Pain Research published in The Lancet

10/12/2009

Professor Mark Johnson from the Centre for Pain Research, Faculty of Health, is part of an international research team who have had their research published in the premier medical journal The Lancet.

They conducted a systematic review on low level laser therapy for neck pain and identified 16 randomised controlled clinical trials of 820 patients. Their meta-analysis of the data suggested that low level laser therapy was effective for reducing chronic neck pain, although evidence was limited for effectiveness in acute pain.

Professor Johnson said. "The findings are important because chronic neck pain is a highly prevalent condition and long-term management with drugs can be problematic because of side effects.Non-drug therapies such as low-level laser therapy have few side effects but are only worth using if there is scientific evidence that they are effective."

Professor Johnson added "It is a great achievement for our research team to be involved in such a high calibre a study. It builds on our recent success in the Research Assessment Exercise and we are already using the study as an exemplar in our undergraduate and post graduate teaching".

The international research team was led by Dr. Roberta Chow of the Brain and Mind Research Institute at the University of Sydney in Australia, and included Professor Jan Bjordal from the Bergen University College, Norway who is also a Visiting Professor at Leeds Met and Professor Rodrigo Lopes-Martins from the University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.

To read an abstract of the team's research visit The Lancet.