SynthesisSports health
Effects of Low-Level Laser Therapy on Muscular Performance and Soreness Recovery in Athletes: A Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.
Synthesis in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of Tart Cherry Juice Supplementation on Recovery from Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Athletes: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine - open · 2026Pooled it
- Effect of low-level laser therapy on quadriceps and foot muscle fatigue in children with spastic diplegia: a randomized controlled study.Lasers in medical science · 2023Trial
- Improving Methodological Quality in Meta-Analyses of Athlete Pain Interventions: An Overview of Systematic Reviews.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Potential and Challenges of Transcranial Photobiomodulation for the Treatment of Stroke.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Review
- Photobiomodulation as Medicine: Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) for Acute Tissue Injury or Sport Performance Recovery.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2024Review
- Cardiopulmonary and metabolic responses during a 2-day CPET in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: translating reduced oxygen consumption to impairment status to treatment considerations.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Article
- Therapeutic Potential of Photobiomodulation for Chronic Kidney Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
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 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextAthletes must maintain their peak state of strength. Previous studies have investigated the effect of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) on muscular performance. A previous systematic review and meta-analysis has investigated this issue in healthy participants but not in physically active athletes.
objectiveTo investigate whether LLLT can improve muscular performance and soreness recovery in athletes. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library. STUDY SELECTION: Published randomized controlled trials and crossover studies till December 2020. STUDY
designSystematic review and meta-analysis. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3. DATA EXTRACTION: Assessment of study quality was rated using the risk of bias assessment method for randomized trials (Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions).
resultsA total of 24 studies were included. LLLT application before exercise significantly improved lower-limb muscle strength in 24-hour, 48-hour, 96-hour, and 8-week follow-up groups. Furthermore, decreased soreness index, serum creatine kinase concentrations, interleukin-6, and thiobarbituric acid reactive substance concentrations and a trend toward the improvement of contract repetition number and VO
conclusionAlthough a definite therapeutic effect of LLLT is yet to be established, the current evidence supports that LLLT use improves muscular performance in physically active athletes. Additional trials with large sample sizes and robust design should be conducted before strong recommendations are made.
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.