LASER THERAPY for lateral epicondylitis (tennis elbow)

Dear Editor,

I really appreciated this article, it illustrates the problem of lateral elbow tendinopathy ( LET) in a comprehensive and clear way.

I would like to observe that, with reference to the therapeutic means to be adopted for LET, the authors cite Laser therapy in a marginal way and of uncertain clinical efficacy, bringing as a bibliographic source a review of 2008: LASER equipment in the meantime has had further technological advances and the clinical experiences of the operators who use them have also expanded. This review examines low level laser therapy (LLLT), which has a very low power laser beam delivery (typically up to about 0.5 Watts).

Also for my part I can report that I have had good results with an infrared diode LASER, of 0.5 Watts of power, which I used from the 1990s onwards, until ten years ago.

Today I use a class IV diode infrared laser (wavelength 905 nm) that can work at variable powers, reaching power emissions up to 10 Watts, with many variable parameters (including the width of the surface of the light beam emitted).

The advantages are considerable, both in terms of a faster execution of the treatment and effectiveness of the results, with beneficial effects evident already in the first sessions

Certainly it is necessary to consider the response of the individual patient, which also depends on the chronicity of epicondylitis and compliance with a caution of the motor activity of the upper limb in the first days of therapy, remembering to always adopt eye protection measures and to exclude patients who have general conditions contraindicated for Laser therapy.

REFERENCES :

Bjordal JM, Lopes-Martins RA, Joensen J, et al. A systematic review with procedural assessments and meta-analysis of low level laser therapy in lateral elbow tendinopathy (tennis elbow). BMC Musculoskelet Disord2008;9:75. doi:10.1186/1471-2474-9-75 pmid:18510742CrossRefPubMedGoogle Scholar

Roberts DB, Kruse RJ, Stoll SF. The effectiveness of therapeutic class IV (10 W) laser treatment for epicondylitis. Lasers Surg Med. 2013 Jul;45(5):311-7. doi: 10.1002/lsm.22140. Epub 2013 Jun 3. PMID: 23733499

Competing interests: No competing interests