In dogs, is concurrent laser treatment more effective at treating osteoarthritis compared to NSAIDs alone?

TL;DR

A weak study suggests laser therapy may help reduce osteoarthritis symptoms in dogs and lower NSAID use, but more research is needed.

Contribution

The study explores the potential of laser therapy as a complementary treatment to NSAIDs for canine osteoarthritis.

Findings

Laser therapy improved the Helsinki pain score and lameness in dogs with osteoarthritis.

Laser therapy reduced the required NSAID dose compared to the control group.

The control group showed no improvement in lameness scores.

Abstract

In dogs with osteoarthritis (OA) is concurrent laser treatment more effective than non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) in reducing the severity of clinical signs associated with OA?

Treatment.

One randomised controlled trial.

Weak.

The study showed that laser therapy significantly improved the Helsinki pain score, reduced the NSAID dose and improved the lameness score compared to the control group whose lameness scores did not improve at all.

It is suggested that laser therapy may be effective at reducing clinical signs of osteoarthritis (OA) and therefore reducing the requirement for higher non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) doses. However, due to the power of the evidence being weak and limited, further clinical studies would be needed to confirm results and conclude whether laser treatment is superior to NSAID treatment.