The application of laser electrophoresis of biologically active substances for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with dorsopathy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The article discusses the possibilities of modern pain management methods that find application in the combined treatment of back pain. AIMS: The present study had the objective to demonstrate the possibility for substituting the non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs by biologically active substances possessed of the anti‐inflammatory and antispasmodic activity in order to avoid complications encountered in the therapy with NSAIDs and to evaluate the effectiveness of the application of laser electrophoresis of these substances for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with dorsopathy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The patients included in the study were divided into two groups depending on the therapeutic modalities prescribed to individual patients. The patients of both groups were given the combined treatment, including anti‐inflammatory therapy, the traction treatment, and transcranial electrical stimulation. The herbal extracts used for laser electrophoresis were drug extractions from equisetum and hypericum. The first (main) group was comprised of 24 patients presenting with dorsopathy who received the local anti‐inflammatory in the form of laser electrophoresis of the herbal extracts. The second group consisted of 20 patients who were prescribed the standard course of NSAID‐basedanti‐inflammatory therapy. The study included the observation and monitoring of the parameters of interest during 14 days of the outpatient care as well as the two‐month long post‐treatment follow‐up period designed to detect the possible relapses. The methods employed in the study were the visual pain scale and pressure tensoalgometry. RESULTS: The dynamic observations before and after the treatment revealed the indicators of pain and tensoalgometry giving evidence of a more rapid and effective relief of pain in the patients of the main group. The study has demonstrated rather high analgesic potency of the herbal extracts accounting for their biochemical effects and the anti‐inflammatory action of low‐intensity laser radiation. The intensity of pain in the patients of the main group decreased by 62% after treatment. In the control group, the decrease in pain intensity did not exceed 39%. In the main group, the pain threshold and the pain tolerance threshold increased by 33% in comparison with 13% in the control group. CONCLUSION: This pilot study has demonstrated the well pronounced analgesic action of laser electrophoresis of the biologically active substances applied for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with dorsopathy. The results of the study suggest the necessity of further investigations including the randomized placebo‐controlled studies for the more reliable substantiation of the substitution of the non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs by biologically active substances contained in phytoextracts and possessed of the anti‐inflammatory and antispasmodic activity to be used for the combined treatment of the patients presenting with dorsopathy.