Laser therapy of rheumatoid arthritis

✍ Scribed by John A. Goldman; Joseph Chiapella; Noah Bass; Jimmy Graham; William McClatchey; R. V. Dronavalli; Richard Brown; William J. Bennett; Stephen B. Miller; Colon H. Wilson; Cosmo Haun; Lydia Persinski; Herb Huey; Mike Muckerheide; Helen Casey; Bobbie Pearson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1980
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 604 KB
• Volume: 1
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0196-8092
• DOI: 10.1002/lsm.1900010110

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Thirty people with classical or definite rheumatoid arthritis received laser exposure to a Q‐switch neodymium laser that operated at 1.06 μm with an output of 1 5 joules/cm^2^ for 30 nsec. One hand was lased at the proximal interphalangeal (PIP) and metacarpal phalangeal (MCP) joints, whereas the other hand was sham lased. The patient, physician, and occupational therapy evaluators did not know which hand was being lased. Twenty‐one patients noted improvement of both their MCP and PIP joints of both hands during laser therapy. Twenty‐seven noted improvement of their PIP joints and 26 noted improvement of the MCP joints during therapy. Heat, erythema, pain, swelling, and tenderness all improved with time in both hands, but the lased hand had more significant improvement in erythema and pain. There was also significant improvement in grasp and tip pressure on the lased side. The level of circulating immune complexes as measured by platelet aggregation decreased during lasing. The improvement may be related to laser exposure. The exact role that laser radiation has upon rheumatoid arthritis and its mechanism of action remain to be elucidated.