Exercise recovery / DOMS
Physical therapy modalities for delayed-onset muscle soreness network meta-analysis
Chen, et al. 2025.
A Bayesian network meta-analysis of physical therapy modalities for delayed-onset muscle soreness ranked PBM highly for early pain relief.
Evidence grade
low
Effect direction
positive
Panel relevance
partially-replicable
Key findings
- The analysis included 15 RCTs with 447 participants.
- PBM ranked best for pain relief at 24 and 48 hours in the network comparison.
- Benefits were not clearly sustained beyond 48 hours.
Protocol details
| Wavelengths | Not reported nm |
|---|---|
| Irradiance | Not reported mW/cm2 |
| Fluence | Not reported J/cm2 |
| Session time | Not reported minutes |
| Frequency | Varied across included modalities and PBM trials |
| Duration | Pain outcomes commonly assessed 24 to 96 hours after DOMS induction |
| Treatment area | Affected muscles |
| Device type | PBM and other physical therapy modalities |
Caveats
- Network rankings can be sensitive to small-study effects and protocol differences.
- This is useful for positioning PBM among recovery modalities, not for defining a universal dose.