Table 5.

Characteristics of included trials of Low Level Laser Therapy for pain relief in patients with knee osteoarthritis

First author, publication year	Intervention type, treatment period	No of patients on active therapy (n = 187)	Method quality	Mean baseline pain (mm VAS)	Best mean difference (95% CI) of change over placebo (mm VAS)	Outcome assessment timepoints (weeks, best time point used in bold)
Bulow-94**	25 mW, 830 nm, 2.25 J to 10 points 3 times/week, 9 total sessions	15	2	82.0	8.0 (-10.8 to 26.8)	3, 6
Gøtte-95	12 mW, 904 nm, 12 J in 4 points, 3 times/week 12 total sessions	20	3	69.0	25.0 (9.4 to 40.7)	4
Gur-03	10 mW, 904 nm, 2 or 3 J applied to 2 points, 2–3 times week/10 total sessions	60	4	73.9	25.0 (18.9 to 31.1)	4, 8, 12
Hegedu-06	50 mW, 830 nm, 6 J applied to 8 points, 2 times/week, total 8 sessions	14	3	57.5	25.1 (2.5 to 47.7)	4, 6, 12
Nivbrant-92	4 mW 904 nm, 0.7 J in 3 points, 3 times/week, 6 total sessions	15	4	67	19 (2.4 to 35.6)	2, 6
Stelian-92	2.7 mW and 25 mW 904 + 820 nm, 1.3 J and 11.1 J in two points 10 times/week, 20 total sessions	18	4	72.0	41 (25.4 to 56.6)	2, 10
Tascioglu-05**	50 mW 830 nm, 1.5 or 3 J in 5 points, 5 times/week, 10 total sessions	20	3	66.5	-0.9 (-11.8 to 10)	3
Yurtkuran-06 **	4 mW, 904 nm, 0.48 J in one acupoint (Sp9), 5 times/week, 10 total sessions	25	5	-	-0.7 (-18.6 to 17.2)	2, 12
Best within 4 weeks, all trials††		187			17.7 † (8.1 to 27.3)
Best within 4 weeks, optimal		142			24.2 (17.3 to 31.1)
6–8 weeks		104			15.5 (9.9 to 20.9)
12 weeks		99			12.3 (6.7 to 17.9)
Total		187	3.5*	70.3†		3*

*Mean † Weighted mean †† Random effects model used for calculation ** Non-optimal dose