High-intensity laser therapy in low back pain management: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Low back pain (LBP) is a widespread health issue affecting people globally and is the second leading cause of missed workdays. High-intensity laser therapy (HILT) promises to decrease pain intensity in LBP patients. The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of HILT in adult LBP patients. We searched for randomized controlled studies (RCTs) published before January of 2023. Our primary outcome was pain intensity, while our secondary outcomes included disability and flexibility scores. We synthesized the evidence using RevMan v.5.4 and assessed methodological quality with the Oxford/Jadad scale and the Cochrane collaboration’s risk of bias tool 1. The model favors the HILT group over the control group in terms of pain intensity after treatment (MD with 95% CI is −1.65 [–2.22, −1.09], p-value < 0.00001, I2=67%), Oswestry disability index (MD with 95% CI is −0.67 [−1.22, −0.12], p-value = 0.02, I2=73%), and Roland disability index (MD with 95% CI is −1.36 [−1.76, −0.96], p-value <0.00001, I2=0%). The patients in the high-intensity laser therapy had statistically significantly lower (low back) pain intensity compared to the patients in the control group. Based on three RCTs, our model also showed the positive effect of the HILT on LBP in terms of the Oswestry disability index and Roland disability index.