A critical appraisal of "A critical effect of laser therapy on chronic osteoarthritis of the knee in older subjects"

Angelo State University Physical Therapy requires first year students to partake in an Evidencebase Practice Seminar. This course allows SPTs to focus on evidence-base practice and clinical research that will be used in the acute care practicum in the semester. In this evidence-based course, the SPT was asked to construct various clinical questions pertaining to physical therapy and be able to find reliable articles related to those constructed questions. The SPT developed the following clinical question: "What is the efficacy of low-level laser therapy on adults with knee osteoarthritis?" The article selected from PubMed was "Effect of Laser Therapy on Chronic Osteoarthritis of the Knee in Older Subjects" by E. Youssef, Q, Muaidi, and A. Shanb, which was published in the Journal of Lasers in Medical Sciences. In this article, the authors discuss the effects that low-level laser therapy can provide to older patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis when combined with an exercise program. This critical appraisal discusses the steps an SPT went through to find the selected article, the strengths and weakness regarding the methods, results, discussion, and overall student discussion. The SPT found that that the article was well-written with sufficient detail and information regarding the benefits of LLLT on KOA patients.