Table 3. Patient’s VAS pain score

	Laser acupuncture group (n=30)			Therapeutic ultrasound group (n=30)			p2
	Median (IQR)	Δ	p1	Median (IQR)	Δ	p1
Baseline	6 (5 – 6)			5 (5 – 6)
T1	6 (4 – 6)	0 (0 – 0)	0.097	5 (5 – 6)	0 (0 – 0)	0.687	0.098
T2	5 (4 – 6)	0.5 (0 – 1)	<0.001	5 (5 – 5)	0 (0 – 1)	0.065	0.034
T3	3.5 (3 – 5)	1 (1 – 2)	<0.001	4 (4 – 5)	1 (1 – 1)	<0.001	0.022
T4	3 (2 – 4)	2 (1 – 3)	<0.001	3 (3 – 4)	2 (2 – 2)	<0.001	0.362

Δ: Within-group differences over time compared to baseline
p1: Paired Wilcoxon test compares the change in each group over time with T0
p2: Mann-Whitney test compares the change (Δ) between 2 groups at each time point
IQR: Interquartile range