest that while both interventions were beneficial, HILT may have been slightly more effective than compression bandaging for relieving pain and improving quality of life in patients with tennis elbow. Additional research is now needed to further explore the efficacy of this intervention in the long term.
Deep Tissue Laser Therapy is Available in Our Visalia 0r Hanford Offices
Bacci & Glinn Physical Therapy proudly offers laser therapy as a supplemental intervention to physical therapy for tennis elbow and many other painful conditions.
So if you’re currently dealing with lingering pain, contact us at 559-733-2478 (Visalia) or 559-582-1027 (Hanford) to learn more about laser therapy or to schedule an appointment.
