Gout Laser Therapy

Research into gout laser therapy has proved that Low Level Laser Treatment (LLLT), also called cold laser therapy, offers a good alternative to conventional gout pain relief.

I first looked at laser therapy for gout about 3 years ago. As of 2011, I have not seen any more research specifically into laser treatment for gout pain relief, but I have seen other arthritis related studies, and all seem very positive. I’ll repeat my earlier summaries of 2 gout and laser studies, and hope that , if you try this form of gout relief, you will share your experience on the gout treatment forum.

Gout Laser Therapy Research

In “Photobiomodulation of pain and inflammation in microcrystalline arthropathies: experimental and clinical results.”, Soriano and colleagues studied several groups of people with gout or other crystal deposit diseases including pseudo gout.

Each disease group was split into two treatment groups. Treatment was either diclofenac, a Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug (NSAID) or low level laser therapy.

The researchers found that laser treatment was effective for all three joint diseases:

Both laser therapy and diclofenac achieved rapid pain relief in patients with acute gouty arthritis without significant differences in efficacy. Laser therapy was more effective than diclofenac in patients with chronic pyrophosphate arthropathy and in patients with chronic apatite deposition disease.

It is clear that cold laser therapy is effective in reducing gout pain. This was endorsed by the Meditech clinic, who reported in Gout And Laser Therapy:

Rapid resolution of pain and inflammation are infallible indicators of change in the affected joints. These two patients noted nearly 100% reduction in pain following their first treatment.

Obviously, this treatment will do nothing to fix gout in the long term – you need to lower uric acid below 6mg/dL (0.36 mmol/L) in order to do this. However, all urate lowering therapy takes a few months, or over a year in severe cases, even when it is managed and monitored correctly. Low level light therapy seems an extremely effective way to manage pain during this period. I can find no evidence of side effects, though there is potential risk of eye damage, therefore you should always use protective goggles when using this type of cold laser treatment.

Gout Laser Therapy: Next Steps

What’s your experience of cold laser therapy? Have you questions about low level laser treatment. Discuss your experiences, questions, or opinions in the gout laser therapy topics in the gout treatment forum.

I first published this Laser Therapy For Gout page on 20th November 2008, and have moved it here as part of website reorganization.