Journal of Anesthesiology and Pain

Background: Myofacialpain syndrome and fibromyalgia are two painful  clinical disorders of soft tissues that encountered to pain specialists. Low level laser therapy is  one of the non-pharmacological treatment modalityseems controversial.  Aim of this review articles is to investigate of  the efficacy of low level laser therapy (LLLT) in fibromyalgia  and myofacial  pain patients in the literature.
Methods: A comprehensive evaluation of the literature relating to LLLT in fibromyalgia and myofacial pain syndrome patients was performed. 34 articles allocated for this studyThe time frame covered was 2000 to 2010. Not only the journals of laser therapy allocated for this study, but alsovarieties of journals of medicine specialties selected for avoidance of bias error.
Results: From 34 articles, 13 articles supported, the efficacy of low level  laser therapy in pain score, in 12 studies there was no difference between (LLLT) and placebo and did not study for pain criteria in  9 studies. In case of the number of trigger points, 2 studies supported, the efficacy of(LLLT), there was no difference  between (LLLT) and placebo in  5 studies and did not study for number of trigger points in 9 studies. For patient's quality of life, (LLLT) significantly improved of this criteria in 10 studies,there was no difference between (LLLT) and placebo in 7 studies and did not study for patient's quality of life in 7studies.  The increased levels of 5-hydroxy-tryptamine, 5-hydroxy-tryptophan and 5-hydroxy indol acetic acid, reported in one sudy.
Conclusion: This study revealed that, application of LLLT was effective in pain relief, improvement of functional ability  and   patient's quality of life and number of trigger points in 15 studies. However, no significant differences were obtained between placebo and LLLT in 6 studies. In conclusion, although the laser therapy has no superiority over placebo in few groups in this study, we cannot exclude the possibility of effectivity of LLLT in fibromyalgia and myofacialpian syndrome patients. We recommended another treatment regimen including different laser wavelengths and dosages (different intensity and density and/or treatment interval) for this aim.