Study of low power laser analgesic effect in myalgia of the masticatory muscles: Clinical randomized double-blind

This study evaluated the effectiveness of low power laser (LBP) and placebo in the treatment of myalgia of the masticatory muscles. Sixty patients (average age of 38.83 years ± 14.2) with myalgia of the masticatory muscles were selected and allocated into 2 groups randomly: Group A: patients who underwent low-power laser application (LBP) in the first phase and the application of laser placebo in the second phase and Group B: patients who were submitted to laser placebo in the first phase and the implementation of LBP in the second phase. The laser and the placebo were applied punctually in the masseter and temporalis muscles bilaterally. The presence and intensity of spontaneous pain (by visual analogue scale - VAS), pain on palpation (through pressure algometer) and maximal mouth opening (with caliper) were measured. Data were analyzed using the Fisher Test, T test and Mann-Whitney, adopting p <0.05 significance level. Statistically significant improvements were found for spontaneous pain, pain on palpation and complete pain in the right masseter in the intra-group analysis and between groups. There were no different residual effects in any of the indicators when comparing the groups with or without the laser. Just the right masseter showed a statistically significant difference when compared with the order of applications in the groups that received first laser and then the placebo versus the group that received placebo first and then the laser. This result indicates that there are no differences between the laser application order. The results suggests that there was a significant improvement in pain measured by the scale of nociceptive points in patients who received the laser, though the self assessment of pain measured by VAS was not statistically different. Residual and order effects were not statistically significant.