BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders BioMed Central

Research article Open Access

A systematic review with procedural assessments and
meta-analysis of Low Level Laser Therapy in lateral elbow
tendinopathy (tennis elbow)
Jan M Bjordal*1,2, Rodrigo AB Lopes-Martins3, Jon Joensen1,2,
Christian Couppe4, Anne E Ljunggren2, Apostolos Stergioulas5 and
Mark I Johnson6

Address: 1Institute of Physiotherapy, Faculty of Health and Social Sciences, Bergen University College, Moellendalsvn. 6, 5009 Bergen, Norway,
2Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Section of Physiotherapy Science University of Bergen, Kalfarveien 31, 5018 Bergen,

Norway, 3Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, University of São Paulo. Av. Prof. Lineu Prestes, 1524, Butantan, 05508-
900São Paulo – SP, Brazil, 4University of Copenhagen – Institute of Sportsmedicine, Bispebjerg Hospital, Bispebjerg Bakke 23, 2400 Copenhagen
NV, Denmark, 5Faculty Human Movement & Quality Life, University of Peloponnese, 23100 Sparta, Greece and 6Faculty of Health, Centre for Pain
Research, Leeds Metropolitan University, Leeds, LS2 8AJ, UK
Email: Jan M Bjordal* - [email protected]; Rodrigo AB Lopes-Martins - [email protected]; Jon Joensen - [email protected];
Christian Couppe - [email protected]; Anne E Ljunggren - [email protected]; Apostolos Stergioulas - [email protected];
Mark I Johnson - [email protected]
* Corresponding author

Published: 29 May 2008 Received: 29 January 2008

Accepted: 29 May 2008
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders 2008, 9:75 doi:10.1186/1471-2474-9-75
This article is available from: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2474/9/75
© 2008 Bjordal et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract
Background: Recent reviews have indicated that low level level laser therapy (LLLT) is ineffective
in lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET) without assessing validity of treatment procedures and doses
or the influence of prior steroid injections.
Methods: Systematic review with meta-analysis, with primary outcome measures of pain relief
and/or global improvement and subgroup analyses of methodological quality, wavelengths and
treatment procedures.
Results: 18 randomised placebo-controlled trials (RCTs) were identified with 13 RCTs (730
patients) meeting the criteria for meta-analysis. 12 RCTs satisfied half or more of the
methodological criteria. Publication bias was detected by Egger's graphical test, which showed a
negative direction of bias. Ten of the trials included patients with poor prognosis caused by failed
steroid injections or other treatment failures, or long symptom duration or severe baseline pain.
The weighted mean difference (WMD) for pain relief was 10.2 mm [95% CI: 3.0 to 17.5] and the
RR for global improvement was 1.36 [1.16 to 1.60]. Trials which targeted acupuncture points
reported negative results, as did trials with wavelengths 820, 830 and 1064 nm. In a subgroup of
five trials with 904 nm lasers and one trial with 632 nm wavelength where the lateral elbow tendon
insertions were directly irradiated, WMD for pain relief was 17.2 mm [95% CI: 8.5 to 25.9] and
14.0 mm [95% CI: 7.4 to 20.6] respectively, while RR for global pain improvement was only
reported for 904 nm at 1.53 [95% CI: 1.28 to 1.83]. LLLT doses in this subgroup ranged between
0.5 and 7.2 Joules. Secondary outcome measures of painfree grip strength, pain pressure threshold,
sick leave and follow-up data from 3 to 8 weeks after the end of treatment, showed consistently

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significant results in favour of the same LLLT subgroup (p < 0.02). No serious side-effects were
reported.
Conclusion: LLLT administered with optimal doses of 904 nm and possibly 632 nm wavelengths
directly to the lateral elbow tendon insertions, seem to offer short-term pain relief and less
disability in LET, both alone and in conjunction with an exercise regimen. This finding contradicts
the conclusions of previous reviews which failed to assess treatment procedures, wavelengths and
optimal doses.

Background physiotherapy package, are more effective than placebo

Lateral elbow tendinopathy (LET) or "tennis elbow" is a ultrasound therapy or wait-and-see controls. Also exercise
common disorder with a prevalence of at least 1.7% [1], therapy, particularly eccentric exercises, have been found
and occuring most often between the third and sixth dec- effective in the intermediate term in tendinopathies of the
ades of life. Physical strain may play a part in the develop- Achilles, patellar or shoulder tendons [14-17]. There is
ment of LET, as the dominant arm is significantly more some evidence suggesting that joint manipulation or
often affected than the non-dominant arm. The condition mobilisation techniques either of the wrist, elbow or cer-
is largely self-limiting, and symptoms seem to resolve vical spine may contribute to short-term effects in LET
between 6 and 24 months in most patients [2]. [18-20].

A number of interventions have been suggested for LET. Among the physical interventions, ultrasound therapy has
Steroid injections, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs been considered to offer a small benefit over placebo from
or a regimen of physiotherapy with various modalities, two small trials [12], but a well-designed and more recent
seem to be the most commonly applied treatments [3]. trial did not find significant effects of ultrasound therapy
However, treatment effect sizes seem to be rather small, in LET [21]. Reviewers have arrived at different conclu-
and recommendations have varied over the years. In sev- sions for the effect of acupuncture [22,23]. In reviews of
eral systematic reviews over the last decade [4,5], gluco- physical interventions for LET, conclusions may vary
corticoid steroid injections have been deemed effective, at between reviews because of differences in the treatment
least in the short-term. But in later well-designed trials evi- procedures. A good example of this is the negative conclu-
dence is found that intermediate and long-term effects of sion of the LET review for extracorporeal shockwave ther-
steroid injections groups yield consistently and signifi- apy (ESWT) by Buchbinder et al. [24], where a later review
cantly poorer outcomes than placebo injection groups, with in-depth assessments of treatment intervention pro-
and physiotherapy or wait-and-see groups [6,7]. Never- tocols [25], found that a subgroup of trials with proper
theless, steroid injections have been considered as the treatment procedures and adequate timing of outcomes
most thoroughly investigated intervention, with 13 rand- gave a positive result.
omized controlled trials comparing steroid injections to
either placebo/local anaesthetic or another type of inter- Low level laser therapy (LLLT) has been available for
vention [5]. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs nearly three decades, and scattered positive results have
(NSAIDs) have been found to achieve smaller short-term been countered by numerous negative trial results. Several
effect sizes than steroid injections [8], and topical applica- systematic reviews have found no significant effects from
tion seems to be the best medication administration route LLLT, in musculoskeletal disorders in general [26], and in
[8] For oral administration of NSAIDs for LET, evidence is LET in particular [12,23,27]. In this perspective it may
inconclusive from two heterogeneous trials only [9]. The seem futile to perform yet another systematic review in
positive short-term results of anti-inflammatory therapies this area. But none of these reviews evaluated the results
in LET appear to partly contradict the recent paradigm in separately for the different LLLT treatment procedures,
tendinopathy research, where LET is thought to be mainly laser wavelengths or doses involved. Neither did they
a degenerative disorder with minimal inflammation implement evidence of the newly discovered biomodula-
[10,11]. tory mechanisms which are involved when LLLT is
applied. During the last 5–6 years the annual number of
Exercise therapy and stretching exercises have been used published LLLT reports in Medline has increased from 25
either alone or in conjunction with manipulation tech- to around 200. We recently made a review of this litera-
niques or physical interventions. Although the sparse evi- ture, and concluded that LLLT has an anti-inflammatory
dence makes it difficult to assess the separate effect of effect in 21 out of 24 controlled laboratory trials, and a
active exercises or stretching [12], four studies have found biostimulatory effect on collagen production in 31 out of
that either exercises alone [13], or in conjunction with a 36 trials [28]. Both of these effects were dose-dependent

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and could be induced by all wavelengths between 630 and Holland, England, Canada and Australia. Additional
1064 nm with slight variations in therapeutic dose-ranges information was gathered from researchers in the field.
according to the wavelength used. The anti-inflammatory
effect was seen in higher therapeutic dose-ranges than the Inclusion criteria
biomodulatory effect on fibroblast cells and collagen fibre The randomised controlled trials were subjected to the
production. Diagnostic ultrasonography of tendinopa- following seven inclusion criteria:
thies has revealed that partial ruptures and tendon matrix
degeneration are underdiagnosed if only physical exami- 1) Diagnosis: Lateral elbow tendinopathy, operational-
nations are made. Consequently, the stimulatory LLLT- ised as pain from the lateral elbow epicondyle upon finger
effect on collagen fibre production should probably be or wrist extension
beneficial for tendon repair. Another interesting feature
was that LLLT with too high power densities or doses 2) Treatment: LLLT with wavelengths in the range 632 –
(above 100 mW/cm2), seemed to inhibit fibroblast activ- 1064 nm, irradiating either the tendon pathology, acu-
ity [29] and collagen fibre production [30]. Six years ago puncture points or trigger points
we showed in a systematic review of tendinopathy, that
the effect of LLLT is dose-dependent [31]. At the time, the 3) Design: Randomised parallel group design or crossover
accompanying editoral suggested that the advanced design
review design could become the new standard for review-
ing empirical therapies with unknown optimal doses and 4) Blinding: Outcome assessors should be blinded
procedural differences [32]. Steroids induce a down-regu-
lation of cortisol receptors, and we recently discovered 5) Control group: Placebo control groups or control
that the cortisol antagonist mifepristone completely groups receiving other non-laser interventions with at
diminished the anti-inflammatory effect of LLLT [33]. All least 10 persons per group
these recent findings from the LLLT literature, prompted
the World Association for Laser Therapy (WALT) to pub- 6) Specific endpoints for pain intensity or global improve-
lish dosage recommendations and standards for the con- ment of health measured within 1 – 52 weeks after inclu-
ductance of systematic reviews and meta-analyses last year sion.
[34]. One of the issues that has lacked attention is the
validity of LLLT-application procedures in tendinopathy. Outcome measures
To our knowledge there are only three valid irradiation Primary outcome measures
techniques for LLLT in tendinopathies: a) direct irradia- measured after the end of treatment, either as:
tion of the tendon, b) irradiation of trigger points and c)
irradiation of acupuncture points. a) pain intensity on a 100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS)
defined as the pooled estimate of the difference in change
In this perspective and as our previous tendinopathy between the means of the treatment and the placebo con-
review [31] is becoming outdated, there seems to be a trol groups, weighted by the inverse of the pooled stand-
need for a new in-depth review of the effects of LLLT in ard deviation of change for each study, i.e. weighted mean
LET where possible confounders are analyzed and sub- difference (WMD) of change between groups. The vari-
group analyses are performed. ance was calculated from the trial data and given as 95%
confidence intervals [95% CI] in mm on VAS, or
Methods
Literature search b) improved global health status. This was defined as any
A literature search was performed on Medline, Embase, one of the following categories: "improved", "good", "bet-
Cinahl, PedRo and the Cochrane Controlled Trial Register ter", "much improved", "pain-free", "excellent". The num-
as advised by Dickersin et al. [35] for randomised control- bers of "improved" patients were then pooled to calculate
led clinical trials. Key words were: Low level laser therapy the relative risk for change in health status. A statistical
OR low intensity laser therapy OR low energy laser ther- software package (Revman 4.2) was used for calculations.
apy OR phototherapy OR HeNe laser OR IR laser OR
GaAlAs OR GaAs OR diode laser OR NdYag, AND tendo- Secondary outcome measures
nitis OR lateral epicondylitis OR lateral epicondylopathy c) painfree grip strength (dynamometer, vigorimeter)
OR tennis elbow OR elbow tendonitis OR lateral epi-
condylalgia OR extensor carpi radialis tendonitis. Hand- d) pain pressure threshold (algometer)
searching was also performed in national physiotherapy
and medical journals from Norway, Denmark, Sweden, e) sick leave (days)

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f) follow-up results at more than 1 week after the end of for sample size in control group, specific endpoints or
treatment for pain intensity (WMD) and/or improved glo- blinding. The results of this assessment are summarised in
bal health status (RR) as described for the primary out- Table 1.
come measures
Analysis of treatment procedures
Due to possibility of measurement by different scales, the The remaining 15 trials were then evaluated for adequacy
results for outcomes c) and d) are defined as the unitless of their treatment procedures for active laser and placebo
pooled estimate of the difference in change between the laser for adherence to either of the three valid application
mean of the treatment and the placebo control groups, techniques (inclusion criterion 2). This resulted in the
weighted by the inverse of the pooled standard deviation exclusion of 2 trials (Table 2, Figure 2).
of change for each study, i.e. standardised mean difference
(SMD) of change between groups. The variance are calcu- Publication bias
lated from the trial data and given as 95% confidence The five excluded RCTs [40-44] were taken into the publi-
intervals. cation bias analysis by a graphical plot as advised by Egger
[45]. Four [40-42,44] out of the five excluded trials with
Analysis of bias, including methodological quality, funding grave methodological and procedural flaws, were small
source and patient selection and reported negative results. Three trials with negative
Positive bias direction, caused by flaws in trial methodology, funding results for LLLT were performed by the same research
source group [40,46,47] although this group also reported a pos-
Trials were subjected to methodological assessments by itive outcome [50]. Three of these trials met the eligibility
the 10 point Delphi/PedRo checklists [36]. as trials of criteria for this review and were included in the meta-anal-
weaker methodology have been found to exaggerate ysis [46,47,50]. The five largest trials [43,48-51] all pre-
results in a positive direction [37]. As profit funding has sented positive results, although Simunovic et al. [43] was
been shown to affect trial conclusions in a positive direc- excluded from our meta-analyses for variable timing of
tion [38], analysis of funding sources was also performed. endpoints as stated above. Significant asymmetry was
noted in the funnel plot, indicating a considerable degree
Negative bias direction, caused by poor prognosis or effective co- of negative publication bias (Figure 3).
interventions
LET patients with long symptom duration and high base- Bias analysis of 13 included trials
line pain intensity are found to have significantly poorer Positive bias detection – poor methodological quality and for-profit
prognosis in a trial with symptom durations of 8 to 21 funding sources
weeks [2]. Recent steroid injections have been reported to The final study sample consisted of 730 patients in 13 tri-
negatively affect prognosis in LET over a period of 3–12 als. The mean and median methodological score was 6.5,
months after injections [6]. Patient selection of known and only one trial did not satisfy half or more methodo-
responders only has been shown to inflate trial results logical criteria [52]. Two trials used the acupoints applica-
with 38% [39], and consequently the inclusion of non- tion technique [46,47], while the remaining eleven trials
responders to treatments is likely to deflate effect sizes. used the tendon application technique. None of the trials
Exercise therapy has been found effective in LET [13] and stated funding from laser manufacturing companies or
other tendinopathies [17], and the use of exercise therapy had authors with affiliations to laser manufacturers. The
as a co-intervention may also deflate effect sizes or erase trial characteristics and the sum methodological scores are
positive effects of LLLT. Consequently, we decided to ana- listed in Table 3.
lyze the included trials for presence of long symptom
duration, treatment and treatment failures prior to inclu- Subgroup analysis for methodological quality
sion, and effective co-interventions. The pre-planned subgroup analysis by methodological
quality was not performed as all but a single low quality
Results trial were rated fairly similarly with 6–8 criteria fulfilled
Literature search results out of 10 possible criteria. Minor inter-observer differ-
The literature search identified 1299 potentially relevant ences have been reported for methodological scorings by
articles that were assessed by their abstracts. 1119 the Pedro criteria list [36], and the variance could be
abstracts were excluded as irrelevant, 180 full trial reports within the range of measurement error for this methodo-
were evaluated, and 18 trials met the inclusion criterion logical criteria list [53]. In addition, fulfilment of more
for randomisation (Figure 1). than 50% of methodological criteria is often considered
as a threshold for acceptable quality [54], and all but one
However a further three randomised trials had to be trial with negative results were assessed with scores above
excluded for not meeting the a priori trial design criteria this threshold. Consequently, we considered a separate

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direct irradiation of tendon pathology are listed in Table

S5, Additional file 1.

Treatment characteristics for trials which used acupoint

irradiation are listed in Table S6, Additional file 1.

Outcomes and effect sizes

Dichotomized trial results
Eight out of thirteen trials (62%) reported one or more
outcome measures in favour of LLLT over placebo. Eleven
trials used the tendon application technique, and eight
(73%) of these trials reported positive results for one or
more outcome measures (Table 3). All seven trials using
904 nm wavelength and the tendon application tech-
nique yielded positive results [48-51,55-57], whereas
three trials using lasers with 820/30 nm [58,52]and 1064
nm [59] wavelengths found no significant effect of LLLT.
A single trial administering LLLT with a wavelength of 632
nm [60], also found significantly better results for the
LLLT group. In the two trials where LLLT was administered
to acupuncture points [46,47], no significant differences
between LLLT and placebo were found for any of the out-
come measures.

Meta-analyses of effects
Primary outcomes
Continuous data for pain relief was available from 10 tri-
Figure 1flow chart
Quorum als in a way which made statistical pooling possible. At
Quorum flow chart. Quorum flow chart of the steps in the first observation after the end of the treatment period,
the reviewing process. LLLT was significantly better than controls with a WMD of
10. 2 mm [95% CI: 3.0 to 17.5] in favour of LLLT on a 100
mm VAS (p = 0.005). In a subgroup of five trials
[48,50,55-57] where 904 nm LLLT was administered
directly to the tendon, LLLT reduced pain by 17.2 mm
subgroup analysis by methodological quality to be unnec- [95% CI: 8.5 to 25.9] more than placebo (p = 0.0001).
essary to perform. One trial [60] with 632 nm LLLT, showed significantly
better results for LLLT than a wrist brace and ultrasound
Negative bias detection – inclusion of patients with poor prognostic therapy, but none of the results from trials with wave-
factors and effective co-interventions lengths of 820 nm or 1064 nm, or acupoint application
Three trials reported details confirming enrolment of technique were significantly different from placebo. The
patients without poor prognosis [48,55,56]. In two of results are summarized in Figure 4.
these trials [55,56], both active and placebo groups
received concurrent exercise therapy, which may have Seven trials [46,49-51,55,57,58] presented data in a way
deflated effect size. Seven trials reported demographic which allowed us to pool data for global improvement.
data affirmative on the inclusion of LET patients with LLLT was significantly better than placebo with an overall
poor prognosis, which are likely to deflate effect sizes. relative risk for improvement at 1.36 [95% CI: 1.16 to
Results for possible confounding factors which may 1.60] (p = 0.002). In a subgroup of five trials [49-
deflate effect sizes are summarized in Table S4, Additional 51,55,57] where 904 nm LLLT was used to irradiate the
file 1. symptomatic tendon, the relative risk for global improve-
ment was significantly better than placebo at 1.53 [95%
Assessment of LLLT procedures and treatment variables CI 1.28 to 1.83] (p < 0.0001). In the remaining two trials
There was considerable heterogeneity in the treatment [46,58] where LLLT was administered to acupoints or with
procedures and LLLT doses used in the included trials. 820 nm wavelength, the relative risk for global improve-
Treatment characteristics for the 11 trials which used ment was not significantly different from placebo at 0.80

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Table 1: Randomised LLLT-trials excluded for not meeting trial design criteria for diagnosis, blinding or specific endpoints.

Study by first Year Method score Laser wavelength Application Result Reason for exclusion
author technique

Mulcahy [40] 1995 5 904 Not stated No significant Does not satisfy control
differences between group criterion: Lacks
active and placebo sufficient patient numbers
LLLT in placebo control group
as only 3 patients had
tendinopathy
Simunovic [41] 1998 3 830 Tendon + Trigger LLLT significantly Does not satisfy criterion
Points better than placebo for specific endpoint and
standard number of
treatments: Only bilateral
conditions were given
placebo treatment, but
data for this group were
not presented
Vasseljen [42] 1992 5 904 Tendon Traditional Does not satisfy blinding
physiotherapy criterion: Neither
significantly better therapist, patients or
than LLLT observers were blinded in
the traditional
physiotherapy group

Trial characteristics by first author, method score, laser wavelength in nanometer, laser application technique, trial results and reason for exclusion.

[95% CI 0.50 to 1.22]. The results are summarized in Fig- LLLT. For global improvement, three trials [46,51,57] pro-
ure 5. vided data suitable for statistical pooling, and the RR was
calculated to 1.68 [95% CI: 1.32 to 2.13] in favour of
Secondary outcomes LLLT. Subgroup analyses showed that three trials
Painfree grip strength showed significantly better results [48,56,57] administering 904 nm LLLT directly over the
after LLLT than placebo with SMDs of 0.66 [95% CI: 0.42 tendon, WMD improved to 14.3 [95% CI: 7.3 to 21.3] and
to 0.90] [p < 0.0001). When trials were subgrouped by RR for improvement to 2.01 [95%CI: 1.48 to 2.73] in
application technique and wavelengths, only trials with favour of LLLT, while a single trial [60] with 632 nm wave-
irradiation of tendons and wavelengths 632 nm [60] or length and the same application procedure reported
904 nm [48,49,56,57], showed positive results versus WMD of 14.0 [95%CI: 7.0 to 20.6]. The results are sum-
control with SMDs at 1.09 [95% CI: 0.42 to 1.76] and marized in Figures 8 and 9.
1.30 [95% CI: 0.91 to 1.68], respectively. The results are
summarized in Figure 6. Only two trials using the tendon application technique
with 904 nm wavelengths reported follow-up results
Two trials with 904 nm wavelength using application beyond 8 weeks. They reported persisting significant
technique with tendon irradiation [50,56] reported a improvement after LLLT for PFS at 3 months (SMD 0.40
small, but significantly elevated pain pressure threshold [95%CI: 0.05 to 0.75]) [49], and significantly less patients
with SMD at 0.34 [95% CI: 0.04 to 0.63] (p = 0.02), The with no or minor pain at work at 5.5 months (RR = 2.1
results are summarized in Figure 7. [95%CI: 1 to 4.3]) [57], respectively. Other outcomes
were not significantly different beyond 8 weeks. For the
Sick leave two trials using acupoint irradiation [46,47], no signifi-
One trial with 904 nm LLLT administered directly over the cant differences were found at any of the follow-up ses-
tendon insertion, presented sick leave data [51]. The rela- sions.
tive risk for not being sicklisted after treatment was signif-
icantly in favour of LLLT at 2.25 [95% CI: 1.25 to 4.06] (p Side-effects and compliance
= 0.0005). Treatment was generally well tolerated and no adverse
events were reported. Compliance was high ranging from
Follow-up 100% to 91% in all but two trials [48,58]. One of these tri-
Six of the trials provided continuous follow-up data on a als [48] had a considerably longer treatment period (8
100 mm VAS measured between 3 and 8 weeks after the weeks) than the other trials (median 3 weeks), and all
end of treatment [47,48,56,57,59,60]. The combined withdrawals were caused by lack of effects. In another trial
WMD was 11.30 mm [95% CI: 7.5 to 16.1] in favour of [58] using 830 nm wavelength, an exceptionally high

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Figure 2 showing laser therapy procedure with laser head in skin contact in trial by Haker et al
Photograph
Photograph showing laser therapy procedure with laser head in skin contact in trial by Haker et al. The photo-
graph is taken the trial report in from Archives of Physical Medicine 1991. The drawing of the laser spot sizes at different dis-
tances is taken from the manual of Space Mix 5 Mid-Laser (Space s.r.l, Italy).

withdrawal/dropout rate of 15% occurred after a single eligible RCTs. We excluded one RCT for not meeting the
treatment session without any given reason. inclusion criteria of specific endpoints [43] and another
two RCTs for complete lack of blinding [44] and a lack of
Discussion an LET control group [42]. None of the previous LET
In this review, we found that most RCTs of LLLT for LET reviews assessed the LLLT regimen for procedural errors,
were of acceptable methodological quality. This finding is while our procedural assessments resulted in exclusion of
in line with previous reviews [12,23,27], although there another two RCTs with grave procedural errors, such as
were some differences between reviewers in methodolog- leaving the tendon insertion and acupoints unirradiated
ical scores for individual trials. RCTs of LLLT are of similar [40] and giving adequate LLLT to the placebo group [61].
methodological quality and include similar sample sizes These exclusions resulted in 13 RCTs being eligible for our
as RCTS included in recent reviews of corticosteroid injec- review which is twice the number of RCTs included in two
tions [5] and topical or oral NSAIDs [8]. Two of the previ- of the previously published reviews[12,23].
ous reviews of LLLT for LET found only six RCTs [12,23],
whereas an earlier review found ten RCTs [27], and Previous LET-reviews of LLLT [12,23,27] and pharmaco-
excluded one RCT for methodological shortcomings [43]. logical interventions like NSAID [8] or corticosteroid
We used broader searching criteria in our review and had injections [5] have not assessed possible bias from for-
no language restrictions. This resulted in 18 potentially profit funding sources or publication bias. Our analysis

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Table 2: Randomised LLLT-trials excluded for not meeting criteria of valid procedures for active laser and placebo laser treatment.

Study by first author Method score Wave-length Application technique Result Reason for exclusion

Haker [43] 6 904 Tendon No significant differences Photograph in trial report

shows that the laser probe
was kept in skin contact and
thereby violated the
manufacturers'
recommendation of a keeping
the laser head at a distance of
10 cm. This violation caused a
central blind spot of ca 3 cm2
which left the tendon
pathology unexposed to LLLT
(See Figure 2)
Siebert [44] 6 904 + 632 Tendon No significant differences Active laser treatment to the
placebo group received red
632 nm LLLT, which we
calculated to be (2.25J), which
again is an adequate LLLT
dose. Consequently this trials
lacks a placebo or non-laser
control group

Trial characteristics given by first author, method score, laser wavelength, laser application technique, trial results and reason for exclusion.

Figure
size
Funnel
(y-axis)
plot
3 of published trial results given by WMD for pain relief over placebo measured on 100 mm VAS (x-axis), and sample
Funnel plot of published trial results given by WMD for pain relief over placebo measured on 100 mm VAS (x-
axis), and sample size (y-axis).

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Figure
End of treatment
4 results for LLLT measured as the WMD pain reduction on 100 mm VAS
End of treatment results for LLLT measured as the WMD pain reduction on 100 mm VAS. Trials are subgrouped
by application technique and wavelengths, and combined results are shown as total at the bottom of the table. Plots on the
right hand side of the middle line indicate that the LLLT effect is superior to the control treatment.

Table 3: Included randomised LLLT-trials.

Study by first author Method score Patient numbers Application technique Control Trial results

Basford [53] 8 47 Tendon Placebo 0

Gudmundsen [51] 6 92 Tendon Placebo ++
Haker [46] 7 49 Acupoints Placebo 0
Haker [50] 6 58 Tendon Placebo +
Krashenninikoff [54] 6 36 Tendon Placebo 0
Lam [55] 7 37 Tendon Placebo ++
Løgdberg-Anderson [49] 7 142 Tendon Placebo ++
Lundeberg [47] 6 57 Acupoints Placebo 0
Oken [56] 7 59 Tendon UL, Brace ++
Palmieri [57] 6 30 Tendon Placebo ++
Papadoupolos [52] 4 31 Tendon Placebo -
Stergioulas [48] 7 62 Tendon Placebo ++
Vasseljen [58] 8 30 Tendon Placebo +
Total 6.5(Mean) 730

Trial characteristics by first author, method score, laser application technique, control group type, trial results. The abbreviations used are
determined by the following categories: (-) means a result in favour of the control group, (0) means a non-significant result, (+) means a positive
result for LLLT in at least one outcome measure, and (++) means a consistent positive results for more than one outcome measure.

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Figure
End of treatment
5 results for LLLT measured as global improvement
End of treatment results for LLLT measured as global improvement. Trials are subgrouped by application technique
and wavelengths, and their combined results are shown as total at the bottom of the table. Plots on the right hand side of the
middle line indicate that the LLLT effect is superior to the control treatment.

revealed that bias from for-profit funding was largely [46], often with grave methodological [42] or procedural
absent in the available LLLT material and that trials were flaws [40] were published in higher ranking journals. This
performed by independent research groups receiving may reflect a predominance of RCTs designed using drug-
funding from internal sources or non-profit organisa- research methodology paradigms without due considera-
tions. This feature of the LLLT literature is definitely differ- tion given to adequacy of the technique used in delivering
ent from pharmacological pain treatments where up to LLLT, leading to under dosing and negative outcome bias
83% of trials may be industry-funded [62]. A second fea- [65]. In addition, it has been that documented drug spon-
ture of the LLLT-literature is that publication bias seems to sorship of research activities may influence guideline pan-
go in a negative direction. This is distinctly different from els, journal editors and referees [66,67] leading to
the drug trials [63,64] where positive results have been negative views on non-drug treatments such as LLLT as
found to account for up to 85% of the published trials in reflected in editorials in pain journals [68] and national
single journals [63], although this bias seems to be lesser medical journals [69].
or absent in high impact journals [64]. Our review sug-
gests that LLLT trials reporting negative results are more Despite these concerns, we believe that the positive over-
likely to be published than trials with positive results. To all results of this review need to interpreted with some
our knowledge we are the first to demonstrate such bias, caution. They arise from a subgroup of 7 out of the 13
but such negative publishing bias is probably not unique included trials [48-51,55-57]. These 7 trials had a nar-
to LLLT, and it may also be present for other electrophys- rowly defined LLLT regimen where lasers of 904 nm wave-
ical agents including TENS and acupuncture. We were sur- length with low output (5–50 mW) were used to irradiate
prised to see how large well-designed positive trials of the tendon insertion at the lateral elbow using 2–6 points
LLLT [51,50] were published in unlisted journals or jour- or an area of 5 cm2 and doses of 0.25–1.2 Joules per point/
nals with low-impact factor, and how small negative trials area. The positive results for this subgroup of trials were

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Figure
End of treatment
6 results for LLLT measured as the SMD for pain-free grip strength
End of treatment results for LLLT measured as the SMD for pain-free grip strength. Trials are subgrouped by
application technique and wavelengths, and their combined results are shown as total at the bottom of the table. Plots on the
right hand side of the middle line indicate that the LLLT effect is superior to the control treatment.

Figure
End of treatment
7 results for LLLT measured as the SMD for pain pressure threshold
End of treatment results for LLLT measured as the SMD for pain pressure threshold. Only trials using the tendon
application technique and 904 nm wavelength were available, and their combined results are shown as the total at the bottom
of the table. Plots on the right hand side of the middle line indicate that the LLLT effect is superior to the control treatment.

consistent across outcomes of pain and function, and sig- For the red 632 nm wavelength which has a poorer skin
nificance persisted for at least 3–8 weeks after the end of penetration ability [70], a single trial [60] with a higher
treatment, in spite of several factors which may have dose (6 Joules) seemed to be equally effective as the lower
deflated effect sizes. doses of 904 nm used in the seven positive trials. These

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Figure 8 results at 3–8 weeks after end of treatment for LLLT measured as the WMD for pain reduction on 100 mm VAS
Follow-up
Follow-up results at 3–8 weeks after end of treatment for LLLT measured as the WMD for pain reduction on
100 mm VAS. Trials are subgrouped by application technique and wavelengths, and combined results are shown as total at
the bottom of the table. Plots on the right hand side of the middle line indicate that the LLLT effect is superior to the control
treatment.

LLLT-doses are well within the therapeutic windows for response patterns at higher powers is inconsistent or lack-
reducing inflammation, increasing fibroblast activity and ing.
collagen fibre synthesis, and the dosage recommenda-
tions suggested by WALT [71]. The positive results for combining LLLT of 904 nm wave-
length with an exercise regimen, are encouraging. We
The negative results for the 830 nm GaAlAs and 1064 nm would have thought that exercise therapy could have
NdYag lasers can be attributed to several factors such as erased possible positive effects of LLLT, but the results
too high doses, too high power density or the inclusion of showed an added value in terms of a more rapid recovery
patients with poor prognosis from long symptom dura- when LLLT was used in conjunction with an exercise regi-
tion and prior steroid injections. These wavelengths have men. This may indicate that exercise therapy can be more
previously been found effective in some tendon animal effective when inflammation is kept under control. Add-
studies and in other locations such as shoulder tendin- ing LLLT to regimens with eccentric and stretching exer-
opathies [72,73]. At this time it is not possible to draw cises reduced recovery time by 4 and 8 weeks in two trials
firm conclusions about the clinical suitability of wave- [48,56]. For this reason, LLLT should be considered as an
lengths 820, 830 and 1064 nm in LET treatment, but the adjunct, not an alternative, to exercise therapy and stretch-
lack of evidence of effects indicates that they cannot be ing.
recommended as LET treatment before new research find-
ings have established their possible effectiveness. The lack Based on the above findings, LLLT should be considered
of effect for these lasers may also serve as a reminder that as an alternative therapy to commonly used pharmacolog-
higher doses is not always best. We have been witnessing ical agents in LET management. Cochrane-based reviews
a tendency where newly developed lasers with these wave- of NSAIDs [8] and corticosteroid injections [5] have
lengths are being marketed with ever-increasing power found evidence of short-term effects within 4 and 6 weeks,
and power densities. This may be inappropriate because respectively. The short-term reduction in pain intensity
current knowledge about LLLT mechanisms and dose- after corticosteroid injections may appear to have a more

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Figureto9placebo
Follow-up
pared results at 3–8 weeks after the end of treatment measured as the relative risk for global improvement for LLLT com-
Follow-up results at 3–8 weeks after the end of treatment measured as the relative risk for global improve-
ment for LLLT compared to placebo. Trials are subgrouped by application technique and wavelengths, and combined
results are shown as total at the bottom of the table. Plots on the right hand side of the middle line indicate that the LLLT
effect is superior to the control treatment.

rapid onset and may also be larger in effect size than after Authors' contributions
LLLT. But on the other hand, the available LLLT-material JMB had the original idea, which was developed through
is confounded by factors capable of deflating effect sizes. lengthy discussions with contributions from RABL-M, JJ,
In this perspective, there is a need for more high quality CC, AEL, AS and MIJ. The literature search, including
trials with head-to-head comparison of short-term effects handsearching, was performed by all members of the
between LLLT and corticosteroid injections. In the longer author team. The first draft was written by JMB, RABL-M
term, NSAIDs seems to be ineffective and corticosteroid and JJ, and revised by AS and MIJ. Methodological assess-
injections seem to be harmful both at 26 and at 52 weeks ments of trials were performed by JMB, AEL, CC, AS. The
[6]. For LLLT there are some significant long-term effects statistical analysis was performed by JMB, RABL-M, JJ and
found at 8, 12 and 24 weeks after the end of treatment. MIJ. The final linguistic revision was performed by MIJ
and all members of the author team read and commented
Conclusion on the manuscript before submission.
The available material suggests that LLLT is safe and effec-
tive, and that LLLT acts in a dose-dependent manner by Additional material
biological mechanisms which modulate both tendon
inflammation and tendon repair processes. With the
recent discovery that long-term prognosis is significantly
Additional file 1
Tables 4-6.
worse for corticosteroid injections than placebo in LET, Click here for file
LLLT irradiation with 904 nm wavelength aimed at the [http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/supplementary/1471-
tendon insertion at the lateral elbow is emerging as a safe 2474-9-75-S1.doc]
and effective alternative to corticosteroid injections and
NSAIDs. LLLT also seems to work well when added to
exercise and stretching regimens. There is a need for future
trials to compare adjunctive pain treatments such as LLLT Acknowledgements
with commonly used pharmacological agents. The study was funded internally by Bergen University College in providing
working hours for the first author, Jan M. Bjordal. The funding body played
no role in the study design, the collection, analysis, interpretation of data,
Competing interests
in the writing of the manuscript or the decision to submit the manuscript
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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for publication. None of the other authors received any funding for the per- 22. Green S, Buchbinder R, Barnsley L, Hall S, White M, Smidt N, et al.:
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2002:CD003527.
23. Bisset L, Paungmali A, Vicenzino B, Beller E: A systematic review
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