Is Laser Acupuncture as Effective as Traditional Acupuncture in Treating Benign Vocal Pathologies?

Abstract

Objective Traditional acupuncture has been shown to be effective in treating benign vocal pathologies. However, some individuals are not able to tolerate needle puncturing in traditional acupuncture, laser acupuncture has been promoted by traditional Chinese medicine practitioners as an alternative means to deliver the effect of traditional acupuncture (Radmayr et al, 2001 and Gottschling et al, 2008). This study aimed to determine whether laser acupuncture is effective in stimulating the acupoints for treating vocal nodules and improving vocal functions. Methods A total of 79 dysphonic subjects with benign vocal pathologies and a mean age of 36.25 years (SD = 11.34 years) were randomly assigned to a group which either received traditional acupuncture, genuine laser acupuncture, or placebo laser acupuncture on Renyin (St 9), Lianquan (CV 23), Lieque (Lu 7), Zhaohai (Ki 6) and Hegu (LI 4). Laser acupuncture used laser with 500mW output and 808nm wavelength. The intervention involved 12 sessions over a 6-week period. Acoustic measurement using voice range profile, voice-related quality of life measurement, and laryngoscopic evaluations were conducted to measure changes over time. Results Subjects receiving traditional acupuncture showed significant improvements in their vocal function (highest fundamental frequency produced), quality of life (Voice Activity and Participation Profile), and size of the vocal nodules following acupuncture treatment when compared to the laser acupuncture and placebo laser acupuncture groups. The latter two groups of subjects demonstrated no significant improvement in the vocal function or vocal pathologies over time. Conclusions Laser acupuncture was not able to demonstrate significant effectiveness in treating benign vocal pathologies as traditional acupuncture. Acknowledgement This study was supported by a grant from the Hong Kong Research Grant Council General Research Fund (2009 #HKU782509).