Efficacy of High-intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) in the Patients With Cervical Disc Herniation

The worldwide prevalence of neck pain is between 16.7-75.1%, it has been seen at an increasing rate in recent years due to sedentary living conditions. Pharmacological treatment, neck collar, traction, manual therapy, interventional injection techniques, surgical treatment and conventional physical therapy methods such as hotpack, ultrasound, TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation), vacuum interference, exercise are applied in the treatment of neck pain. In recent years, High Intensity Laser Therapy (HILT) has been used as a painless and non-invasive physical therapy agent. It received FDA approval in 2002 for HILT in the treatment of variety of musculoskeletal disorders. There are a few studies in the literature investigating the efficacy of HILT in chronic neck pain. There is only one study investigating the efficacy of HILT in cervical disc herniation. In this study, the efficacy of HILT and ultrasound-TENS in the treatment of neck pain caused by cervical disc herniation has been compared, but the results of the exercise control group and long-term follow-up were not available. The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to evaluate the short and long-term efficacy of HILT treatment using improvement in the pain, range of motion, activities of daily living and functionality of the cervical spine in patients with cervical disc herniation. In group 1, only exercises will be applied; in the group 2, HILT will be applied in addition to exercise; in the group 3, hotpack, TENS, ultrasound will be applied in addition to exercises.