PURPOSE: This study examined the effects of High Intensity Laser Therapy on pain and function of patients with chronic back pain. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This study evenly divided a total of 20 patients with chronic back pain into a conservative physical therapy group that received conservative physical therapy, and a high intensity laser therapy group that received high intensity laser therapy after conservative physical therapy. All patients received the therapy three times a week for four weeks. For the high intensity laser therapy group, treatment was applied to the L1 to L5 and S1 regions for 10 minutes by using a high intensity laser device while vertically maintaining the separation distance from handpiece to skin at approximately 1 cm. A visual analog scale was used to measure the pain and Oswestry Disability Index was used for functional evaluation. RESULTS: In a within-group comparison of the conservative physical therapy and high intensity laser therapy groups, both the visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index significantly decreased. In a between-group comparison after treatment, the high intensity laser therapy group showed a significantly lower visual analog scale and Oswestry Disability Index than the conservative physical therapy group. CONCLUSION: High intensity laser therapy can be an effective nonsurgical intervention method for reducing pain and helping the performance of daily routines of patients who have chronic back pain.

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