Comparison of two different electrotherapy methods in low back pain treatment

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the efficacy of High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) and Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) in low back pain (LBP). METHODS: Forty patients aged between 18 to 60 were included in this study. The patients were randomized into two groups as TENS (Group I) and HILT (Group II). The severity of pain was measured by Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and the range of motion (ROM) of the joint was measured by goniometer. The Oswestry Disability Questionnaire (ODQ) was used to assess the effect of LBP on daily living activities, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was used to assess depression. All patients were taken into physical therapy program for 5 days a week for a total of 20 sessions. Patients in Group I received ultrasound, hot pack and HILT, while the patients in Group II received ultrasound, hot pack and TENS. RESULTS: In the comparison of post-treatment improvements, among all parameters only VAS score had a significant difference in favor of Group I. CONCLUSIONS: The study demonstrated that HILT is more effective than TENS in terms of pain reduction and that HILT can be used as an alternative to TENS