Headache and Laser Therapy
The Effects of Laser acupuncture on chronic tension headache - a randomized controlled trial.
Acupunct Med. 2005 Mar;23(1):13-8
Ebneshahidi NS, Heshmatipour M, Moghaddami A, Eghtesadi-Araghi P.
Physical Therapy Dept, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
[email protected]
OBJECTIVE:
Headache affects the quality of life for many people throughout the
world. Tension headache is among the commonest forms. Acupuncture is
the most widely practiced non-medicinal treatment for headaches. The
purpose of this study was to explore the effects of laser acupuncture
in this type of headache.
METHODS:
Fifty patients with chronic tension-type headache were
randomly allocated to treatment or placebo groups. Patients in the
treatment group received low energy laser acupuncture to LU7, LI4,
GB14, and GB20 bilaterally. Points were irradiated for 43 seconds, and
the intensity was 1.3J (approximately 13J/cm2). Ten sessions were
given, three per week. The placebo group was treated in a similar way
except that the output power of the equipment was set to zero. The
outcome variables were headache intensity (VAS), duration of attacks,
and number of days with a headache per month, by daily diary, assessed
monthly to three months after treatment.
RESULTS:
There were significant differences between groups (P<0.001)
in changes from baseline in months one, two and three, in median score
for headache intensity (treatment group -5, -3 and -2, placebo group
-1, 0 and 0), median duration of attacks (treatment group -6, -4 and
-4, placebo group -1, 0 and 0 hours), and median number of days with
headache per month (treatment group -15, -10 and -8, placebo group -2,
0 and 0).
CONCLUSION:
This study suggests that laser acupuncture may be an effective
treatment for chronic tension-type headache, but the results should be
confirmed in larger and more rigorous trials.
PMID: 15844435 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]