Comparison of therapeutic effects of 940 nm diode laser acupuncture with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in the myofascial pain dysfunction syndrome: a comparative randomized clinical trial

This study aimed to compare the clinical efficacy of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and laser acupuncture (LA) using a 940-nm diode on MPDS improvement. In this randomized clinical trial, 22 MPDS patients were randomly assigned to TENS (180 HZ, 300  µs, 20 min) and LA (940 nm, continuous wave, 0. 5 w, 40 s, 105 J/cm2) groups. Data on overall facial pain, tenderness in the masticatory muscles, deviation, joint sound, and maximum mouth opening without pain (MMO) were collected from all patients at baseline, before and after each treatment ses sion, and 1 month after the end session. Data were analyzed using an independent t-test, repeated measures ANOVA, and Fisher’s exact test at a significance level ofP< 0.05. The decreases in overall facial pain (P = 0.000), muscle tenderness (P = 0.000), and increase in MMO (P = 0.01,  P = 0.001) were statistically significant compared to the baseline in the TENS and AL groups. No significant differences were detected between TENS and LA for overall facial pain, muscle tenderness, or MMO at 1 month follow-up (P > 0.05). Both LA and TENS are effective physical therapies with promising effects on sign and symptom improvements in MPDS patients.
Source: Lasers in Medical Science - Category: Laser Surgery Source Type: research