asked in the assessment scales, were included in the study. e patients who had a history of injection to the lumbar region in the last four weeks or who had severe osteoporosis, history of lumbar surgery, acute trauma, in ammatory pain, neuro- logical disorder, or lumbar instability, patients who received physical therapy in the last three months, and patients with uncontrolled or severe cardiovascular or metabolic disorder were excluded from the study.
A detailed medical history was obtained from the patients and all underwent physical examination of the locomotor system. e patients were randomly divided into three groups: Group 1 included 20 patients, Group 2 included 25 patients, and Group 3 included 20 patients. VAS (visual analog scale) was used to assess the pain level of the patients. e Oswestry disability index, SF-36 (short form 36), was used to evaluate the functional and psychologic status of the patients. A locomotor system examination was repeated a er the therapy.
e patients in Group 1 received laser therapy 3.8 watts for 14 minutes at a wavelength of 1064 nm. e total energy received was 1800 joules. A cosmogamma Cyborg laser device was used as the high intensity laser in this study. is device produces laser beams with a wavelength of 1064 nm. is device is also known as a gallium aluminum arsenide laser (GaAlAs laser) and designed to provide a ber output of at least 10 w (±10%). e device has continuous, pulsed, and high pulsed modes. Di erent treatment programs are recorded on the device memory according to di erent diagnoses. e treatments were applied to the lumbar region using beam expanders for the treatment of large areas up to 120 cm2 .