Trial reportRheumatology international2012
Low-level laser in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome: clinical, electrophysiological, and ultrasonographical evaluation.
Trial report in Rheumatology international, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 6 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed, 6 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Photobiomodulation in carpal tunnel syndrome with pain, strength, and functionality analysis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lasers in medical science · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Low-level laser therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017Pooled it
- Efficacy of low-level laser therapy in carpal tunnel syndrome management: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Lasers in medical science · 2017Pooled it
- Effectiveness of low-level laser on carpal tunnel syndrome: A meta-analysis of previously reported randomized trials.Medicine · 2016Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions for Adults With Musculoskeletal Conditions of the Forearm, Wrist, and Hand: A Systematic Review.The American journal of occupational therapy : official publication of the American Occupational Therapy AssociationPooled it
- Effects of high-intensity laser therapy on pain, functional status, hand grip strength, and median nerve cross-sectional area by ultrasonography in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome.Lasers in medical science · 2023Trial
- The effectiveness of the low-power laser and kinesiotaping in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, a pilot study.Rheumatology international · 2018Trial
- Low-level laser therapy with a wrist splint to treat carpal tunnel syndrome: a double-blinded randomized controlled trial.Lasers in medical science · 2014Trial
- Review
- Comparison of the efficacy of high-intensity laser therapy and low-level laser therapy in carpal tunnel syndrome: A randomized-controlled study.Turkish journal of physical medicine and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Laser Acupuncture Effects on Chronic Pain, Inflammatory Response, and Biochemical and Oxidative Stress Markers in Osteoarthritic Dogs: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2025Article
- Research progress in different physical therapies for treating peripheral nerve injuries.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Review
- Photobiomodulation as Medicine: Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) for Acute Tissue Injury or Sport Performance Recovery.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Review
- Ultrasonographic and electrophysiological outcomes of carpal tunnel syndrome treated with low-level laser therapy: A double-blind, prospective, randomized, sham-controlled study.Archives of rheumatology · 2022Article
- Efficacy of low-level laser therapy in nerve injury repair-a new era in therapeutic agents and regenerative treatments.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2021Review
- Low-Level Laser Light Therapy Dosage Variables vs Treatment Efficacy of Neuromusculoskeletal Conditions: A Scoping Review.Journal of chiropractic medicine · 2020Article
- Efficacy of laser acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome: A study protocol for a prospective double-blind randomized controlled trial.Medicine · 2019Article
- Clinical effectiveness of low-level laser treatment on peripheral somatosensory neuropathy.Lasers in medical science · 2017Review
- Low-power laser therapy for carpal tunnel syndrome: effective optical power.Neural regeneration research · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The objective of this study is to investigate the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in patients with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Sixty patients with CTS were included in this placebo-controlled and double-blind study and randomly assigned to three treatment groups: active laser with a dosage of 1.2 J/per painful point, active laser with a dosage of 0.6 J/per painful point, and placebo groups. A total of 5 points across the median nerve trace were irradiated with Gal-Al-As diode laser. All groups were treated 5 times per week for 3 weeks. Clinical assessments included pain intensity, grip strength, symptom severity score (SSS), functional status score (FSS), nerve conduction studies, and cross-sectional area (CSA) of the median nerve as measured by ultrasonography. Compared to baseline, post-treatment VAS scores (group 1, P < 0.001; group 2, P < 0.001; group 3, P < 0.01), grip strength (P < 0.05), SSS scores (group 1, P < 0.001; group 2, P < 0.001; group 3, P < 0.01), and FSS scores (P < 0.05) improved significantly in all groups. Only sensorial nerve velocity measurements on the palmar region showed a significant improvement in both active laser groups (P < 0.01). There was no significant difference in any of the outcome measures among the groups. With the chosen laser type and dose regimen, the results suggested that LLLT was no more effective than placebo in CTS.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.