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Investigation of the supplementary effect of GaAs laser therapy on the rehabilitation of human digital flexor tendons
- Source :
- Journal of clinical laser medicinesurgery. 22(2)
- Publication Year :
- 2004
-
Abstract
- Objective: To investigate the effect of laser photostimulation in rehabilitation of human digital flexor tendons with a placebo-controlled double-blind prospective study model. Background Data: Low-energy laser therapy has been applied in several rheumatoid and soft tissue disorders with a varying rate of success and it has also been shown to have a positive effect on tendon healing in animal experiments, but no clinical study on laser photostimulation in the treatment of human tendons has been reported to date. Materials and Methods: This study was performed in a total of 25 patients with 41 digital flexor tendon injuries in five anatomical zones. In Group I (21 digits in 13 patients), whirlpool and infrared GaAs diode laser with a frequency of 100 Hz. was applied between the 8(th) and 21(st) days postoperatively and all patients were given the Washington rehabilitation program until the end of the 12(th) week. In Group II (20 digits in 12 patients), the same treatment protocol was given but the laser instrument was switched off during applications. Results: The results of the study showed a significant improvement in the laser-treated group only for the parameter of edema reduction (p < 0.01) but the difference between the two groups was non-significant for pain reduction, hand grip strength, and functional evaluation performed according to Strickland and Buck-Gramcko systems using total active motion and fingertip-to distal palmar crease distance parameters (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Significant improvement obtained in edema reduction both immediately and 12 weeks after supplementary GaAs laser application in our study has been interpreted as an important contribution to the rehabilitation of human flexor tendon injuries because edema is known to have a detrimental effect on functional recovery during both early and late stages of tendon healing. However, our study has failed to show a significant positive effect of supplementary GaAs laser application on the other functional recovery parameters of human flexor tendon injury rehabilitation and we suggest further clinical study in this topic be done using different laser types and dosages in order to delineate the role of this promising treatment modality.
- Subjects :
- Male
medicine.medical_treatment
Photostimulation
law.invention
Tendons
Hand grip
Engineering
Laser therapy
law
Controlled clinical trial
Finger Injuries
Medicine
Edema
Prospective Studies
Tissue repair
Prospective cohort study
Child
Tendon healing
Low level laser therapy
Rehabilitation
Radiation dose
Soft tissue
Diode laser
Double blind procedure
Clinical trial
Zone-II
Wounds
Female
Medical imaging
Functional assessment
Human
Adult
medicine.medical_specialty
Achilles tendons
Laser beam effects
Adolescent
Clinical article
Biomedical Engineering
Pain
Semiconducting gallium arsenide
As diode-laser
Article
Motion
Postoperative care
Flexor tendon injury
Double-Blind Method
Tendon Injuries
Rheumatoid-arthritis
Parameter estimation
Humans
Electrical-stimulation
Low-Level Light Therapy
Laser theory
Flexor tendon
business.industry
Low Level Laser Therapy
Phototherapy
Light Emitting Diodes
Soft tissues
Laser
Hand
Engineering, biomedical
Surgery
Gallium arsenide laser
School child
Flexor tendons
Analgesia
business
Controlled study
Repair
Low-level laser
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 10445471
- Volume :
- 22
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Journal of clinical laser medicinesurgery
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....bc076bcb2e077beb805fb83d7bb93b8b