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The following is a summary of “Effects of Photobiomodulation Therapy on Muscle Function on Individuals with Multiple Sclerosis,” published in the March 2024 issue of Neurology by Rouhani et al.
Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), a light therapy, is being explored to see if it can improve muscle function in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS).
Researchers conducted a retrospective study examining how PBMT impacts muscle performance in pwMS, looking at both short-term and long-term effects.
They conducted a study with a randomized, double-blind crossover design. In the first part, muscle function was evaluated in 17 ambulatory individuals with MS (14 female), measuring maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) and muscle fatigue in the right tibialis anterior (TA) muscle before and after PBMT. PBMT was applied to the TA muscle with different energy doses (40J, 80J, 120J) or placebo. Outcome variables were muscle force recovery (%) and muscle fatigue (%), analyzed with McNemar’s exact test, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, and the Friedman test. In the second part, a subgroup of 12 individuals (11 female) received personalized doses of PBMT based on previous findings. Muscle function assessments were repeated pre- and post-PBMT, including baseline strength (N), endurance time (sec), and muscle fatigue (%), analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Mean values with SD were reported.
The results showed significant improvement in force recovery following high-dose PBMT in study I (101.89% (13.55%)) compared to placebo (96.3% (18.48%)) with a P-value of 0.03. Muscle fatigue showed no statistically significant changes in either group. In study II, muscle strength significantly improved with active PBMT compared to both baseline (pre-PBMT: 162.70N (37.52N); post-PBMT: 185.56N (33.95N); P=0.01) and placebo (active PBMT: mean-change=22.87N (23.67N); placebo: mean-change=-4.12N (31.95N); P=0.02). Like study I, endurance time and muscle fatigue with either active PBMT or placebo did not significantly improve.
Investigators concluded that PBMT was a potential therapy for improving muscle function (force recovery and strength) in pwMS, warranting further investigation into optimal treatment doses.
Source: msard-journal.com/article/S2211-0348(24)00177-9/abstract#%20