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Background and Aims Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a prevalent and disabling disease. Periarticular corticosteroid injection has been traditionally used for the pain control in these patients. Recently low power laser has been introduced as a therapeutic option. This study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of Low power laser added to periarticular steroid injection for long-term treatment of OA patients.

Methods In a clinical trial, 100 patients with knee OA were randomly allocated to receive either NSAIDS tablets, periarticular methylprednisolone injection and placebo laser (placebo group) or low power laser added to NSAID and periarticular injection (laser group). The laser treatment was applied for 2 minutes in12 sessions. Patients were assessed 48 hours, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after treatment regarding their pain, joint stiffness and difficulty doing daily activities.

Results Placebo group showed lower pain scores only in the first 48 hours in all the conditions but in the first, third and sixth months follow-ups pain scores were significantly lower in the laser group rather than the placebo group (p<0.05).

Conclusions Steroid injection controlled the pain in the early stages but was ineffective in long- term treatment. Combined treatment with steroid and low power laser can manage the pain up to 6 month.